Did you know that social media teams are up 67% since 2012?
Organizations are recognizing the power of a social media campaign and acting accordingly. Unfortunately, the experience of social media isn’t quite catching up: 83% of customers have lackluster experiences with social media.
So obviously it’s in a business owner’s interest to make the most of social media, but how do you use it in a way that makes the most impact on your customers?
We did some work and came up with 9 quick elements that’ll help you maximize the effectiveness of any social media campaign.
1. Create a Social Media Campaign
When most people think of marketing through social media they usually conclude that every tweet and Facebook post has to precisely planned and created.
The great thing about social media is that it’s a channel for a better connection among people. So the starting point of a great strategy is organizing your social media around events, the cool things you can share at that event, and how it’s going to flow on the timeline.
One day events could be three-day events depending on how you want to share.
There is no social media fairy. Followers don’t drop out of the sky. It’s all about getting the right event and content out there, whether you do it through a movie star, a great promotion, or encouragement of your hyper-sharing followers.
The trick is to use your campaign to catch your audience on the right platform. For example, a younger audience would be more interested in sharing on Twitter and Instagram.
2. Act Human
In mainstream marketing it’s a one-way street. You share your message with the world through your chosen medium and your audience takes it in without interacting in return.
Social media campaigns are different. You have the power to respond to your target market, and your target market can respond to you. So it’s important to take the time to talk to anyone who’s eagerly sharing your brand.
Especially if your business is just getting its feet wet, making sure those few followers feel important is a huge thing.
If a response is getting comments, respond and converse with the people within it. If a certain post is getting a lot of likes, that could mean posting more content along those lines would be a good thing for your business.
This also keeps your social media accounts looking empty and lifeless. No one wants to be on an empty Facebook page.
3. Social Media Tools
Social media campaign dashboards have a lot of pros. If you’re running anything for a client, keeping a separate dashboard can really speed up the process.
This is partly to protect the client from any mistakes with social media, but it also helps get posts up faster during the day. The key is more than one, posting multiple places at the same time.
But don’t use the same message. Facebook posts and tweets are different for a reason, and they are built to achieve different goals.
4. Follow Me Stamps
Outside of your social media campaign, this kind of thing could backfire. But tech and sales businesses have a little more wiggle room.
Social media stamps such as tiny twitter birds or links to your social media pages are the best way to get people to follow you. Post them everywhere you can, website, print materials etc.
5. Make It Cool
There are lots of things fighting for your customer’s attention.
So be sure to post stuff they’ll be into like discounts, contests, sign ups etc. You could even go beyond that and promote active members of your twitter feed, they’ll love it.
6. Involving Your Customers
Customers just trying to get a free handout are the worst kinds. You want fans, not leeches. Great customers engage with you and share their love for your product/service.
So knowing those customers well and reading their tweets is crucial to your social media campaign’s success. But that doesn’t mean retweeting them, it means chatting with each one and striving to understand where they’re coming from.
Promote a followers business if it relates to what you do gets them to post/tweet about your product/service.
7. Measure Your Results
While measuring social media can be challenging, it can definitely be done.
Retweets, replies, and overall engagement (something as simple as mentioning your business is a comment or post) is the way to go.
Is someone responding and starting a conversation? That’s valuable, keep track of it.
8. Grow a Content Database
Sometimes companies can have a big client who isn’t a frequent social media user. Pay extra close attention to those clients when they tweet, post etc. Also, keep an eye on who follows them.
Give that client exclusive offers or premium newsletters that no one else has access to.
This can go the other way too. There could be a customer you don’t pay much attention to who loves your companies and posts about you all the time.
Someone like that deserves more than just a reply over social media.
Give that person a call and have an actual in-person thankyou/conversation with him/her.
9. Audit Your Social Media
If you’ve already been active in your social media marketing before learning all the elements suggested here, it would be a good idea to go over your strategy thus far.
How is your social media campaign going? What’s been growing your fellowship and what isn’t?
A great way to find out who is connected with you through your social media accounts is to find out which sites your target market is most fond of using and how your social media methods compare to your competition.
You should discover information such as what needs to be deleted and updated. If you find fake accounts under your business name, those obviously need to go. And figure out how to best to engage your audience.
When deciding what social media to invest your time in, there are couple useful questions to ask:
- Is my audience actively engaged in this platform?
- If they are, how are they engaging with it?
Its always better to use fewer social media platforms better than have a watered down post everywhere.
Start Engaging!
Not sure where to start or need more information? We can help with your social media advertising! Or, if you want to get started on your campaign with us, check out our contact page.