Laura Donovan — July 19, 2019 — July 19, 2019
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Social Media has changed how we live our lives, from getting the news, to interacting with friends and family, to finding trustworthy companies to do business with.
Social Media is powerful, inescapable, and it is here to stay.
- 77% of consumers are more likely to buy from businesses/brands they follow on Social Media.
- 54% of Social browsers are using Social Media to research products.
- 71% of consumers who had a positive experience with a business on Social Media are likely to recommend the business to their friends.
- Non-Customers are 3 times more likely than customers to visit retailers from Social Media ads.
It’s time to up your Social game and get serious with your strategy. Here are 6 secrets for your Social Media Marketing Success.
1. Make a Plan
Social Media interaction reflects on your overall business, consistency is important. Whatever you do on Social Media needs to be done consistently.
Creating a plan to guide your content and interaction across Social Networks will help you stay on message and make sure you keep the accounts active and your information relevant.
Setting aside time to research content, design graphics/videos, and scheduling in updates is the key to your consistently. If you do not have time to do it, you need to consider hiring an employee or an agency to help keep your accounts active and filled with quality content. Additionally, determine specific times you will monitor the accounts to respond to questions or comments.
2. Invest Marketing Time on the Appropriate Networks
Not all Social Sites are created equal. Determine the demographics of your audience and potential customers to determine the best Social Sites to use to reach these people.
Facebook is still the top site for most every age group, location, salary range, etc.
Don’t waste your time marketing on a site that your customers aren’t using. I.E. if your demographic is middle-aged, homeowners in your area you don’t want to market on Snapchat (the users here tend to be Gen Zs and younger.)
Research the sites to determine the Social Networks you will focus on most and skip the sites your targeted audience isn’t using.
3. Select the Appropriate Content
In addition to determining the Social Networks to use, you also need to make sure the content you are sharing fits the platform.
Users engage with certain sites in a certain way.
Facebook is great for long form messages with great visuals (images or video), Twitter is terrific for more immediate messages and awareness, etc. Each platform will have a more specific type of content that works best, with links, images, stories, etc. You need to determine what type of content works best on each site and post accordingly.
4. Quality vs. Quantity
In this case both quality and quantity count. It is important to keep your accounts active and your updates consistent, but equally important is sharing content that is useful, informative, interesting, and engaging.
Share too many updates and people will start to ignore your posts or turn you off completely, the same can happen with irrelevant content.
Be interesting, be consistent, and be there just enough to keep people interested and waiting for your next update.
5. Skip the Billboard Advertising
The News Feed on Social Media is not an advertising scroll. Social Media users don’t want to be inundated with coupons and “special offers.”
Give people something that makes them feel like they are getting a great deal, not a bribe.
Don’t just share specials and super deals. If your updates become a billboard for sales, people will be turned off by this and turn you off. Share your offers and deals, but also share useful tips and information your audience can use to make their life better or easier.
6. Engage and Interact
Don’t set it and forget it. Keeping your accounts active is terrific and necessary, however if you never check for engagement you will lose your audience and trust. People want to be seen and they want to be heard. If they have a question, comment, or recommendation you need to respond in a timely manner.
Engage and interact with your Social followers, give them an experience, a conversation, a community. People want to feel like they are part of the group, give this feeling to them by interacting with them.
Make sure to check your account notifications a few times a day, every day.
It Takes Work
Social Media Marketing takes a lot of planning and requires a delicate balance. Using Social Media as a tool to communicate your business products/services is an important part of your Marketing Strategy.
Things also change frequently; it is important to keep up-to-speed with the latest trends in Social Media and in your industry within the Social world.
It takes a lot of work, but the payoff can be terrific!a
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