Social media is impacting day-to-day life for billions of people. According to the 2018 Global Digital Report, there are over three billion social users in the world. That is a lot of potential customers your business can net using different social media marketing strategies.
One of the biggest hurdles businesses have when approaching social media as a lead generation asset is lack of strategy. A powerful social strategy can churn more of your target audience down the sales funnel. From brand awareness to conversion, to boost your bottom line, it’s time to get social.
The following is a roadmap to social media success. Implementing these hacks into your social strategy can set your business apart from competitors and increase profits.
Step 1: Start with Social Goals
You probably have sales goals, but do you have social media goals in place? Having a few goals in place is the first step in developing a powerful social media strategy.
What do you want to accomplish? More brand awareness, more website traffic, maybe more leads?
Defining these goals helps you understand the types of social media posts needed to be successful. It will also give you a clearer picture on the key metrics needed to determine if a social media campaign is working, or if it needs tweaking.
How do you begin generating social media marketing goals? Here are a few social planning templates you can draw from by Hootsuite.
Step 2: Set Up Metrics for Social Campaigns
With goals on the whiteboard, you can begin setting measurable metrics to track those goals. For instance, let’s say you want to generate more traffic to your website using social media.
To accomplish this goal, you plan on launching a number of brand awareness Facebook ads. If you are currently generating 25 visits per day via Facebook, set a new metric that is high, but achievable, like 50 per day.
This might seem like a low metric, but when you add it up over the month, that’s around 1,500 more views per month. It is also 25 more new potential customers per day.
Step 3: Combine Social with Audience Demographics
Many businesses fail at social media marketing because they are not leveraging audience demographics correctly.
For example, if your target audience is primarily women, than highly visual, women-minded Pinterest posts are vital. Why? More than 80 percent of Pinterest users are women.
Knowing your target audience allows you to target the right social media channels effectively. This will also help you make social posts that connect with your audience on a personal level too.
Let’s say you’re a mobile gaming company. What social network does your audience hang out on the most? YouTube is one top spot with a 343 percent rise in game streaming in 2017, according to TechCrunch.
Your audience is watching gaming videos, live streams, gaming reviews, and more on YouTube. To net attract these users to your brand, launch a powerful social strategy for your audience, like this post on YouTube marketing by CloudLGS.
Step 4: Research Competitors on Social Media
Nearly all businesses have a handful of competitors, and they can be very useful in helping you develop a successful social media strategy. Take a look at one of the competitors you inspire to surpass in traffic and sales. Then look at their social channels.
What social networks are they using? What types of posts do they have? Are they using more videos and gifs?
Little tidbits like these can take your social media marketing campaigns to the next level. Speaking of posting more videos and gifs, here’s a post on how to make them by Shopify.
For example, if one of your competitors has a massive Instagram following, but you are still struggling to break 1,000 followers, mirror what they are posting. Use the hashtags they use, and post similar content.
You may be surprised on how many of your competitor’s customers will jump ship and start following your brand on Instagram. Once your social grows exponentially, you will have a following loyal enough to get more creative.
Step 5: Be Consistent, Measure, and Adjust
You have deployed a few of the tactics above, results are coming in, and you’re fairly satisfied. Unfortunately, the work isn’t over yet. In fact, it will never be over. That’s why the job social media manager exists.
If you have a successful social media marketing campaign, you need to keep posting and engaging with your followers to keep them interested. The worst social media strategies are usually inconsistent. But be consistent.
Social fans want regularly scheduled content that connects personally and emotionally. If they don’t see you around for a week, you will simply be forgotten, and that is bad for your brand and bottom line.
Is Your Business Social Enough?
Is social media marketing hard? Absolutely. Does it have to be? No. Employing the above strategies can help your business get on track socially. You will not only improve your social visibility, but you can add another touch point that helps move your target audience one step closer to conversion. What is your top social tip?