The majority of the businesses have realised the benefits social media marketing offers. If your social media marketing is implemented correctly it can help to increase traffic to your website, enhance your search rankings and improve conversion rates.
Decide on your social media platforms
However, the first stage of any social media strategy is to decide which social media platforms are right for your business. It can seem like a mine field trying to decide which platforms are the right ones. Whether you should be posting on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram. In order for you to make an informed decision we have developed some questions to help.
What are your social media marketing objectives?
Firstly, you need to ensure your social media objectives are aligned to your business objectives. The platforms you choose need to help you achieve your goals and if they do not then you should not use them.
Do you want increase brand awareness?
If so, you need to choose the well-established platforms which have a large following not a new platform. Some of the platforms like Facebook have options to use their paid advertising. This is a great way to extend your reach at relatively low costs. Facebook has a proven track record for excellent ROI.
Do you want to generate more enquiries?
Facebook and Twitter are productive channels for generating sales enquiries and their advertising options are reasonable priced. However, if you are in a business to business (B2B) market then you may choose to use LinkedIn. LinkedIn has an impressive reputation for social media lead generation. The platform provides several tools to promote your business. Whether it is using its advanced filters for advertising or joining and engaging in LinkedIn Groups?
Identify which channels your target audience are using?
Once you have aligned your social media goals with your business goals. Then you need to understand which platforms your audience are using. For example, if your audience are teenagers and young adults then using LinkedIn is not ideal. You are more likely to reap the benefits from Instagram and Snapchat, where your target audience are active. The most effective social media strategies are based on social media demographics. Knowing your audience and where they are active on social media is key.
Establish which channels your competitors are using is vital too.
By monitoring your competitors, what they are posting and which posts your target audience are engaging with. This insight will provide you with valuable information on audience demographics and the channels they are using. Plus, an understanding of industry activity, audience engagement and where you should be posting. In addition, social listening can identify any gaps that could be opportunities for your business.
Decide on the content you want to create
Different social media platforms work better with different types of content. For example, LinkedIn is very much B2B professional market. This makes it the correct channel to post industry news, editorial content, white papers and professional content.
Image based and video-based content is ideal for the younger audience and works well on Instagram and Snapchat. Instagram has lots of tools to share video including stories and IGTV. If you are looking at an older audience then Facebook and Twitter maybe more suitable. Of course, don’t forget YouTube, which is the world’s second biggest search engine.
How many channels can you actually manage?
Once you have answered all these questions your final decision has to be how many social media platforms can you manage? If you have to many you will spread yourself to thin, maybe pick 2 or 3 of the key platforms. You can use a social media scheduling tool like Hootsuite. Allowing you to schedule content in advance across different channels. There is a free and paid for version depending how many accounts you post on. This makes things much easier to manage and can provide insight into engagement through each scheduling tool’s analytics. Whichever one you choose the key is to test, evaluate and test again.
We hope this is helpful and if you have any questions about social media marketing on any other marketing, please get in touch. Either email or complete our online form here.
