If you want to have better results and returns from your social media marketing campaigns, you will need to plan a better outreach strategy. You will also need to design better commercial proposals. At this point, several questions may arise, such as:
- What are the specific social networks you should use to present and promote your brand and products?
- How can you maximize the potential of all these different social media platforms?
Most of the marketers will suggest that for making your social media marketing more productive, you will need to use the Instagram platform. Well, there is something more to it, and the most evident answer to the above two questions seems to be: by designing a perfect social media mix.
A social media mix, as explained by the specialists, is a process that will deliver your proposals to the target audience in the best possible way. However, there is no need to be present on every available social channel for that matter. The primary objective behind this is to:
- Identify the most suitable channels to represent your product and brand
- Keep the characteristics of the channels and mind and
- Know where exactly your target audience is.
This will ensure that you are successful in your communication campaigns on social media to connect and interact with the users so that they get more interested in your commercial proposals.
Create a Social Media Strategy
To use social media successfully to enhance the reputation of your brand, there are a few specific steps to follow.
First, you will need to develop a perfect social media strategy. This strategy should include a few specific things, such as:
- Your mission and vision statement
- The overall strategy and
- The set of tactics that you need to execute.
These elements should align with the different needs of the various social platforms as well as the purpose of using it for your business marketing purpose.
It is also essential that you do not spam your Instagram followers. For this, you will need to identify and use the right technology. These technologies will also help you to:
- Know the benefits of your overall strategy
- Manage the entire process in the best possible way
- Budget accordingly
- Find all the potential avenues for monetization and
- Handle the security aspect as well.
The wide assortment of technologies will help you a lot in outlining your social media strategy more clearly. It will also help you to check the performance of your social posts daily and make necessary amendments as and when required.
Why, How and What
You will need to define a few things first to create a more holistic and effective social media strategy. These are:
- Why do you exist and need the goals in the first place? Will your goals add any value to the people, and what do you want these people to do?
- How you can develop your strategy that will encompass the channels through which you want to leverage your story. You must also know how often you need to post these stories and in what manner.
- What type of content do you want to leverage through the platform? The kind of content will play a significant role in the success of your overall strategy.
When you know the answers to these questions, focus on the 80-20 rule. This means ensuring 80% engagement with 20% effort put in. In other words, it means that you should get more by doing less.
You will be better off if you create a communications calendar. For this you will need to:
- Identify the themes
- Select the top three core messages and CTAs
- Build a content pyramid
- Leverage introductory content and
- Drill deeper down the way.
This will help you to create more balance in and of your content across different social media channels. Just keep in mind to spotlight the people in your organization, educate people about the industry, touch the pain points, entertain your audience engaging and inspirational pieces, curate your content by thought leaders, promote initiative with strong and clear calls to action and align it all with your vision and mission.
Engaging or Broadcasting
There is a significant difference in creating an engagement strategy and broadcasting. This is another vital aspect that you need to know and focus on while building your marketing strategy.
- An engaging marketing strategy and the content will involve the community, and in this system, the interaction with the audience is usually very transparent.
- The principle followed in here is to engage with the people more if you want them to engage with you.
- An engaging strategy is never over-promotional or spammy. It is a perfect mix of content and conversation with the audience.
Ideally, engaging content and strategy must be built by understanding the audience first, right from the very first post.
Broadcasters, on the other hand, are deaf. Ideally, broadcasting your message is much like mega-phone marketing where you walk directly into the networking event and start shouting at everyone nearby.
The Channels to Focus
Lastly, you should know the different social channels to focus and use the best one knowing their features and according to your needs. Your choice will also depend on the target audience, the type of products you sell as well as the lifestyle represented by your brand. This will ensure that you use the different user bases of each social channel and their demographics to make the right decision.
Here are a few basic demographic facts to know and the suggestions to follow in choosing the right channel and mixing according to your target customers.
- Facebook: This is the most commonly used social platform where you will have a broader audience of all ages.
- Instagram: The most popular channel that has an equal mix of men and women.
- Twitter: This represents the wide range of interests of the teens and those in their 20s.
You can also use Tumblr and Pinterest to be more eclectic in your marketing efforts and reach the right people to increase sales volume.
Final Thoughts
If you follow these tips you are sure to see better results and returns from your social media marketing campaigns.
Ariya Stark is a notable management consultant and digital marketing expert. She is an experienced digital marketer and has helped e-commerce businesses in all niches gain with her effective marketing strategies and guidance.
