Building a Successful Social Media Marketing Strategy

Social media is a valuable tool for marketing your business. Users share and discover new information with one another. Your potential customers are engaging with competitor’s brands. People express their interests on their social media profiles. A robust social media marketing plan will tap this audience. You can pinpoint demographics and attract them to your business. Executed correctly, social media can benefit your company.

What is social media marketing?

You can market on many of the popular social media channels. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn are the most popular. Posts should contain video, content, and imagery. In addition, you can run paid social media advertising.

Start with a plan

While planning, consider your business’ goals. A strategy needs to be created with intention. Keep your campaign cohesive and your brand voice clear. “Winging it” won’t produce results. Low-quality posts can diminish the quality of your brand image.

When building a plan, ask yourself:

  • What do you hope to achieve through social media marketing?
  • Who is your target audience?
  • Where does your audience hang out? How do they use social media?
  • What is the brand message you want to convey?

Develop your list of goals, such as:

  • Increase website traffic
  • Increase conversions
  • Raise brand awareness
  • Create a brand identity and positive brand association
  • Improve communication and interaction with key audiences

Once you establish your goals, you can accurately measure your ROI.

 

Running Successful Social Media Campaigns

 

Plan: 

Planning out your social media posts is essential. Pay attention to the keywords that are ranking in your field. Brainstorm content that plays off trending topics. Your posts should always relate to your product. Create a content calendar. This allows your creatives time to produce quality work. Preparedness reduces on your employees. Plan posts that are timely and relevant.

 

Focus on quality:

You want your post to get engagement. Quality content can get your posts shared, liked, and mentioned. Offer valuable information. If your content is compelling, it will spread further on the platform. With this in mind, posts a variety of content. Visuals such as images, videos, and infographics perform well.

 

Be consistent:

Your social media channels build your brand’s identity. Each platform has a unique environment and voice. Nevertheless, your business’ core identity should remain the same. A consistent voice builds the brand. In addition, your web content should reflect the same tone.

 

Blog:

Your site should have a blog section. Update the blog consistently. You can link social media posts back to your blog. The posts should be informative. These links will drive traffic to your site. Blog posts are valuable in several ways. Relevant content that is SEO optimized increases search engine ranking. In turn, organic site visits will increase. The content should answer customer queries. With the proper content, blog posts will draw traffic via Google search.

 

External links:

Link relevant articles to external sources on occasion. Keep in mind that social media is for starting conversations. Therefore, your content should stimulate a discussion. For this reason, you should share interesting articles and sites with your followers! These posts improve trust and help to build your brand’s message.

 

Track competitors: 

Monitor your competitors’ accounts. Remember, your potential clients are following your competitors. Research their successful keywords for market insight. When you notice a successful technique, take note. You can use this information to inspire your future campaigns. However, this is not to say you should copy their content. Your brand needs to be original. We wouldn’t advise you to recreate a competitor’s work. Simply note their successes and implement useful elements.

 

Measure success with Analytics:

Google Analytics is a valuable measurement tool. It tracks data and measures your social media campaign’s success. Track social media marketing campaigns using tags. In doing so, you can monitor activity and see what is working vs. what isn’t.

 

Paid social media marketing:

We are a fan of paid social media advertising. It is a cost-effective way to expand your reach. A data-driven approach can expand visibility for a low cost. Also, most platforms offer granular targeting capabilities. In other words, you can focus your budget on specific demographics. Target interests that are relevant to your business.

Marketing Across Different Social Platforms

We will briefly discuss each of the popular social media channels. Each social media marketing sites will require a different technique. You can post similar content across platforms. However, it should be tailored to fit the environment. The various social media channels have different demographics. Choose the ones that allign with your brand.

Facebook

Facebook activity is a conversation starter. Content on Facebook is designed to inspire dialogue. People and businesses primarily post videos and articles. Create a Facebook Business Page. Visuals are essential for Facebook posts. Thus, every post should have an image or a video attached. Pure text posts do not engage people. To reiterate, visual media posts are the most successful. In addition, don’t come off too serious or business-like in your posts. The tone should feel friendly.

Google+

Google+ tried to compete with Facebook. Similarly, a post for Google+ should have rich visual content. Google+ Circles are designed to segment followers. This allows you to contact targeted groups. In other words, you can share information with one circle and bar others. For example, you could create a “super-fan” circle. You might send that group VIP discounts and exclusive offers.

Pinterest

Pinterest is an image-centered platform. Virtual pin boards allow users to “pin” interesting content. This medium is ideal for fashion, food, retail, and beauty brands. The visual element is what attracts the users to the content. They organize it into their own boards upon discovery. You can add blog posts and infographics from your site. If they are useful, users will re-pin them, drawing traffic to your site.

Twitter

Twitter is a social media platform for posting short and sweet text. A post can only contain 280 characters or less. In addition, Twitter moves quickly. Re-posting and following trends is essential. You should engage and interact with other tweeters in your industry.

Mix up your tweets. Write about specials, discounts, and news. Sprinkle in some fun and quirky tweets. Always retweet and engage your customers. Keep communication flowing. Twitter users constantly share one another’s content. Similarly, you need to answer all questions and mentions. Above all else, dialogue is essential on this channel. Be interactive, engaging, and personal.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social media site that highlights work experience. A user’s profile is looks like a resume. People find one another through jobs and fields. LinkedIn Groups allow you to enter into professional dialogue. You can find other users in the same industry. Sharing content with industry peers opens up communication.

In addition, you can prompt customers to give your business a recommendation. “Recommendations” increase brand credibility for potential customers. Also, answer queries that people post in the “questions” section. These interactions will build your brand’s identity. You want your brand to be the authority in your field.

YouTube

YouTube is the most popular site for uploading and viewing video content. Videos are incredibly powerful marketing tools. Don’t get caught up in the concept of “going viral.” The likelihood that your video will become a viral video is low. It is more beneficial to focus on creating “how-to” videos that will be useful to your clients. Share your videos on your Facebook, Google+, and Pinterest accounts as well. Video content can also rank in video search results if the content and quality are good. Don’t under-estimate the power of video content!

Yelp, FourSquare, and LevelUp

Location-based social media focuses on physical businesses. Brick-and-mortar stores can benefit from the visibility. Yelp! allows customers to review a business. FourSquare allows users to check-in and receive specials. Consequently, customers can read reviews and discover something new. Registering your business on these apps gains location visibility. Offer incentives such as check-in rewards and discounts. These deals will attract new customers to your business. In addition, the customer must open the app to use the deal. This increases the likelihood that they will leave a review. More positive reviews = more business.

Reddit

Reddit is a discussion forum. In addition, Stumble Upon and Digg are similar concepts. Redditors are experts in their field of interest. Due to this, they are seeking genuine knowledge. If your content isn’t compelling and factual, it won’t be well-received. Posting on Reddit is a dangerous game. Spammy or sales-focused content will get a negative response. Most Redditors are young, liberal, and internet-savvy.

Social media is a valuable tool for promoting your brand. Posting on social media sites can introduce new clients to your product. Engagement and dialogue with customers creates a connection. On top of this, your brand becomes a living entity. Your profile speaks for your product and brings it to life. Social media is free, easy to use, and relevant. However, if you use it sloppily, it will reflect poorly on your brand.

Take your social media marketing strategy seriously. Advertising and engaging users can benefit your company.