Social Media Success in 3 Simple Steps
December 26, 2018
Even social media “experts” need a little help from time to time. This is because while marketing is a sales strategy as old as commerce itself, it’s always evolving. Social media is definitely the most modern way to communicate your brand to the public and stay on top of trends, but for those who are new to the various platforms it can be a little intimidating.
To build brand loyalty in your followers, and develop a group of followers to begin with, you need to have a solid foundation including personal involvement, great content, and an engaging newsfeed. So, how do you develop these things and what’s the key to success in social media marketing? While there’s no guide that can promise 100% results all the time, there are some sure-fire tactics you can take to get your social media game on track and moving in the right direction. Here are a few of the basics you should start out with.
1. Begin a Creative Outline: What kind of content will your social media feed have? This is extremely important, as it’s what will draw in followers and dictate whether they like and share what you have to say with others. Genuine authentic writing always looks best to search engines like Google and big-time social media platforms like Facebook, but you need more than just the basics to get moving in the busy and competitive world of social media. You need to add pizzazz without pushing it.
Infographics, images, and videos are great way to engage but what about your standard run of the mill content? Consider using color and different font to set yourself apart. Your content should also encourage feedback and interaction. Using creative tactics to talk to consumers and have them talk back creates a larger social circle for your brand. The point of social media is to span different social circles from the comfort of home, so take advantage of this ability by commenting, messaging, and liking the information your followers share with you as well.
2. Writing for a Target Group: Your audience is the group of people most likely to connect with your brand, use your products or services, and share your social media content with the world. These are the people you want to draw in and have them follow your various channels. Before you begin growing this group of followers, you’ve got to get to know your demographic and design a marketing plan which is specifically catering to that crowd while still being generic enough to include others as well. This is the tricky part of social media marketing, but it doesn’t have to be stressful.
Step one, do a little research to see who is buying your products, what people are saying about similar products online and what group do they fall into in terms of age, gender, socioeconomic standing, etc. Does it really matter who these people are? Of course it matters! If your key demographic is women aged 30-60 then you don’t need to cater content to teenaged males. Similarly, if your demographic is men aged 20-40, you’re not likely to try and connect to older women. Yes, you want everybody to buy your product, and any demographic can give a gift, but the consumers who are most likely to follow your blog, Facebook page, or Twitter feed are those in that demographic.
Once you’ve got this much narrowed down you can focus on more specific sets of data, such as interest data which dictates the types of products and services a social media user is normally interested in, you may also draw on partnerships with other data services to learn if users have outside buying habits which might dictate their interest in your product. Finally, you can use your own personal data from your official website and newsletter or membership list to create content based on those who have already shown interest in your business and brand.
3. Keep Track of Your Success: The last and possibly the most important part of a successful social media marketing campaign is tracking the success or failure of your project. You can do this by monitoring any new traffic which comes to your website landing page through your social media pages, by checking Facebook and Twitter analytics for things like shares, likes, and comments, and by keeping an eye on the number of followers as they increase or decline.
Other types of data to watch for include the number of clicks your ads receive, and how popular your products have become since the beginning of your latest social media campaign. Some forms of social media may garner more success for you than others. This will dictate where to put the most work into your online brand, and which accounts would be best left as automatic shared content from more successful pages.
Social media isn’t always easy but it doesn’t need to be complicated. Take your time, discover what works and what doesn’t and go with what your demographic likes to see. This modern form of marketing puts a fun spin on the classic, making it easier than ever to get close to your consumers and turn your brand into something they want to be a part of. Don’t take it all too seriously, but be sure to watch the numbers as this is what will dictate whether you’re on the right track or way off base.