It is no secret that social media marketing is more important than ever before. In 2014, it is one of the best ways to increase your brand recognition and search engine rankings as well as improve overall user experience.
Over 75% of online adults in the United States and Canada are currently active on at least one social media site. The average amount of time one of these adults spends on these sites is just over three hours per day. That makes social media the number one daily online activity – topping time spent on things such as email, Google, and Netflix.
So it should go without saying that you need to utilize social media to effectively market your brand to your target consumers. But you probably already knew that. A recent study by Fast Company shows that 93% of businesses use social media marketing to some degree.
The only thing is you probably aren’t doing it right. There is more to social media marketing than simply opening up a Facebook and Twitter account and putting out a few posts every now and again.
Below we discuss five of the best social media strategies you would do well to utilize. Social media is huge and it is only going to continue growing. If you are not marketing on it effectively, you are missing out big time.
The social media marketing tips below will help you gain loyal brand followers, capture new leads, and convert visitors into paying customers. All in all, they will help you optimize your business’s social media accounts for the best possible chance at success.
The key to an effective social media strategy is, well, the strategy. Without a solid game plan, your efforts aren’t likely going to be met with much success.
Take a look at each of your social accounts and then set a goal for the number of posts you will publish on each of these per day. For example, a good start on a network such as Twitter is five posts per day. Write your posting goal down for each site (or make a calendar) and then stick to it!
Use this goal as a benchmark and make sure you hit it. It is also essential to ensure that each post you create is high quality and actually brings something of interest to the table. Don’t just flood your feed with meaningless dribble – make each post count.
(Hint: visual content such as images, GIFs, videos, and infographics are all hot tickets right now.)
It is almost impossible to get the most out of your social media marketing strategy without social media analytics. Data is generated every time that a user views your social media networks. Tracking this data with the help of social media analytics allows you to utilize this consumer data to make improvements to your marketing strategy and brand.
For example, Klarity allows you to efficiently monitor your brand’s social media presence. We track brands across a wide range of networks including Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter, Instagram, Sina Weibo, Tencent Weibo, and Pinterest. We then break this data down into more than 100 easy to understand metrics including brand reach, demographics, engagement, interactions, brand mentions, and key influencers.
Simply put, if you don’t know which aspects of your social media marketing strategy are working and which aren’t, then you are going to keep on doing the same old thing (and making the same old problems). Social analytics helps you squeeze the utmost in efficiency and effectiveness from your efforts. If a certain type of post always does well, make more like it.
Gone are the days when you could post the exact same thing on all of the social networks your business is using. Nowadays, it is imperative to treat each network individually, tailoring your posts and strategy for their individual audiences.
An easy example is LinkedIn. This social network is much more business oriented than, say, Instagram. Naturally, a fun picture that might do well on Instagram won’t go over so well on LinkedIn. You need to think highly informative, educational content instead.
Adjusting your marketing efforts to the demographics of each site is the key to getting the most out of them.
Too many businesses treat their social media networks as a way to get more business. Of course, this is the long-term goal, but in short you need to focus on using these websites as ways to connect with potential customers.
When a visitor posts on your Facebook, tweets at your Twitter handle, or comments on your Instagram, you need to send them a response. Trust is lost if you don’t. And this loss of trust (due to your lack of communication) can turn these viewers away from you. They might even choose one of your more helpful competitors over you in the future.
When this is flipped around, the results are obvious. Interacting with customers is a surefire way to make them stick around and bring more business your way. Pleasant communication will greatly increase the chance they will share about you with their friends and why away from your competition.
Social media doesn’t have to be this big scary monster you have to tackle full bore. Take things slowly with your social media strategy. Build a solid base and grow from there.
Focus on creating content that viewers actually want to see and strive to post it on a daily basis. Consider expanding your networks from Twitter and Facebook to include others like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google+ (depending on the specifics of your brand). And, above all, make sure to communicate with your visitors. Leave responses to comments and really engage with them.
Most importantly, figure out a way to track and analyze your social media efforts. Though you can monitor a few basic metrics yourself (such as page views and likes), a social media analytics service, like Klarity, will give you a solid one-up on the competition. Klarity allows you to track your progress, monitor your brand, and even track what competitors are up to. If you are serious about improving your marketing through social media, then you need to know where your valuable time and money is best spent.