Over 3 billion people use social media nowadays. This fact alone is enough to realize that social media networks are highly-valuable assets for marketers.
However, just because social media platforms seem like a great chance to make a profit, it does not mean that you can launch a campaign on them without detailed preparation.
To properly use the power of social media marketing, take a look below. These five handpicked tips should be taken seriously once you start devising your next social media marketing campaign.
First, learn about your target audience
You may have an exact goal in mind that you want to achieve with your social media marketing strategy, but if you are not quite sure who you need to target in order to achieve that goal, your efforts will probably go to waste.
You need the support of your audience to create a winning strategy, so your campaign has to be based on your audience and its preferences.
Your target audience will help you determine each detail of the campaign, including the social media platforms you need to be on as well as the content that you need to produce.
Use your analytics tools to find out details about your audience’s demographics and then try to figure out their preferred social media platforms. Once you cover that, try to figure out what their most common concerns and problems are.
Keep in mind that, before you can connect to your audience, you need to understand who they are and what they are like.
Be consistent with the visuals
You need awesome visuals that are consistent with the pages and content you already have. Your ads and the accompanying landing pages need to look great and the design has to be consistent so that the visitors can recognize that your business is behind the pages they have landed on.
Graphic design is incredibly important, as it can make or break your social media campaign.
Offering users a smooth, consistent visual experience is almost as important as the message that your ads communicate. If a visitor sees a well-designed, aesthetically pleasing ad and then clicks through to a scrappy-looking landing page, it’s going to be a major turn-off that could potentially result in a lost sale.
For this reason, it’s essential that your ad creative is both well-designed and seamless from beginning to end. What this means is that landing pages should match their ads perfectly, in both appearance and messages.
If you have a designer on your team and a marketing specialist, advise them to work as a separate team in order to create a campaign with consistent visuals and a powerful message that is supposed to sway customers your way.
See what’s trending at the moment
Now that you know who to target and what the message should be, you need to take a look at the popular trends that are emerging on each platform.
When you notice that a pattern or strategy is rising in popularity and it aligns with your messaging, then it’s a great idea to take advantage of it to drive engagement.
However, do not go after each trend on the internet. Creating posts that don’t align with your overall messaging to appear relevant is a fast way to alienate your target audience.
Never create a particular type of content just because you see other brands doing the same thing. Instead, try creating a focused message that can be used as a baseline against which you can measure all of the future social media posts.
One good method that will allow you to have a supply of content ideas is to find the websites from your industry that publish high-quality content popular with the audience.
Once you start producing great content yourself, you could make use of various tools that allow automation, which is quite helpful when it comes to social media marketing. One of these tools is Agency Love, and it allows bulk publishing.
This will save you a lot of time since you will no longer have to publish each post on a different social media platform manually. As a result, you will have more time to focus on more important tasks such as creating more quality content.
Monitor and analyze your results
To ensure that you are getting the best results from your social media marketing campaign, you should track and measure each of your efforts regularly. More than 40% of businesses do not keep an eye on their social media ROI and that usually leads to unnecessary budget expenditure.
However, the worst part of this is that marketers who do not keep track of results do not actually know if their campaigns are working or not. In order to make the tracking process simple, you should identify key metrics.
Some important metrics to keep in mind include:
- Reach and engagement for Facebook
- Reach and engagement for Instagram
- Impressions, retweets, and mentions on Twitter
- Clicks and interactions on LinkedIn
- Views and clicks on Instagram Stories
Track these metrics on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis for the most accurate and timely results that will allow you to act quickly and fix what needs to be fixed.
Genuinely interact with your audience
Your social media followers adore authentic interaction with your brand. They want to know that real people are behind your brand and its image. Hence, besides posting top-notch content, you should keep an eye on each platform you use and engage with your audience regularly.
Answer questions that come up on your posts, handles, or hashtags. Join discussions, debates, and even create memes that your audience loves.
When you notice that followers are having a conversation regarding your products, do not hesitate to jump in and add extra value.
Followers want to know that there is a real person on the other side of the computer and not just a robot that sends out links on a regular basis.
Ensure that your social media strategy includes answering questions posted on each platform. You should respond to people who mention you, thank people who share your content, and add value where you see people mentioning your brand.
Finally, you can start conversations with your audience by asking them questions and then responding or adding to that conversation. These experiences will stay in the minds of your customers because they’re authentic, and this will make your customers feel appreciated and respected.
Final thoughts
Social media trends are constantly changing along with various algorithm updates that make the social media game more and more complex. As a marketer, you should cover these fundamental tips but also try to keep up with novelties and constantly improve your game.
Your rivals probably have their eyes on the latest trends, so make sure that you aren’t lagging behind.
Also, remember, don’t buy likes and followers if you’re doubtful about the company’s reputation. A service like HashTagsForLikes seems shady and you should avoid it.
Good luck!