Social media encompasses all social networks, blogging platforms and video platforms we know of. Till date, Facebook remains the most popular social media platform with 79% of adults relying on it for daily updates. Most brands are choosing Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to market their products. Social networking sites make it much easier to categorize the followers and users as per market demographics.
Why should you turn to social media as well?
Once brands can access customer information as per geographic locations, user interests, age, and sex, there is nothing more they can need to device a working social media marketing strategy. WhatsApp and WeChat are two other messaging apps that are taking over the marketing world right now. These allow the brand managers to get in touch with individual users directly via broadcast messages and personal messages.
Stats show that about 42% of adult shoppers like to reach out to brands via social platforms for complaints and clarifications. They also expect instant responses. Ideally, the response time should be about 1 hour for brands, but many are circumventing the time-crunch by employing bots and auto-response tools that say, “Please DM me the details” or “We will get back to you via email.” It helps in creating the impression that your brand cares about the customers.
So here we have five essential tips to help your business grow on social media and set up a successful campaign too.
Before you begin
We all know about the leading channels. If we have any doubts, we can always check out the performance of network sites and apps on any reliable website. Facebook is apparently leading in many aspects, and Instagram is following closely. The question here is – is the leading platform the best choice for you?
Not all platforms are equal, and your brand can have unique requirements. Some brands need visual branding, and they prefer Pinterest, SnapChat, and Instagram over blogging sites and Twitter. It is essential to find out your marketing needs before you can choose your platform.
Do you already have a social media account? What is your following like? Do you have enough followers to market products or do you need help from experts like Social Growr to get real followers? Before diving into the world of social media marketing assess your brand position on different channels.
Create a strong profile
The key to social media success is creating a profile that has a noticeable and robust presence. You need to be able to attract people’s attention to your product posts. Therefore, you need to build a healthy relationship with them first.
Do not start selling your products from the first post. Include a relatable and robust bio. Post relatable stories, thoughts and ideas that will captivate the audience. For example – engage your followers by posting regular quizzes and asking topical questions works much better than self-promoting posts.
Once you have built a strong relationship, you can go to introduce your products and services. A mutual understanding entails better response, higher CTR and better conversion rates.
Have you thought of a social media calendar?
You need to create a calendar of your posts. In the social world, seeing is believing. Once you become irregular on any channel, people will forget about your existence. Lack of regularity often translates to thinning followership, low engagement levels, and low conversion rates.
To maintain regularity, you need to be able to follow a template. Create a scheduled post guide for yourself. You can find out which channel garners the most acknowledgment for your kind of posts. Users on Certain social platforms are active during certain times of the day. Using a schedule and a monitoring tool will help you find the optimum time for posting content.
Sometimes, you need to take a bold move. Most businesses and influencers post during the noon and afternoon to catch the attention of most users. You can pick an off time for posting like before 10 am or after 7 pm to avoid the office-hour rush. It will keep your posts visible. You can always repost content during different times of the day, but be sure not to create “fatigue” among your readers with repetitive content.
Keep unhappiness away!
First, never ignore or engage in confrontation with an unhappy customer on social media. If someone is accusing you of something you have not done, always try to clarify the facts first. Do not be aggressive or offensive. The more controversy you create, the more attention you will be attracted to the negative posts.
Secondly, always distract your unhappy customers. Take them away from your social media channel to your DM or email. (Facebook) Wall-full of angry exchanges is not something you want your potential customers to see! Therefore, gently direct them to email or customer care before things get out of hand.
You cannot run far without paid ads
We know how PPC and CPC sound like the anti-heroes of social media campaigns, but in reality, you cannot get far without them. They may cost a few pretty pennies, but smaller businesses and start-ups need them to grow social reach.
We always recommend PPC over CPC for new entrepreneurs, who want to make their mark in the social world. You can specify which audiences get to see your ad and you only have to pay when someone clicks your ad. Over the years, PPC models have become cost-effective, steady and a harbinger of new customers to your website.
Social media marketing is a lot of strategies and tools, as it is about nuances of customer relationships. Although social media can be slow due to the heavy traffic of brands, old and new, it provides a strong platform for the growth of businesses with little investment. You can choose to proceed without paid advertising. In such a case, you will not have to pay for advertising models either. As long as you have your content strategy, post schedule, analytics tools and key performance indicators in place, you are good to go!
