Learn social media strategies to gain more customers and engage more effectively with your current customers.
- Social media is an incredibly effective way to engage with new, current and prospective customers.
- Not every social media platform is created equally. To develop an effective social strategy, focus on the social channels that best suit your brand.
- Social media platforms that work well for businesses include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest and LinkedIn.
- This article is for small business owners who want to learn about using social media for business and benefit from an effective social media strategy.
If you don’t have social media for your small business, you’re missing out on a lot of benefits for your brand. You can get new customers and interact more with existing customers. Social media is a cheap and custom way to reach your customers and get valuable insights into your brand.
According to Abdul Muhammad, social media is a very effective marketing tool because it is very affordable and reaches a lot of people. He also says that since people are always on social media, brands should be too.
This article will cover social media’s most successful business applications, the best practices for creating an effective social media marketing strategy, how to calculate social media ROI, and how to choose the best social platform for your brand.
How To Increase Social Media Presence
1. Use social media for customer service.
Since a lot of customers use social media, it makes sense to use social media for customer service. By communicating with customers through social media, you can efficiently address customer problems and create a base of loyal customers.
- Respond to customer issues quickly. Many businesses approach social media as another channel for self-promotion and don’t always respond when customers comment on their posts or tweet at them. According to research from Convince & Convert, 42% of consumers expect a response to a complaint on social media within 60 minutes, and nearly one-third expect a response within half an hour. Monitoring social media channels and responding to concerns promptly can help you build strong relationships with customers.
- Use hashtags strategically. How hashtags operate within a social media platform’s algorithm is likely to change frequently, so stay updated on your social platforms’ hashtag recommendations and best practices. Hashtags help keep topics organized and easy to navigate, especially on platforms like Twitter. You can also add more information and curate content to your hashtags.
- Take public conversations private. Many angry or frustrated customers leave public comments on a brand’s Instagram and Facebook accounts or tweet at a business. While you shouldn’t ignore these messages, it’s not always wise to handle the entire encounter publicly. Show other customers that you value their input and time by sending an initial response requesting to continue the conversation privately.
2. Stick to your brand voice and aesthetic.
You need to be consistent with your brand in order to be successful.
Your brand identity should be consistent across all marketing channels. If your messaging and identity seem to change from one day to the next, it can be confusing for consumers and they won’t be able to connect with your brand.
Be sure that your social media strategy is in line with your brand strategy.
3. Track your competitors.
Your competitors are like your neighbors. Checking up on them from time to time is fine.
“When I think of conducting a competitive analysis I go in with the expectation to be both challenged and inspired,” said Boswell. “The biggest thing you should look for when evaluating a competitor’s social media presence is how they are positioning themselves in the market and how shared or overlapped audiences are perceiving their efforts.”
Boswell says that while it’s good to be aware of your competition, you shouldn’t let it dictate your social media strategy. He says that what works well for one brand may not work for yours, so you should be choosy about which ideas you adopt.
4. Adjust your posts based on current events.
These days, consumers hold brands to a higher standard.
It is expected that companies will speak out more about social issues and be more open about their views. This approach should also be evident in your social media strategy during periods of social unrest, cultural events, and news.
In some cases it may mean pausing paid social ads. In other cases, it might require releasing a statement.
In any case, you have to be flexible and work quickly.
5. Invest in high-quality creative assets.
Social media is where people go to discover new brands.
One of the first things that someone who is interested in your post on Instagram will do is visit your profile.
Making a good impression on potential customers is important if you want to keep them interested. Content is a big part of that, so be sure that your images and copy are high-quality and free of any mistakes. Using branded content will also help send the message that you’re professional and trustworthy.
What story does your social media profile tell about you? Make sure it’s the story you want to tell.
6. Listen to your audience and adjust as needed.
Social media success can be achieved by monitoring and listening to what is being said.
Reviews of your industry and competitors can help you understand how your audience perceives your brand. You can use this information to improve your brand strategy and stand out from your competitors.
“Where we once used to live in the marketing age of brand innovation, we now live in a consumer first era. This is an exciting time, particularly on social media where brands have a direct line of communication with their audience,” said Boswell. “Brands that not only actively engage with but seek to deeply understand their audience are winning at social.”
A good place to start when you’re trying to improve your brand’s reputation is by conducting research on how your audiences feel about your brand and what topics they are talking about related to your brand. You can also search for your company name online and see what kind of sentiment is associated with it in order to gain insights into how you can improve your brand’s reputation.
7. Use social media for crisis management.
After the Boston Marathon bombings, businesses were unsure of how to proceed with social media. Many companies chose to send heartfelt messages, while others remained silent.
There is no specific etiquette book on how to handle social media marketing when a tragic event occurs. However, there are several schools of thought on how businesses should react on social media.
Here are some tips for using social media during a crisis:
- If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
- Silence is rarely the correct response in a tragic situation.
- Have a social media strategy ready so you’re less likely to be caught off guard by a tragedy or other crisis.
- Choose your words carefully, and always speak from the heart.
- As soon as you hear of a tragic event, check your calendar and pause any nonessential posts.
- Look for ways your business can meaningfully help.
8. Optimize your profiles for SEO.
As we have previously discussed, social media has made it much easier to find new brands. Just because this is the case, it does not mean that there is no effort required on your part.
Although SEO is primarily associated with optimizing websites, it is also important to optimize social media profiles to make them more visible to your target audience.
One of the easiest ways to optimize your posts is with hashtags. Beyond that, you’ll also want to optimize your bio page in a few ways:
- Include a few keywords (identified through social media tools) in your company description bio.
- Have working links that lead your followers to other channels, like your website or YouTube channel.
- Use the same profile image and handle on all social media platforms.
9. Balance promotion and adding value.
There is a time for promoting your product or service, and a time for adding value. Find the right balance and you will succeed.
Most users don’t want to see ads when they are using social media. They go on social media to be entertained, whether that’s through funny videos or informative threads.
If you only promote your product, you will lose your audience quickly. You need to balance this by also providing content that they can relate to.
After you have gained their trust and proved that you are reliable, they will be more likely to try out your product or service.
10.Use tools to publish, monitor and track posts.
You can’t just set up social media accounts and then forget about them – you need to keep an eye on them all the time.
Social media tools can be useful for tasks like scheduling posts, tracking analytics and competitors, conducting audits, and getting recommendations for future posts. Content Studio and Later are examples of software that can help with these tasks.
When you are trying to build a sustainable presence, social media tools become essential, especially as your business starts to grow.
11. Prioritize accessibility.
When it comes to accessibility online, progress on social media is slow moving.
Things like captions and alt text may seem superfluous, but they actually hold more weight than you may think. Accessible social content:
- Makes it easier for deaf, hard of hearing and visually impaired people to engage with your content.
- Helps you reach audiences who may not be native speakers of your language.
You can expand your brand’s reach by making your content accessible to new audiences who may not have had access to it before. This can help you to increase brand awareness and engagement.
12. Leverage user-generated content (UGC).
If you want to grow your social media following, you need to reach beyond your current community. You can do this by working with influencers, partners, and your own followers.
Influencer marketing is an effective way to reach your target market.
It’s like when your friend introduces you to their friend. You already trust them, so there’s some trust built in with the person they’re introducing you to.
13. Promote your social accounts on other platforms.
Your social media accounts are great. Make sure your audience can find them.
This means that if you have a list of subscribers who don’t yet follow you on social media, you should include links to your social platforms in all your communications, both online and offline.
This includes the following:
- Business cards
- Emails
- Website
- YouTube videos and your channel homepage
14. Embrace new features.
In recent months, Twitter has introduced “Twitter Spaces,” YouTube has released a new feature called “Shorts,” and Instagram has launched “Guides.”
Don’t be afraid of being an early adopter when new features come out on social media platforms.
“Social media is an ever changing space, every few months there’s a new feature, placement, or algorithm change,” said Boswell. “Always test assumptions and keep an eye on your performance metrics to see how these changes impact your strategy and be prepared to pivot.”
While it’s important to be open to new strategies, you should also invest in the ones that your audience is already responding well to.
How to track social media ROI
There are several things you need to think about when you’re trying to figure out how much your business has gotten from its social media, how to set up social media to get the most out of it, and how to keep track of that.
- Understand your long-term goals. Ensure you understand your ultimate goal – what all your smaller, more immediate goals will build to. This end-goal vision will unify your social media efforts. Your ultimate goal should align with your business’s branding and communications guidelines.
- Pinpoint metrics to track. Once you know your goals and how to achieve them, pinpoint the metrics you want to track, including engagement, audience, reach and sentiment. Understand how you’ll apply that information to your strategy.
- Ignore “vanity metrics.” You’ll track several metrics once your social media marketing campaign gets underway. Some of these metrics are called “vanity metrics” because they’re visible to the naked eye but don’t necessarily tell the whole story about a campaign’s success. Consider tracking more in-depth metrics, such as conversions from the traffic generated by a campaign, to tell the whole story and properly measure ROI.
- Build relationships with your followers. When your followers feel that they have a relationship with you, they’re more likely to engage with your content and follow through with a purchase or commitment to your business.
- Focus on quality, not quantity. Be thoughtful with your social media posts, providing carefully considered content. Your social media is there to serve your business and achieve a goal, not just to exist. Spend time considering your photos, captions and hashtags appropriately for each platform. Publishing tools like Hootsuite or Later can help you set up and preview posts before they go live.
- Analyze spending against your success rates. Spending is one of the most straightforward metrics to measure. As you analyze the success of your campaign, be sure to consider all the money spent and how it was utilized.
Consider using Google Analytics to track your website traffic and see if your social media channels are bringing people to your website and resulting in sales.
You can never stop working on your social media presence, but the most important thing is to stay connected with your audience.
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