The world we live in today has witnessed many changes over the last few years. The internet has become an intrinsic part of our daily lives. And ever since the pandemic pushed nations into lockdown, this has become more pronounced than ever. With our phones and computers keeping us company for work and leisure, we’ve gotten used to scrolling through our social media feeds now and then.
Thus, digital marketing has also embraced the growing popularity of social media as an effective means to market. Small businesses and big brands alike are using social media to build brand awareness and sell their products. Reaching people on social media is easy, making it an excellent way for brands to gain potential customers.
12 tips for effective social media marketing
The question arises: is making an account on social media for your brand enough?
Certainly not. There is a lot to be done, but to get started, here are some tips for using social media for marketing.
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Decide on your goals
It is crucial to have a strategy and not make content without proper flow or planning. Set attainable goals and design your social media strategy around them.
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Understand who the target audience is
To create ads that resonate with the audience, knowing what they care about is essential. No strategy can appeal to every section of the audience. It is best to select a target audience to whom your brand and products can be appealing and design the marketing strategy around what they care about.
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Select your social media platforms wisely
You don’t need to be present on every social media platform. Choose the platform most suited to your goals, which your target audience regularly uses.
For instance, most fashion brands focus on building their Instagram rather than Facebook or YouTube. Some other brands may choose to build up their YouTube with product videos and demos. Putting together crisp, engaging videos around your products, skilfully edited with a YouTube video editor, can help boost engagement and interest.
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Use a social media content calendar
It can be difficult to make regular posts on multiple social media platforms regularly and on time. Therefore, you can ease up your tasks by using a content calendar. You can set timings for scheduled posts on multiple platforms from a single dashboard.
There are multiple templates for social media calendars available online. All you have to do is create and update the publishing calendar once a week.
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Use social media scheduling tools
Reduce your workload by using automated tools wherever possible. Posting manually on multiple social media platforms can seem extremely monotonous. Hence, leave the tedious work up to automated tools. Planning ahead and using these tools prevents you from missing any uploads.
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Focus on Instagram Stories
Instagram is emerging as one of the ideal platforms for digital marketing. One of its best features for marketers is Instagram Stories. Popular websites are always recommending eye-catching Instagram Story Ideas that can be specifically useful for brands.
Stories are short and great for promoting products. If you post Stories regularly, your followers will view them often. Soon, you’ll be able to catch the eye of potential customers easily.
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Convey a consistent brand image
Your social media platform should adequately express the brand image you’re trying to project. The values and ethos behind the brand should reflect clearly in your social media page, such as in the bio. This will help customers choose your brand if your values resonate with them.
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Monitor results
There is more to monitoring results than tracking likes and shares. You can keep track of community engagement, help with customer service, answer questions, and share tips.
Using analytics can help you understand if your posts are reaching the target audience and having an impact. Analytics also help gauge whether your marketing strategy is getting you results or whether it’s time to switch to a new approach.
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Humanize your brand
Customers will be more invested in your brand if you show them the people behind the brand. Show your office and team members—introduce your audience to the people who make your brand. Humanizing your brand will help customers relate more and feel closer to it, and they’ll be more likely to make purchases too.
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Convey emotions
People relate more to emotions. If something connects with them, they will prefer it more. Don’t just show your products but try to use emotions to help the customer relate more.
For instance, if your brand is making baby products or products for mothers, your marketing strategy should focus on conveying emotions that mothers will understand and resonate with. Simply marketing your products isn’t enough. You have to do something that will set you apart from other brands making similar products.
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Avoid using too many hashtags
The more hashtags you use, the lesser the engagement is. Using fewer hashtags that pertain to your posts on social media is the right way to optimize their usage. Too many hashtags can seem off-putting to people and may not seem genuine.
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Visual content is best
According to a study by Wyzowl, we remember 20% of things we read but remember about 80% of what we see. Therefore, if you want to make an impact, visual content is the best way to send across messages to your potential customers and target audience.
Videos perform better on social media, as compared to posts and images. With accessible video platforms like Instagram Reels and Facebook video ads, you should focus more on posting videos to social media channels.
Conclusion
These tips should give you a comprehensive idea of what you need to do to build a good social media marketing strategy. The key is to make a plan, optimize the usage of automated tools and hashtags, and stick to original and unique content. If you come up with intriguing ideas, they will spread rapidly on social media, leading to better brand awareness, recognition, and exposure.