Social Media Strategies 101: What Are They? And Why Do You Need One?

There’s no doubting the huge popularity of social media, nor the immense opportunities it offers for online marketing. But even though it’s so widely used, there’s no guarantee it’ll be a successful channel for your business. Getting the most out of social media marketing means taking a methodical approach toward creating campaigns, and here are the five essential steps that will help you do exactly that.

Know Your Goals

What are you hoping to gain from social media marketing? How, specifically, do you think it could improve your business? Social media can help in many ways, but to achieve real results you need to define a solid set of goals to aim for. For example, you may want to:

• Increase overall traffic to your website.
• Reach a new audience, or a more closely targeted subset of your current one.
• Build a stronger brand to increase engagement and conversion.
• Generate leads directly from social activity.

Once you’ve decided exactly what you want to achieve, you can tailor your strategy toward meeting that goal with the best use of your budget and resources.

Know Your Audience

To ensure your marketing efforts hit home you need to develop a strong picture of your target audience. Who are your typical customers, and where are they most easily reached? For example, the typical user of TikTok has an entirely different profile to the average LinkedIn member, so picking the right platform or platforms to focus on will help you use your campaign resources most effectively.

But it’s not only about which social platform your target market is using. You also need to decide which kinds of content your customers are most likely to consume, considering both the topics and the formats they’re presented in. Which pain points can you target, or which needs can you fulfill to increase engagement? Which forms of content will convey your message most directly and forcefully?

The best way to approach this is to draw up one or more outline biographies of the types of people you’re trying to reach, creating documents known as ideal customer persona. Make these profiles as detailed as possible, including information such as age, gender, profession, family status, and so on. The more realistic the personas you create, the better they can inform the development of your content and marketing strategies.

Now Focus on Your Target Audience

Another key strategy in gaining more social media followers is to always craft each post with a focus on your target audience. Understanding how to speak to your market will significantly boost the effectiveness of your posts and increase user engagement. For example, a real estate company may target the local housing trends while an IT company may focus on the latest cybersecurity concerns. Ultimately, knowing the needs of your audience is essential in boosting your following and gaining additional traffic to your website.

Always Stay Consistent

One of the most important aspects of being successful on social media is to stay consistent with your publishing schedule. Continually posting multiple times each week is essential in maximizing your views. It is also important to create a social media strategy for each of the popular platforms. For example, sending out several tweets each day is a great strategy, but posting that often on Facebook or LinkedIn can quickly get annoying. Finding the right balance is critical in maximizing the success of your marketing strategy.

Interact with Your Followers

Always engaging with your followers is a critical aspect of building your social media following over an extended period of time. Taking the time to interact with your followers allows you to build the reputation of your company while also becoming a valuable source of information. Of course, you may experience negative feedback on a social media post, as it is important to always remain professional and treat each person with respect.

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