Whether it's cat videos, cooking lessons or updates from high school friends, everyone is engaged in social media these days. If you want to reach customers, then every business should have a social media presence. However, with an estimated 77% of businesses already using social media, the competition is fierce. You need to be strategic with your investment in social media.
Here are some tips to help you create a successful social media plan for your business.
Identify Your Social Media Goals
As a business, wasting time and resources on social media is easy. Before you jump onto every social media channel and start running a multitude of campaigns, set goals. With goals in place, you can pick and choose where to invest in social media. If your goal is to reach a specific type of customer, then you can write posts and develop content with that customer in mind. Ask similar customers what they want. Your goals should be the focus of your social media efforts.
Goals are also a great way to build internal excitement for your social media investment. When other employees ask about your strategy, make sure to explain the goal and how it will impact business success.
Determine Which Social Media Platform to Use
Face it, the world of social media is vast, convoluted and confusing. It can be difficult to be heard and seen above all that noise. Social media audiences are huge, and it’s tricky to find the people who want to work with your business in there.
That’s why it is so important to select the right social media platform in your strategy. With so many platforms, choose the advertising and social media channel that works best for your business. Go to where your customers are. Make sure it’s a place that those customers trust, and provide them the information and content they are looking for.
Run Social Media Paid Campaigns
Social media may be free, but if you’re willing to invest time into producing content, then make sure you are reaching as many of your target audience as possible. Paid campaigns can help you do that.
For example, LinkedIn ads have a potential ad reach of 849.6 million. For B2B (business to business) companies, the tools in LinkedIn can be used to segment the users that will see your ad. With the average user being professional high earners between 46 and 55 years old, the social media platform’s distinctive user demographic alone makes it a prime social platform to invest in paid advertisement, especially since you can know the best possible customers will be seeing your ad.
Set Up and Use Social Media Surveys
Want to get to know your customers better? Why not ask them questions directly with social media surveys. While most people don’t enjoy in-person surveys, many love to take social media surveys, especially for a reward. Businesses can conduct social media surveys to better understand their target audience and tailor their social media strategy to suit their findings.
The reward is a great way to drive more business. For example, why not offer a free month of your service for a survey? You can have users experience a trial of your product and get great information, and they will opt in for your marketing communications. It’s an excellent tool for any business.
Share User-Generated Content
You know that your customers can be your most valuable advocates for your business. Why not offer your customers a new platform to share their experience with user-generated content (UGC)? UGC is unique content your customers create about your brand that is posted on social media. UGC includes forms, images, videos, reviews, testimonials and podcasts. Encourage customers to tag your brand on social media.
You can generate UGC excitement with the right product or service and a little creative marketing. Set up a contest for customers. Provide a fun reward and make it easy for them to share the content they generate. For example, set up a fun background at a trade show, and then take a quick video of users telling fun stories about the show or your product. Pick the best story for the show giveaway. It’s free advertising for your product or service. Moreover, it helps customers feel seen and connected to your brand.
Showcase Your Company Culture
Social media is a great way to show your company’s unique culture and enjoy engaging with your fans. For a successful social media strategy, share some of the following:
- Company events
- Office pets
- Hobbies
- Continuing education opportunities
- Conferences
- Work anniversaries
- Collaborations
People love to know the names and faces of the companies they work with. Posts that highlight your employees and company culture will be extremely popular and pay great dividends for your brand.
Engage with Influencers
Influencer marketing is when companies use social media influencers to market their products and services. Usually, companies will work with content creators or influencers to make content about the product and then promote it on social media.
Consider that your customers will be engaging with and watching influencers as well, so you can consider influencers another social channel. Do your research to find the influencers in your industry. Once you identify them, reach out and build genuine relationships by following them on social media, interacting with their posts, and providing useful content on their feeds. Over time that relationship will grow organically.
Social Listening
Social listening is the process of scanning social media for mentions of your brand or other conversations about it. This is a useful way to track and monitor your customers' needs.
Social listening offers insight into your most popular products, any recurring problems your products may have, and the public’s overall view of your brand. With social listening, you can make necessary adjustments, address any issues with your product, change your call-to-action message and more.
Social Media Marketing
The benefits of social media for business are unlimited, if you have the right strategy and resources to reach your goals.
With so much opportunity in social media, it’s easy to get lost and not reach those goals. That’s where a team of experts like GO2 Partners can help. GO2 Partners is a team of talented copywriters, social media strategists and digital marketers. Work with us to develop a customized social media solution for your individual needs. Then pick and choose the support you need to achieve your goals. Contact us today to learn more!
