Social media has risen to be one of the most innovative marketing platforms in recent years. Social media success, however, can seem somewhat elusive. In this new age, marketers can reach out and communicate with potential customers on a two-way level.
Fast disappearing are the days of “one-way conversations” where advertisers send messages without any hopes of a response. Instead, social networks allow both parties to interact through “liking” posts, sharing content, and exchanging information freely while building relationships together over time.
While you may easily see the value of social media for your business, knowing how to make your campaign successful can seem like an impossible task. Here we look at eight ways to achieve social media success.
1. Choose the Right Platforms For Your Business
As the number of platforms for your social media content continues to grow, it’s essential that you share content on the most appropriate channels. Different channels will cater best to varying industries. When looking at which platforms your company should be using, use research and consider both what customers are doing online and where they’re spending their time browsing for things like information about the product types or services you offer. You can also check out your competitor’s social media pages to see where they are finding the greatest success in their campaigns.
It would also help if you considered which platforms best fit your products. For example, for a video production company, YouTube is an obvious choice; makeup artists and bakers tend to do very well on visual platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.
2. Plan Your Content
To maintain a high level of consistent posts, it is crucial to have an up-to-date content calendar. Creating one will help you stay organised and avoid the mistake of not having anything ready at the last minute. With some planning ahead, anyone can create a dynamic post that includes relevant hashtags and links back into their website where possible so they may be able to generate more leads in return from those who click on them. This effortless tactic helps with time management while also providing better quality material! Leave space in your calendar for specific posts related to current trends or events.
Below is an example of a social media calendar. We use Social Pilot to schedule our posts to social media accounts. It allows us to find curated content to share, manage our social inboxes, reply to customers, create content with Canva integration and see what is being posted when.
3. Encourage Engagement For Social Media Success
Social media should, of course, be social and therefore interactive. This doesn’t just apply to those who use the sites for fun! Businesses need to be interactive too. To take full advantage of the platform’s potentials, you need to encourage interaction and post content that people want to read. Ask questions and prompt response. Reposting another users’ posts is another great way to interact with your audience in a different manner than just posting information. Ask them what’s going on at work or if they’re interested in something new from time to time; this will help create relationships with current customers and lay the groundwork for your social media success.
4. Remember The Rule Of Seven
The Marketing Rule of 7 states that someone needs to see your message at least 7 times before they’ll buy. This doesn’t mean the same post, it just means buyers usually need to see what you are promoting 7 times on average before purchase.
The use of social media is a great way to connect with potential customers. Still, there are many ways that companies can make the experience less than desirable for their followers. For example, you want your posts on social media to be fluffier and more interesting than blatantly promotional in nature. You also don’t want people following you because of some advertisement they saw from another company instead of desiring what you have to offer as well! The best thing is finding out what it takes for your specific brand so that all content posted by you will resonate within the group most likely to be interested in buying from you.
Your social media accounts should be more like you, not your company. If all of the posts are promotional in nature, followers will grow tired and disengaged from what they see on their feeds and won’t return for updates. You’ll want to share content that is both informative and engaging, so people stay interested but don’t feel bombarded with ads every time they log in to Facebook or Instagram.
One way to ensure you are not “over-promoting” is another rule of seven. This rule suggests that six posts should be purely content-based for every promotional post you create.
5. Use Video Content
With a raft of information being chucked at people every day, it can be hard to get their attention. Video content works well on social media because they are a great way of grabbing a person’s interest in something within just seconds. Just like when they’re scrolling through their feed, these types of posts stand out from the rest – meaning that you have more chance for your customers or viewers to watch them all the way through. Not only this, but video also allows companies to say even more with less effort than if they were trying to use the written word. The best types of videos have an interesting narrative-driven story behind them, so viewers keep watching until the end!
Keep up-to-date by adding some new visual material into your marketing strategy today and social media success could be yours for the taking!
6. Resolve Issues Quickly
A good part of your company’s success and, indeed, its social media strategy will depend on how you handle negative feedback. Occasionally, someone who is upset may contact you via a post on one of the channels, leading to irreparable damage if not handled properly. Luckily, there are ways for companies to take care of these problematic posts before they get out of hand. You should carefully monitor any mentions to catch issues as soon as possible. Engage directly with an unhappy follower and publicly apologise if needed. Offer to solve any problems through a direct message. This allows any subsequent follower who sees the negativity to see you acknowledged it and dealt with the matter in a professional manner.
7. Build An Engaged Community
In the highly competitive land of social media, it’s important to remember that not all followers are created equally. Rather than trying to get as many people as possible following your brand on a platform, focus instead on finding customers who are loyal and engaged. These valuable members will be more likely to repost your content and become a customer themselves! Building relationships with these consumers is an excellent way for you to make friends in real life, too – after all, they’ve already invested in what you do online! You can use “like” ads to help build an engaged community if you do not have one already. Engaged followers = social media success.
8. Be Valuable
The key to the success of your social media marketing campaign is understanding the need to provide value. Give your audience something that they’ll find helpful, and you’ll attract the right customers for your business while making people want to follow you on social sites. Think of what your product or service users are likely to want to know or be interested in and address these topics as part of your social media campaign.
Social media is a powerful tool and social media success is very achievable. Nearly 3 billion people use it, which means you could be missing out on the opportunity to tap into this vast customer base and grow your business. With social campaigns becoming ever more creative in their reach for customers, there’s never been a better time to get started than now! If you need any guidance in jump-starting your social media, please drop us a line!
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