Don’t Let Your Social Media Fall Flat…

With over 3.6 billion people using social media worldwide, you target audience is likely to be out there, waiting for you to pop up on their feeds!

When it comes to social media marketing, we understand that it can feel a little daunting, as it forms a crucial part of your brands full digital profile. There are so many different platforms now and it’s important to remember that not all of them may be relevant for you. It’s all about selecting the optimal ones for your brand, to uplift your online presence and engage with your customers.

In this blog, our Brand Manager Jess, who heads up our social media team along with our Marketing Assistant Sarah, look at some key elements to making your social media channels a success!

Plan, Plan, Plan!

Your social media posts should reflect and be consistent with your brand and any additional marketing outputs you’re utilising. For example, if you’re an eCommerce business planning a sale, plan your posts around the same dates to capture your audience when they’ve left your website and are scrolling through social media.

Blank calendars are a great place to start. One of our top tips is to sit with a pencil and paper and look at what’s going on in your business, industry and also anything additional to this such as relevant national days. You’ll then be able to start building a picture of which posts work well on what days – and there you have it, your plan.

Learn When Your Audience Is Online

Building a profile of your ideal target customer works well here. What is their demographic identity? When do they sleep, eat, have spare time to scroll through feeds and look at your posts? If you’re targeting an international customer base, time zones are important to remember for this one.

There’s also some useful online analytics tools to help. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and other platforms have audience insights ready for you to use. Knowing who your target audience is and when they’re online allows you to find out when you’ll reach them.

Engage Your Audience with Quality Content

We love to get talking all things social media in our offices and this is a common phrase you’ll hear from our Managing Director, Will, “80% of businesses think they do social media well, 20% of their customers agree”.

Your content should reflect who you are as a business as it ultimately builds brand trust and recognition. For example, we like to use creative, eye catching imagery to accompany our written content. You’ll also see lots of expert insights, facts and work that we love to show off as this perfectly reflects our branding, who we are and what we do. You can also use the analytics tools we previously mentioned to learn what your follows like to see and engage with.

The end goal from content will differ from business to business. Some may want website clicks, others may want comments and shares, but it’s good to remember that any content you put out there will leave a long-lasting impression and impact on the viewer, so make it a good one!

Become Part of Local Digital Communities

If your strategy focusses on specific geographic locations, become part of the communities there. Easier said than done, we know, but social media opens you up to whole neighbourhoods, right on your screen.

Whether it’s finding local community Facebook groups, or engaging with top local hashtags, (perfect for B2C businesses), or joining LinkedIn and virtual networking groups, (ideal for B2B businesses), there are social media communities out there waiting for you.

There’s also another stance on just what “digital communities” are. Online communities can develop and grow through a number of people who are all interested in the same thing. For example, there are groups and blogs set up purely to discuss particular products. Using your social media strategy to tap into what they’re talking about could connect you directly to your target audience.

Measure Success

Monthly reports help you to track your progress. They’re also a great way to identify what posts work well, what content your audience likes to see and what they simply scroll past and don’t engage with. Once you’ve analysed your results, don’t be afraid to adapt and change your plan based on these results.

Remember – the primary purpose of social media is connecting digitally. So, always put your audience at the forefront of your mind.

Don’t forget that our expert social media team are here to help you. Not all tricks and content types will work for every business, we’re used to working with clients from a whole host of industries and love to implement strategies that make social media campaigns successful.

Get in touch with us today to learn more.