5 Factors To Consider When Developing A Social Media Marketing Strategy

Social media is, without a doubt, one of the best ways to connect with potential customers. 

If you do not have a presence on social media, you’re already missing out on a wide range of audience. To put this into perspective, 77% of consumers are more likely to buy from brands that they follow on social media platforms.

However, getting started with social media can seem overwhelming for a business. The good thing is you do not need to have a sleek brand campaign or rack up millions of followers to enjoy the benefits of marketing on social media. 

It all comes down to developing an effective social media marketing strategy.

If done right, you’ll be able to see sales skyrocket and more people discussing your products. There have been thousands of entrepreneurs who have built successful businesses entirely on social media platforms. 

Fortunately, we’re here to guide you from start to finish on creating a marketing strategy to implement on social media.

Why social media?

People are spending more and more time on their phones, and a huge chunk of that time is spent on social media platforms. In fact, the average person spends over 2 hours each day on social networks.

There’s a huge chance that your ideal customers live there and spend most of their time on social media. In fact, they are not just active on social media, but they also make purchases on various social media platforms that are free.

This provides the perfect marketplace for a diverse range of consumers to be matched up with online products that suit their needs. This is where your marketing strategy campaign comes in to offer your products to the right audience to begin making sales.

Here’s how to create an effective social media marketing strategy

You need to keep in mind that social media is an integral part of an inbound marketing strategy. You may be able to create great content and even rank well on the search results. But this hard work will go down the drain if you don’t share that content out there to the right people and gain interest in your brand or business.

Here’s what you need to consider when creating a social media marketing strategy.

• Who is your target market?

• Do you have the right content to share on various social media platforms?

• What topics and subjects do your audiences have an interest in?

• What additional content do you have to create?

• When and on what social media platforms will you be posting on?

Choosing the right platform

Social media has exploded in the last 10 or so years and “we’re on Facebook” is no longer enough. Well, that’s because there are a lot of social media platforms out there where you can connect with your customers and prospects.

But the availability of these platforms is a challenge in disguise and that’s why choosing the right platforms should be a critical part of an effective social media marketing strategy. In other words, you do not want to post content on YouTube where your customers have never heard of YouTube.

So with a lot of options out there, how can a business choose the right avenue? 

It’s generally advisable that businesses should begin with popular and cost-effective social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. However, choosing the right ones should boil down to your audience, where they are, and, of course, your goals as a business or brand. This requires heavy research and data collating.

Have a content creation plan that has your audience in mind

We can’t emphasise enough on the importance of knowing who your audience is. That’s because everything involved in an effective social media marketing strategy revolves around knowing your audience. By knowing who your audience is, you’ll know their interest and needs and this will define your social media content and the way you engage with your customers and prospects.

For instance, if you’re selling clothes, your target audience might be interested in the latest fashion, the latest clothing brands, and fashion styling tips. In addition to giving your audience all these, you should know about their age, gender, location, needs, pain points, goals, behaviours, challenges and many more.

And no matter who your audience is, the content you post or share should be relevant and of high-quality.

Engaging your audience in an active and relevant way

Although content should be a significant part of any social media marketing strategy, it is important that your content is well received through engagement. Research has shown that posts with emoticons receive 33% more engagement than those without. You should always remember that the main basis of social media is to connect and engage. In fact, 71% of consumers who had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend the brand to friends and family.

Here are some of the most effective ways to gain the trust of your audience.

• Comment on posts

• Share relevant information

• Start and participate in conversations

• Post and answer questions

• Share user-generated content

• Address complaints and criticisms

• Show appreciation for customers

In essence, your social media posts shouldn’t be a one-click magic trick that suddenly generates thousands of sales. You should take your time and cultivate a reliable and trustworthy presence. It is worthwhile to monitor your platforms and respond to questions and conversations.

The frequency of your posts and will depend on the platform that you are using. For instance, you shouldn’t post more than once a day if you’re using LinkedIn or Facebook. In fact, you should limit your posts to around five times a week. 

On the other hand, when it comes to Twitter. You should keep in mind that it is a fast-paced social media where it would be considered normal to have multiple posts per day depending on the content.

Have a consistent voice

It is human nature to feel more comfortable with something they’re used to. So when promoting your business on social media, part of the strategy should be to offer a consistent voice that the audience can resonate with. 

Refrain from having multiple people assigned to the task of managing your social media platforms as they could end up bringing their different personalities on the posts. This can hinder or possibly harm the brand or image that you are trying to establish.

It is advisable that you should limit the number of people given the responsibility of creating and sharing posts. You should make sure that your team is on the same wavelength and that consistency is an important aspect in creating a successful social media marketing strategy.

Use the right metrics to monitor your progress

An effective social media marketing strategy should have the right metrics to monitor progress. Track, implement, measure and re-evaluate. Make minor changes and then repeat until you’ve reached an optimal formula for success. 

That is why setting small goals from the get-go is important to measure the success of your marketing strategy. Having key metrics will help you determine which goals are being met and which are lacking behind.

Whether you decide to use Facebook Analytics and page insights, Google Analytics, Twitter Analytics or LinkedIn company pages, it’s always essential to measure your progress to ensure that you’re on the right track with your strategy.

Final points 

Social media platforms have numerous benefits for businesses. These platforms have become an important part of our lives and are a great way to connect and engage with customers. They are a great platform for businesses to leverage quick and instant results, giving them greater visibility, larger audiences and targeted customers. 

It’s imperative that your brand actively works to identify what social channels work best for you.

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