Social Media Strategies: Social media is perhaps the defining medium of the 21st century. It has altered the way the average person connects and how businesses operate. There are very few aspects of life that social media has failed to transform.
The average person spends a whopping 145 minutes per day on social media, and more than half the world’s population is on at least one platform. It’s a lucrative opportunity for small businesses to connect with their ideal customers.
With so much competition on the platform, you need an overarching strategy to attract new business. Let’s run through some of the core social media strategies small businesses need to adopt.
1. Set SMART Goals
Every business owner knows they should be on social media, but few know how best to go about it. Randomly throwing up a few posts and sharing some links isn’t enough to get you the results you want.
The core of any social media campaign is a strategy behind it. Ask yourself what you want to achieve by using social media strategies.
Use the SMART system for goal setting. Every goal should be:
- Specific;
- Measurable;
- Attainable;
- Relevant;
- Timely.
If your next social media campaign is designed to get more newsletter signups, you may set a goal of increasing the size of your newsletter list by 25% in the next six months. You can easily measure the goal, it’s got a strict deadline, and there’s a clear line between success and failure.
Any goal you set should be realistic. It’s generally not feasible to increase your sales by 300% in a month via social media – just to give an example.
2. Focus on a Few Key Areas
Try not to take on too much at once. Attempting to tackle multiple things at once can dilute your overall marketing campaign. You don’t need to turn your business into a full media company.
Focus on what you do well already and redouble your efforts in those areas. Try not to concentrate on too many social media platforms. Pick two or three and dedicate yourself to building a following on those. You don’t need to be everywhere on the web immediately – although you do want representation on all platforms at some point.
3. Understand Your Ideal Customer
Every business should have an idea of who its ideal customer is. Who are they? What interests them? Where can you find them?
Most entrepreneurs make the mistake of doing their research once and assuming that’s who their customer is forever. The truth is that people change. If you’re not constantly updating your modeling, your social media efforts will become less impactful over time.
But how do you find out who your ideal customer is?
It’s all about data. Thankfully, social media is a goldmine of data. Analyze your channels and begin conversations with your fans.
4. Treat Each Channel as a Separate Entity
Social media is not the same. Facebook differs from Instagram, and Twitter differs from LinkedIn. One person may have accounts on each channel, but they have different expectations whenever they switch platforms.
Repurpose your social media content for each platform. Don’t simply copy-paste from one channel to another. Provide a unique experience on every platform you have a presence on for more effective results.
5. Collaborate with Others in Your Industry
Connecting with others in your niche is an easy way of reaching new audiences. Work with influencers in your space to increase your brand exposure. Share their content and have them share your own.
It doesn’t mean you need to work with direct competitors. Using the image of your ideal customer, follow who they’re following, and connect that way.
You should be plugged into the other individuals and businesses your customers follow.
6. Invest in a Social Media Management Platform
Social media management can be a full-time job. Scheduling posts, interacting with your fans, and analyzing your metrics are all part of running a successful social media campaign.
Innovative businesses save time by investing in social media management platforms. These dashboards empower you to unify your entire social media presence.
Be sure to automate your most common tasks, get new insights, and achieve more results for less.
7. Start the Conversation
Don’t just join a conversation. Start the conversation. Engagement is such an essential part of success on social media. The algorithms platforms like Facebook and Instagram use will prioritize posts based on who you interact with.
Your posts should have some variation – ranging from informative to inspirational. Include a call to action in every post to train your followers to engage with your brand.
If they do respond, make an effort to reply to every comment. Your customers expect a response. Replying every time increases the chances of your customers interacting with future posts.
Play the long game because engagement is hard to come by. Did you know the average engagement rate on Instagram is just 1.16%?
Finding what sparks your customers to respond is very much a game of trial and error. Set aside time each week to analyze your best-performing posts. Attempt to capture the essence of why one post did better than another.
Over time, you’ll be able to better tap into the trends you identified.
8. Embrace Your Mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes. We’re all human. Making a mistake on social media may tempt you to remove the post and start again. Try the opposite instead.
Embrace your mistakes. Keep them on social media and laugh at them later. It’s a way to lighten the mood and shows that you’re not trying to be perfect.
Corporations do everything they can to prevent stumbles. It’s also why they come across as robotic and struggle to form human connections with their audiences.
Social media is not about being perfect. It’s about forming a connection.
Conclusion
Developing a social media profile requires several strategies to find your target audience and make an impression on them.
The most crucial trait in being successful on social media is consistency. People have short attention spans, and the sheer abundance of content on all the popular platforms means if you don’t maintain consistency, your following will go elsewhere.