Social media marketing has become a top priority for brands looking to increase visibility. Using social media effectively can help your brand gain an advantage by capitalizing on opportunities before competitors do. That said, coming up with a working strategy is often easier said than done.
Here are 5 effective strategies to help you make the most of social media marketing.
Creating targeted content
Content marketing
Social listening and monitoring
Video marketing
Influencer marketing
The rest of this article will explain each of the mentioned strategies in detail. Read on for insights into each of them and tips on elevating your social media strategy.
1. Targeted Content
Every brand has a particular target customer base, and they ensure to have content that would appeal to them. These are the users who engage much more on posts from your brand. When this targeted user base is identified, brands focus more on their social media strategy and content that appeals specifically to them.
In a targeted content strategy, the entire content of a brand’s social media page changes according to the target customer base and powers more engagement than using generic content on the same social platforms.
Tip: When creating content, think about the types of posts likely to be shared by your users. If a post has an image and some text, give the image more importance. The average attention span of viewers is short, so be smart about picking the best photos for your posts.
Specific ways to use this method to increase sales include:
Providing “How To” posts that aid users in solving their problems (especially if they need to follow some steps when using the products you offer)
Showing real-life customer stories and offering advice to create relationships with users
Providing links to articles that are related to the topics and interests of your target audience. These can be inspirational, informative, and entertaining.
2. Content Marketing
Content marketing is a strategy that generates content assets. It distributes them via various channels, including social media networks, blogging platforms, or even email newsletters.
Hence, people know about your brands’ products or services. This strategy helps increase brand awareness and credibility among the target audience as well as create brand advocates.
Specific ways to use this method to increase sales include:
Creating blog posts and articles about your products or service offerings, such that people who read them get a good idea about what you are offering and how it can help them solve their existing problems
Creating eBooks for your readers with specific information they can use to solve their problems
Creating videos on your products’ benefits and how they can be used to generate more leads for your business
3. Social Listening and Monitoring
Social listening takes place on social media monitoring tools where brands listen to what the users are talking about and how they talk about them. It also involves trying to figure out ways to make their brand more visible in users’ eyes.
Brands use this tool for monitoring and as part of a social media strategy to stay informed on what’s happening around them to react accordingly.
Specific ways to use this method to increase sales include:
Responding to comments or questions of users
Providing solutions to existing problems
Keeping track of trends and what’s popular among your target customers and integrate the same into your content
Conversing with influencers to improve brand reputation
4. Video Marketing on Social Media
Video marketing is the most preferred way of interaction between brands and their target audience. People would rather watch a short video than read anything extensive or follow directions to complete tasks related to your brand’s product or service.
It makes sense for brands to start using videos on social media platforms because it helps engage users more personally. Some platforms, such as YouTube, support live streaming videos that brands can use to interact with their users on a real-time basis without any delay in response.
Specific ways to use this method to increase sales include:
Creating pre-recorded videos that users can watch to help them learn or understand your products/services better
Live streaming videos of your events or product launches. This will give users access to the event too.
5. Influencer Marketing
There are many ways to use influencers in marketing, which mainly involves brands facilitating the development and promotion of their products/services via these influencers. They can be celebrities, bloggers, or anyone with a huge following and reputation in the market.
Influencer marketing is an excellent way for brands to spread awareness about their product/service offerings. Their reach extends far beyond what your own social media fans do.
You gain trust by using influencers because someone famous or has a massive following uses the product and recommends it.
Specific ways to use this method to increase sales include:
Collaborating with influencers to test and promote your products/services. This lets them know how your product performs in their daily lives so they can confidently recommend it to their audiences
Getting your products/services reviewed by influencers to increase credibility and trust from potential buyers
Creating partnership opportunities for influencers to generate more interest in your brand
Examples of Brands With Outstanding Social Media Strategies
Starbucks, the brand that is synonymous with coffee, has a pretty active social media presence. The images and videos related to their products are shared on their Instagram page, accompanied by inspirational quotes.
People like this kind of content because they find it relatable and generally make way for deeper engagement than receiving posts with just text.
The fashion brand has a solid following on social media. It knows how to use its presence to appeal to the target audience using the right content for each platform.
The various posting strategies have helped Burberry establish a positive image among its users, leading to higher engagement.
The toilet paper brand uses numerous social media platforms to promote its products. The brand updates its Twitter account with trivia related to its products and tags it with #Tweetfromtheseat, an instant hit among people who use its service.
Tinder, the popular dating app, has become a massive success because it connects people. The app has a solid social media presence that helps users find other potential partners at places where they can meet new people. Tinder uses various social media platforms to engage with people and help them become part of its community.
The famous cookie brand makes sure that each of its posts can generate positive feedback from the audience. It uses social media platforms to promote its products and make it more accessible for people to buy them when they are most likely to do so.
Some of the brands mentioned above have managed to create content synonymous with their brand’s identity. The purpose of creating such memorable content is to help consumers connect with them on a personal level. Social media platforms allow brands to create meaningful content and give it the right kind of attention that will help boost its engagement among users.
Pro Tip: If your target audience is using social media to interact with each other, you need to be there by creating engaging content for them. You want to make sure that you make the most out of your brand’s presence on social media platforms to increase its exposure and reach out to more potential users.
5 Practical Tips on How To Elevate Your Social Media Strategy
If you are a brand looking to take your social media strategy to the next level, here are some tips to help you achieve your goal.
1. Make Your Content Remarkable
You have invested money in creating content for your social media pages, but how much of it gets noticed by users? If you want to make your content stand apart, you need to give it some extra attention.
To do this, always keep the target audience in mind and develop content that can help connect with them.
2. Help People Discover You Easily
Since social media allows users to share their activities online, you should take advantage of this. In other words, make sure that your brand is easily discoverable in places where people are most likely to look for you.
3. Be Consistent With Your Content
It is important to post regular content on social media to remain active so users can check it out whenever they want. As a brand, you need to be consistent with your posting activity to ensure that people remain interested in what’s going on on your page.
Suppose you are planning to run a social media campaign. In that case, it is crucial that regular updates continue after the campaign’s end date has passed.
4. Track the Performance of Your Content
If you are wondering how your content is performing on social media, you need to track its performance. Some tools and resources can help you do this by tracking the number of views your posts have received and also how many times these have been shared with others online.
By keeping a tab on such details, you will see where your organization can improve.
5. Stay Updated With the Latest Trends
Every day social media is changing, and you need to stay up-to-date with the latest trends on how it’s changing.
So what are some of these changes?
You can make your content more engaging by using hashtags that tie into other trending topics or events so people from different demographics will find them.
Since videos have become a popular form of communicating through social media channels, consider creating short tutorials for consumers to showcase products clearly without having viewers read lengthy directions the way traditional ads do.
For more insights into how to develop a social media strategy, you’d find the information in this video valuable:
Conclusion
With so many social media strategies and platforms to choose from, it can be hard to know where you should start. But the best thing about social media is that they offer both overarching opportunities such as creating unique content or staying updated on current trends while providing more specific options like posting regular updates or helping people find your business easily online through well-designed posts for different audiences.
Contact us today at VINK Marketing Studio, and we’ll help guide you in choosing which strategy will work best for your brand!