When it comes to digital marketing, SEO, PPC, and content marketing are crucial parts of your strategy. However, don’t forget about the power of social media. These platforms can have a profound impact on your brand’s success. But what does it take to be successful in using them? Understanding social media best practices is the first step.
1. Understand Your Audience
Users are bombarded with information online. What incentive does your social media presence offer to deserve their attention? Learning about your target audience and creating content catered to their needs will determine your success on social media. Ask yourself, “What does our ideal customer look like?” Your target audience may be determined by a user’s age, gender, income, location, interests, or several other niche factors.
2. Stick to Relevant Social Media Networks
Spreading your social media efforts too thin across several platforms that aren’t delivering results is not feasible long-term. While a lack of results could indicate an opportunity to improve your social media content, not every social network will work for your brand — and that’s okay! Instead, focus your efforts where your target audience is likely spending most of their time.
If you drive your sales efforts through B2B marketing, Linkedin is a smart network to focus on. If your company sells cosmetics, Instagram and TikTok may be your key platforms to drive awareness and increase sales. If you’re a home services company operating in a small cluster of counties, Facebook gets your brand in front of prospective customers in your community. Examining the demographics and psychographics of each platform can help you decide what social network or combination of networks to focus your posting efforts on.
3. Plan Ahead
Creating high-performing posts is time-consuming. Therefore, planning your content ahead of schedule streamlines the process and helps you allocate your time more efficiently. Showing your brand’s relevance for national awareness days effectively expands your reach and engages with your audience. If you’re planning to launch a new product in the coming days or have an exciting sale, gathering the details and planning posts ensures your social media strategy is front and center.
4. Get Social
Creating great posts is only one part of social media. Social media is intended to be social, so you need to engage with your audience. Respond to comments and messages as soon as possible, answering any questions customers may have and addressing their concerns. This improves the integrity of your brand’s online presence and encourages more positive engagement.
5. Optimize Your Message
Are you posting the same message across multiple networks? While that can occasionally work, it’s not an effective social media strategy. Take Instagram and Twitter, for example. Instagram posts require your message to be communicated through images and video, while Twitter is more text-based with the option of including media.
Comparing the same two networks, more hashtags are acceptable in an Instagram post than in a limited-character tweet on Twitter. Therefore, while your message might be the same, you must optimize your content to make sense for the network it’s on.
6. Conducting a Social Media Audit
If your social media presence isn’t getting traction, conduct an audit to determine the roadblocks. Take a look at what’s been working well and what hasn’t. Is your brand’s messaging consistent? Look at your social media page’s analytics to identify pain points and opportunities for improvement. For more information on how to conduct a social media audit, click here.
7. Tools
Using social media scheduler tools and social listening tools can elevate your brand’s awareness and workflow efficiency. Plan posts in advance using a scheduling tool to be reviewed for typos or misinformation. Use a social listening tool to observe how people talk about your brand online. This can lead to exciting opportunities to promote your brand and drive sales.
Popular social media scheduling tools:
- Agorapulse
- Hootsuite
- Sprout Social
Social media listening tools:
- Agorapulse
- Buzzsumo
- Hootsuite Insights
Allegrow Provides You With Relevant Social Media Content
Allegrow has a team of wordsmiths and digital marketers who write content for social media platforms — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok. We consider your target market and tailor our voice to sound like yours. Whether you want it to sound conversational or scholarly, we’ve got you covered.
Contact us or email your success manager to discuss creating the custom content that’s best for you.