Social media platforms are often the first place consumers turn when they want to hear about a new product, and marketers can take advantage of this by developing content for these channels. By understanding what types of posts will be popular in 2021 as well as current trends that may soon die out, businesses can get ahead before their competitors do.
Social media is a competitive and ever-changing landscape. But don’t worry! You can stay on top of it all with an effective plan in place, which we have outlined for you right here.
The Best Social Media Marketing Strategies Should Align With Your Business Model
What are your social goals? Your strategy should be based on them. A community or a more dedicated following, driving revenue this year--whatever it is you're going for with your marketing efforts, the fundamentals of building an effective campaign will always depend upon knowing what that goal is and how to work towards achieving it.
Social media goals shouldn’t be too lofty or unrealistic. Instead, try to set smaller and more achievable objectives that let you scale your social efforts so they are both reasonable and affordable. We'll go over just a few realistic goals that you might want to shoot for when it comes time for planning your social media marketing strategy.
Improve Your Brand Awareness
The goal of a brand is to get their name out there. Most people think that the only way they can increase awareness for your company is through promotional messages, but this isn't always true.
If you want authentic and lasting brand awareness then don't just focus on publishing promotional content. Instead make sure it also emphasizes what makes your personality or values unique so viewers know exactly who you are.
Increase Sales And Leads
There has to be a fine line between promotional and non-promotional content. You also need to alert customers to new products and promos. If someone has questions then they're likely willing to purchase an item as well due to being engaged enough initially.
Increase Your Brand’s Audience
Grow your brand’s audience by finding ways to introduce it to new people. This includes looking for conversations that matter the most in your business and industry, so you can better reach out to them with what they want.
Increase Your Community’s Engagement
It's not enough to simply post engaging content and hope for the best. You need to actively engage with your followers, or else they'll go elsewhere. One way you can do this is by asking people questions about themselves! It might seem like an obvious move but it works wonders because customers love feeling heard and if anything will keep them coming back time and again, this is one sure way.
Get More Traffic To Your Website
No matter your goal, social media can help you drive traffic to your website. Whether through promotional posts or targeted ads, monitoring conversions and URL clicks will give you a better understanding of the ROI from these marketing channels.
When in doubt about which networks are best for driving certain goals (say leads versus web traffic), keep it simple by picking two objectives that work well together rather than trying to do too much at once and risk getting distracted with all kinds of different things.
Research Your Target Audience
For centuries, marketing campaigns have been built on assumptions. But the sheer wealth of data and analytics tools out there is making it easier than ever to find what you need about your audience without having to make assumptions yourself.
In fact, in a recent survey conducted, 250 business executives reported that 72% are currently using social media as a source for information when deciding how their company should go forward with new projects or decisions.
Today’s social media demographics provide an important perspective on which networks your brand should approach. People are on different platforms for a variety of reasons and you must be aware that one platform may work better than the other depending on the age group or demographic.
The high-earning user bases of Facebook and YouTube make them prime sites for advertisements.
TikTok and Instagram have most of their users in millennials and Generation Z, which indicates the impact of content with a unique personality.
The number of women on Pinterest is vastly higher than that of men, and social shoppers agree that Pinterest has the highest average order value.
Due to its well-educated user base, LinkedIn is a great resource for content that analyzes a particular industry in greater detail than what can be found on other social media platforms.
It's easy to get caught up in the hype of a new social media channel and create content for it, even though your customers may not be there. Focus on networks where you know your core audience is already active.
Decide On Your KPIs And Most Important Metrics
Marketers are finally getting a grip on the value data has in social media. The rise of "vanity metrics" and large numbers that don't truly back up what marketers want to see, is something many brands have struggled with for years but now it's changing.
Rather than focusing on vanity metrics like followers or likes, successful campaigns will need to focus their energies on finding those measures which align directly with business goals - things like conversions from marketing efforts or customer acquisition rates via social channels can make all the difference when it comes down to success.
Reach
Reach measures how much content reaches an audience on social media—it’s not just about likes! Do you know what percentage of your followers are seeing posts in their feed at any given time (or when they last checked)?
Clicks
The number of clicks on your content or account is an essential part of understanding what drives curiosity and gets people to buy. Tracking clicks per campaign will help you determine which images, videos, texts or posts are the most effective at generating interest in a product by being clicked.
Engagement
Engagement is a metric that illustrates how well your audience perceives you and their willingness to interact. This number can be calculated by dividing the total social interactions with impressions. Engaging content will result in more people interacting, which equals higher engagement numbers for your brand.
Hashtags
What were your most popular hashtags? The use of such data is not just for creating marketing strategies, it can be helpful in gaining insights into what customers want from brands they already buy from as well.
Organic Likes/Paid Likes
Beyond standard likes, organic and paid interactions can be attributed to content. Organic engagement is much harder to come by in comparison with ads which accounts for why brands use them when trying to gain traction. Knowing these differences allow you the opportunity of budgeting wisely so that both your ad spend, as well as time invested into different formats are accounted for accordingly.
Sentiment
The sentiment of your followers can be seen through their comments. Just like any form of marketing, it's always a good idea to know what the people think about you and how they react when seeing your ads or campaigns on social media platforms.
Social media marketing is a numbers game that can be won or lost on the basis of how you use those statistics. To win, though, it needs to come back around and answer one question: what are your goals?
Creating Content That Is Engaging
Your social media marketing strategy depends on the content you create. This is especially true if you're new to the game or are just getting started. So what should you post? Here are some ideas that can help.
Stick With Your Brand’s Theme
With today's social media landscape, for many brands consistency is key. This means sticking to the same content themes and formats time after time so you're not spinning your wheels trying new things every day.
Brands don't want their followers constantly thinking "This feels like a different company!" when they post something on Instagram or Facebook- these brand loyalists are looking for familiarity in between all of that noise out there!
So what does this mean? Brands need to find content strategies that work well with them and stick to them over the long run because it makes life easier. And by being consistent, companies can also leverage those tried-and-true posts as assets instead of starting everything from scratch each week (or month).
Keep Up With Trends
When it comes to what content you should be publishing, there are a number of different trends on the rise. With so much competition online for your audience's attention span and their clicks, having innovative new material is key in order to stay relevant as an influencer or brand. Here are some social media trends that can help steer you back into creativity.
With the advent of TikTok, Snapchat Spotlight and Instagram Reels consumers are reading content in a new way. Marketers have to adapt by coming up with captivating videos that are associated with their brand in some way but still provide entertainment for these platforms.
Track The Competition
In order to create content that stands out, you need to know what the competition is doing. You should be tracking their latest updates and paying attention as they get mentioned or linked up with other sites. If your competitors are constantly giving tips on how-to posts, try sharing similar blog topics.
Analyze your industry opponents with competitive analysis tools - compare their performance to yours. Find out what they're posting on social media sites, measure the amount of engagement and see how they are tagging content on Instagram. Optimize your own strategy by taking notes from them.
Make Your Posts Timely
Timeliness has probably never been more crucial than now because not only do we have the challenge of producing new and interesting posts regularly but also being “on” at all times for our followers.
This becomes especially difficult when small teams are strapped with resources like marketing budgets and social media team sizes and if brands try doing this themselves instead of outsourcing the work.
Some social media experts recommend that late at night is the best time to post. But what’s the point if you're not there to respond and engage with followers? One way of doing this is by having a community manager ready and available when you post, in case any product questions or concerns arise during these “preferred” time periods.
Quick Response Times To Questions
The way brands interact with their customers has changed. Not only do customers now demand faster response times but companies must provide meaningful conversation more often too if they hope to increase consumer awareness.
Thankfully, social media offers excellent platforms where both these things can happen: Brands will build up goodwill through engaging interactions online.
If you want customers to keep coming back, make sure they never feel like their question or concern is going unanswered. According to research, the average time that brands respond to customer service messages has been approximately 10 hours.
But did you know that there's a growing trend of users who expect responses within four hours? If your brand doesn't have this type of quick turnaround rate - it might be one reason why customers aren’t engaging.
Organic content is having more trouble reaching the majority of viewers in our hyper connected world and it's up to businesses with small budgets who need an extra hand on their marketing funnel to not only designate people for specific tasks but also participate themselves when they have time.
Adapt And Change Your Social Media Marketing Strategy As The Numbers Dictate
Social media campaigns can be hard to keep an eye on. Constant analysis is key if you want to know how one campaign did over another, but taking a bird’s-eye view of your social media activity also gives perspective when it comes time for adjustments based on what content has been performing well and which needs attention.
New social media marketing trends are popping up every day. Social media marketing is a matter of trial-and-error, and monitoring your metrics in real time allows you to adjust accordingly rather than taking drastic measures before accurately measuring the success or failure of an idea.
Businesses need to be diligent about their data. Data is the key for any company hoping to succeed with social media marketing in a long term fashion. Long-term success of your business will start by knowing when to be proactive and when to be reactive. Knowing the right social media objectives to set can help prime you for success
Reports are important because they help keep marketers accountable by showcasing the value of your work through data in relation to its impact on business goals like revenue or customer acquisition rates. They can also highlight how specific social media channels help more than others.
With instant access to data, you can make the best decisions for your company by knowing whether or not your KPIs align with bigger goals. With easy-to-share data and decision making that is done in a timely manner, pivoting becomes easier.
With social media constantly evolving, it's important that your strategy keeps up. Setting actionable goals and addressing the steps we’ve shared will help you stay ahead of the curve.
