In addition to guest posting on the UpCity blog, Pixous Technologies is featured as one of the Top Social Media Marketing Agencies in Canada. Check out their profile!
Regardless of the fact that you might know this, I want to tell you again, why your business should have a social media strategy. It is evident that, since its introduction into society to till date, social media platform’s impact on the business and creating brand awareness has been tremendous and with every day passing for every business to achieve their business goals and to reach their target audience, it almost, mandatory to make social media marketing and even, digital marketing as an integral part of their overall marketing plans and allocate a special budget for it.
We can all agree that by now 96% of people who discuss brands online do not follow those brands’ owned profiles or engage with branded content posted to their accounts—even if it were so effective at bringing awareness for companies!
This brings us back to our main point, i.e. implementing an effective social media strategy using the right mix of social media channels, social media posts, and SEO, one can for sure increase sales even of a small business. And this is what you’ll learn in this blog. Let’s start with the basics.
Why do you need a social media strategy?
Social media marketing is one of the most effective marketing plans in use today. It’s proven that social media can drive sales and increase brand awareness through 6 different channels:
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Search engine optimization (SEO)
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Pay-per-click advertising
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Social ads
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Viral content
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Blogging
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Social advertising
A social media strategy is an essential tool for your business’s success. Without a strategy, your company could be spending all of its time and money chasing the wrong leads and web traffic. Your social media strategy should help you maximize both time and effort for what you’re trying to achieve. If you have a plan or are in the process of creating one, you will have a much easier time reaching your goals as well. The following are reasons why your business needs a social media marketing strategy:
You’ll be able to reach more people
Determine what type of audience you want to target and make sure that they are on social media platforms. Additionally, identify additional platforms that they may use—like blogs—and explore how they can interact with those platforms as well.
Your company will be more visible
With a social media strategy, you’ll know where your target audience spends their time online so that you can find opportunities for brand recognition and effective lead generation. You’ll also be able to see where potential customers spend their time online so that you can get them interested in your brand before the sales process starts!
You’ll be able to establish an authoritative social media presence
Your company will become noticeable without investing too much into it by implementing strategies like blogging and creating social media content on social media channels like LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook Live videos or social media posts for example! You’ll also learn about emerging trends in digital marketing so that something new does not enter your space before it’s ready.
What are the goals of your social media marketing strategy?
The goals of your social media marketing strategy should be specific and measurable. For example, you could state that your social media marketing strategy will increase brand awareness by 30%. With these goals in mind, then you can decide which channels to use, how often to post content, how long to engage with quality content, etc.
Step 1: Define your Social Media Marketing Goals
Before you start thinking about what type of social media marketing strategy is best for your business, it’s most important that you understand the business goals for your social media presence. By defining these goals ahead of time, you will be able to see if a certain strategy is effective at reaching these goals. If not, then you know what to do next!
Let’s take a look at some of the most popular social media goals that businesses want to achieve with their social media marketing:
- Increase brand awareness
- Generate leads
- Bring new customers
- Create more customer loyalty
- Generate more revenue
The first step to setting up a social media strategy is by identifying the specific goals that need to be met. Once this has been accomplished, the actual strategy can be set in motion and working towards meeting those defined goals!
Step 2: Determine Your Target Audience
In your marketing efforts, you should identify your target user. This is one of the most important steps because it allows you to determine which platform suits your audience best. If they’re on Instagram, then you know what platform to focus on when advertising! For example, Instagram stories are better to attract them. Or, maybe they tend to find brands on Facebook or Twitter?
Your target audience is people who have a specific interest in your business, but you also have to consider their demographics. You should also consider the time of day that people are most likely to be online and engaged with your brand. You can use this insight to determine what type of content and social media channels are best for your product or service.
You must understand who your ideal customer is and make sure their interests align with what you’re trying to sell. This will help you build a solid foundation for your social media campaign—giving you a starting point of where most of the attention will go.
After all this information has been collected, you’ll have a good idea of who your target audience is and how best to market towards them!
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Step 3: Create a Content Strategy
You want to make sure you’re posting the right content on your social media channels that will appeal to your audience. This is where a strong content strategy comes in.
A content strategy identifies what type of content you should be posting when you should be posting it, and how often you should be posting it. It also helps you decide which social platforms you can effectively share this content on, so don’t forget about your blog!
Here’s a template of a content strategy for your company:
- What is your company’s target market?
- What are the best times to reach several people on social networks?
- What types of posts do they like? Do they like videos or images better than text?
- What types of posts have been proven successful for other brands in your industry?
- What are the most popular hashtags related to this niche?
- How often should I post per day, week, or month? Create your content calendar.
Step 4: Create Content that Engages and Motivates Users
Content is a key factor in social media marketing, but what does quality content mean anyway? Most people would agree that high-quality content should be engaging and should motivate users to take action. What is important to remember here is that you must create content that your audience wants- not just the company. You will want to keep in mind your target audience when you’re creating their updates and posts, as well as how often they engage with your updates. If you are posting too much or too infrequently, then you might be doing more harm than good for your brand.
It’s easy to see why companies need to have a social media strategy. Nothing drives sales like social media sites! With more than 2 billion people on Facebook alone in 2014, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for brands without an effective social strategy to compete with other brands on social media networks. This means it’s important for business owners of all sizes- from small businesses and startups to large corporations- to invest in a solid social strategy for their business’ success.
Step 5: Benefits of Social Media Management & Content Marketing
Over the last few years, social media has become an incredible asset for small businesses. Social presence allows brands to connect with their customers and gain insights about consumers across different platforms. 79% of marketers agree that social media marketing is very important for business growth and success.
So, what are some of the benefits of implementing a social marketing strategy for your brand?
First off, social media management can help you reach new audiences in a much more cost-effective way than traditional methods. With this digital strategy, you can find potential consumers who will be interested in your company’s products and services at a much lower cost per lead. Additionally, content marketing has been proven to increase awareness and engagement levels among social media profiles. One such example would be when an influencer shares your content on their feed–that is an excellent form of engaging them in your brand without even reaching out to them directly.
The bottom line is that by starting a social media management plan today, you will benefit both now and later on down the road!
Step 6: Track and Analyze Data
The most important step in developing your social media strategy is tracking and analyzing data. This is the process of gathering information to see what’s working and what’s not. Although there are many ways to track social media activity, the most effective way is by using a tool that tracks all of your activity in one place, such as Hootsuite. In addition to tracking your social media growth and engagement with your audience, Hootsuite also allows you to analyze different metrics such as likes, shares, retweets, comments, and more.
To set up your campaign properly for maximum success, you should be able to track the following:
- What posts get a lot of engagement?
- What time of day gets the best results?
- Which keywords are driving traffic?
- What influencers have been driving traffic in the past month?
These are just a few things you can use Hootsuite for! Now let’s move on to some specific content that will drive sales for small businesses.
Social Media Strategy Pays Off
Social media is an important part of modern marketing strategy. It can be used to build brand awareness and increase brand loyalty. It can also be used to drive traffic and sales. Using a social media strategy will take your business to new heights and help you gain a competitive advantage in the market.
I hope I have been able to provide a brief introduction to what social media marketing is and why social media is necessary. I am sure; a few wonderful ideas that must be a part of your social media marketing plan for 2022 will help you in more ways than one.