With over 3 billion active users on social media, social media marketing is definitely one of the most effective channels for businesses to establish an online presence, acquire quality traffic and ultimately drive sales.
Today, it sounds pretty inevitable to be on social media, isn’t it?
Besides, did you know that social media has a worldwide penetration rate of 49%?
Well, this means that nearly half the world’s population is there on social media! And, if you know how to leverage social media platforms right, there can be no bigger opportunity for marketing out there.
Need some tips for social media marketing to boost your traffic and make your life easier? Read on to explore how to make the best of social media!
15 Tips for Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing can either be a vibrant powerhouse that solidifies branding, generates quality leads, and drives sales or, it can be a big-time disappointment. The key lies in knowing how to create, carry out, and analyze the overall plan strategically.
With proper planning, businesses can undoubtedly reach and exceed the payoff that made them all enthusiastic about social media in the first place.
Fortunately, we have a step-by-step plan laid out for you. Go through these 15 foolproof tips to ace your social media marketing campaign!
Identify your Goals and Audience
It’s wise to always start with goal setting before directly jumping to planning, and social media marketing’s no different. So, you should apply the SMART goal-setting approach to create the framework for a strong social media marketing campaign.
Once you set your social media goals, move on to decide on who your target audience will be. Your message won’t be compelling unless it’s specifically designed for your target audience.
Besides, developing a suitable buyer persona shows you the direction to take the content that will most likely engage and intrigue your target audience.
Make the Most of Automation Tools
Imagine having a profile on a dozen different platforms and posting manually on each at least three times a day. Scary, right? Besides, all your time will be consumed in publishing the posts with zero to negligible productivity.
If only there were someone we could dump this monotonous work on! Well, say hello to social media tools- your knight in shining armor.
You can use tools like HubSpot to auto-post your updates to all your social accounts and then evaluate the results with their analytics.
The whole point of using such tools is to plan ahead of time and create and schedule posts on the content calendar.
With these tools, you can schedule your pins, posts, and tweets with relevant hashtags and social media mentions for the entire month, all in one go. And voila, you just saved yourself ample time to be more productive and concentrate on the overall social media strategy.
Treat each Platform Uniquely
People often use the same message on each social media platform.
However, this is where they go wrong. If you want to ace your social media game, you have to treat each platform uniquely and consider its respective functionalities and features.
To build a loyal fanbase, you must plan and come up with a creative strategy for each platform individually. Keep in mind the follower demographics and create content that appeals to them the most.
Make the Best Use of Emoticons
There is a reason we have emoticons. Emoticons or emojis serve the purpose of conveying emotions pretty well.
However, proper use of emotions is essential to convey the desired tone and the right sentiment behind the message. Believe me; it is literally as easy as adding a . Besides, the emoticons get the readers more thrilled about your content. So, the next time you write, feel free to drop in your favorite emoticons in the caption.
Be Open to paying for Social Advertising
People often see social media as pure organic activity; however, one should be open to trying a paid marketing channel. You may use paid ads on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social platforms.
Of course, paid ads have their strengths and flaws. But, don't be scared of paying for better social media reach or clicks. Of course, I don't suggest you jump in with a really fancy budget. Start slow, see if you are getting the expected results, and then move on accordingly. And who knows, it might turn into a good investment!
Authenticity is Key
Be Authentic, don't just Fake it. This may sound obvious; however, authenticity is on the verge of turning into another buzzword in the social world.
Being authentic will set you and your brand apart in this extremely competitive market. Because, believe me, today, the followers are attracted to what's real, and they can sniff out pretend content in a heartbeat.
Share Quality Visual Content
Do you leverage visual content while promoting blog posts on your social media platforms? Well, quality visuals are a must to expand your social media engagement.
Why? Simple because people find visuals more engaging and are thus more inclined to share visual content. Besides, visuals offer more value and help generate more traffic, improved sales, and lead you to the top. Therefore, using visuals should be one of the main ingredients for your social media marketing strategy.
Focus on Relationships
It's no mystery that the life of social media is people like you and me.
Therefore, our content must offer value to our target audience to build real relationships. Your content should incite your communities to connect and engage with you. Remember, it's all about them and not you.
So, listen to and reply to what they have to say on social media! Engage, and you'll definitely convert your followers into brand ambassadors!
Aim for Engagement First
One of the most prominent mistakes businesses often make is that they constantly aim to get a lead or conversion from social media. However, you need to understand that people are scrolling their social media feeds for entertainment and not buying or providing their email.
So it would be best if you focus more on engagement. Start with entertainment images and videos related to your niche and boost those posts to reach your targeted audience.
And, you'll be astonished to see how soon you'll have a strong fanbase and followers who are waiting for you to post. Now, that's the time to talk about business and convert them smartly.
Make Lasting Impressions
Remember, our focus should be on creating lasting impressions with original content rather than being lost in fleeting trends and slang. Your brand's voice should be real, consistent, and reflect the organization and culture for which it speaks.
Of course, it doesn't mean you can not try out new things. However, just be conscious of the fine line between meeting your followers at their level and striving too hard to “be cool.”
Slow down on the Hashtags
Hashtags are perfect if you want to organize all your social media posts. Click on a specific hashtag, and all the relevant content becomes visible. Besides, hashtags are identifiers of your brand and help you start conversations and engage with your followers.
But there's more!
The more hashtags you use, the more engagement you get.
How?
Well, using too many hashtags can make people annoyed and can even drop your engagement rate. To avoid this, use 2 or 3 targeted hashtags per post and make sure to use only high-volume relevant hashtags you can easily find using online hashtag generator tools.
Work with Sales to understand your Buyer’s Journey
As with any marketing, the key lies in knowing your audience. Therefore, marketers should work closely with the sales team to learn about the buyer's journey and other factors affecting decision-making. Once the social media marketer understands this journey, they must create content that aptly fits this process.
Embrace your Mistakes
Humans are prone to make mistakes, and the fast-paced world of social media is no exception. Therefore, instead of being ignorant of our mistakes, we must learn to accept and apologize for them. Being a social media marketer, it's our job to work on them and sometimes tell our followers about them. They'll admire the fact that you worked on your mistakes to present them with improved services.
Be “Social”
The ultimate key to ace social media is to be “social.” Irrespective of how many posts you publish on social media, you must grow your engagement by dropping feedback, retweeting, following, and somehow connecting with your target audience.
And believe me, you will notice a radical difference in your click rates in your future posts.
Deep dive into Social Media Analytics
Analytics help you know your audience and figure out what generates more traffic. So, you must use social media data effectively to accelerate performance.
Evaluate the analytics, pay attention to the stats like follower increase, page views, number of posts, shares, likes, clicks, impressions, etc.
HubSpot social tools help you keep track of your social media analytics. Use these results to reevaluate your strategy, if required, and make plans for the future.
Wrapping Up
An active social media marketing strategy is an indispensable part of your overall marketing campaign.
However, remember, there is no fixed plan to succeed in social media marketing. Therefore, you should constantly try new tips and tricks to achieve success for your brands.
Besides, to keep yourself from falling behind, you must always stay updated with the recent trends and be aware of the direction social media is headed!
Analyze the result of your social media marketing efforts and use social media analytics tools to learn more about your audience and how they typically interact with your business.
Note that it's pretty natural to start out fully excited, get burned out midway, and lose commitment. But remember that it will take some time to see significant numbers. So, don't lose hope and stay with it!
Also, reach out to us and see what other great social marketing tips our experts can shoot!
Editor– Divya Verma