Lots of companies screw up their social media advertising. They’re constantly bombarded with the message, “You must have a social media presence,” but the specifics aren’t always made clear. When done right, social media marketing has the potential to help businesses of all sizes expand.
Like with more conventional media like TV commercials, radio spots, and print ads, your returns will be small at best if you target the incorrect demographic with your message. I consulted with six business owners to compile this list of must-haves for any social media marketing plan.
Set aside some time to study social media
You can find a wealth of information about social media marketing online, from free resources like this one to pricey, self-paced courses. As long as you put forth the effort to learn, it’s not rocket science.
Pay attention to what the clients are saying
In order to understand your clients’ needs, you must first listen to them. Make sure to treat your social media accounts as an extension of your customer support department. According to ABODO’s VP of Marketing, Ryan Koechel, more customers will share their feedback on social media platforms than via email or phone.
The door to alternative possibilities opens when you listen to your audience. An audit of a brand’s social media followers is one method my agency uses to find influential users when developing campaign tactics for a client. The best way to find out what your audience wants is to learn how to listen to them.
Automate to ensure uniformity
In the realm of social media advertising, there exists both useful automation and spammy, unproductive automation. You shouldn’t spam your followers with advertisements all day long. Connect with your target audience and give them useful information through social media. You’ll win over loyal customers and brand advocates this way.
“If you’re going to hire someone full-time to handle your social media, that person needs to be reliable and send out content to all of your profiles. Some automation tools, like Hootsuite, even have free tiers that can significantly improve productivity. Scheduling your posts in advance, as recommended by StreetSaw’s Daniel Moravec, frees you up to respond to and interact with your social media followers.
Participate actively and in a way that will thrill your audience
It’s easy to flood your social media feed with content, but far more difficult to actually connect with your audience and convert them into paying clients. Many local company owners, in my experience, make multiple daily posts to their social media accounts in the mistaken belief that this is effective social media marketing. You cannot merely make a post and then disappear. Roy Surdej, owner of Peaches Boutique, says that if you don’t interact with your customers, you’re missing out on crucial possibilities to win them over.
A problem or difficulty that one consumer is having may be shared by others, which can be uncovered through interaction with your followers. Then you can take preventative measures and deal with the problems before they escalate into insurmountable catastrophes. It is much easier to identify trouble spots before they go out of control if lines of communication are never cut off.
Not overextend oneself
Keeping up with all of the many social media sites is not only difficult, but usually also fruitless. Every time I hear of a new brand, I tell them to focus on just two or three social media sites where they know their intended customers spend time. Learn to master those channels first, and then, as your company expands, you may devote more resources to other social media sites.
Managing Partner at elf925 Jasper Hillaud says, “While Pinterest marketing might not be effective for some businesses, it is one that we put a lot of energy into because we see it work first-hand.” This demonstrates the importance of investing time and resources into the social media platforms that are a good fit for your brand. While it may not be the legal firm’s first choice, that doesn’t mean it should be ignored. You should decide how to allocate your time and resources on social media in a way that best serves your target audience.
Keep detailed records of all your activities
If you want to have a successful social media marketing campaign, you need to track your metrics. Setting concrete, measurable objectives is crucial for evaluating the success of your social initiatives. Gathering and analyzing data will allow you to fine-tune your marketing. To create a genuinely effective campaign, Eric Ritter, Founder & CEO of Digital Neighbor, says you must be willing to continuously tweak and evaluate your efforts.
Doesn’t matter if you have a daily social media spend of $10 or $60,000. The goal is the same in both cases: to get your message in front of the right people and get them interested. Keeping tabs on and measuring everything is essential for reaching this goal.