As business becomes increasingly digitally reliant and most companies are connecting with their customers and clients online, the role of social media marketing becomes an even more important way to advance your business. If you haven’t yet invested the time and effort into creating a social media strategy for your company, there’s no time like the present.
Benefits of Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing can help you connect with your ideal client and network with other industry professionals. It can also help you increase your brand name recognition in new markets and establish yourself as an authority in your field. As the old adage goes, a potential customer needs to see your product or service 7 times (sometimes even more) before they will consider purchasing from you. Using your social media feeds and ads to push your goods can be a great way to get closer to that number, especially since social media can aid in improving your business’s search engine optimization (or SEO).
In addition, practicing “social listening” on your social media feeds can help you conduct important research about the current opinion of your company and its products and gain more insight about your audience demographic. This can lead to more targeted marketing efforts or even new products and services as you determine your audience’s needs and pain points.
Finally, social media can be an important tool for recruitment and staffing. According to Accounting Web, LinkedIn is particularly useful for finding and reaching out to ideal candidates for your open positions.
How to Create a Successful Social Media Strategy
Simply posting on social media sporadically in not worth your marketing team’s time and effort. In order to get the most out of your social media strategy, you can use the tips below.
Define your Goals and KPIs
Make sure to take time to define your goals on social media. Will you primarily be using it for recruiting? To do market research? To make new sales? Set KPIs, or key performance indicators, that are measurable at regular intervals so that you can track your progress.
Choose the Right Platforms
There are many social media platforms to choose from. Rather than trying to establish a presence on all of them at once, choose the platform that best aligns with your goals. LinkedIn is great for recruiting and networking. Instagram and Facebook can both help you reach new audiences and practice social listening. Twitter is great for customer service.
Be Consistent
The Instagram algorithm in particular rewards frequent posting on your feed and stories. This can help you land on the discover page and reach new audiences. A general rule of thumb is to make sure you’re posting once per day on your feed and at least five times per day on stories, making sure to utilize Instagram’s built-in features such as polls, stickers, GIFs, music, etc. for best results.
Consider Ads
While it is possible to grow organically on social media, most platforms actively suppress organic reach in order to sell paid ads. Consider an ad budget as part of your strategy and look into retargeting the same audience to increase the return on your investment.
Adjust as You Go
Social media marketing is an extremely powerful tool, especially in an age where many people are spending more and more time inside their homes on their computers. Establishing a social media strategy can take your business to new heights if executed properly. If this is a new foray for your company, feel free to analyze and adjust your strategy at regular intervals, such as every quarter, until you see the results you’re looking for!
