Social media has become an integral part of not only our everyday lives, but running and advertising a business effectively.
According to Global Web Index, users spend 30% of their time online on social media platforms.
Effective digital marketing requires reaching your audience where they already spend the majority of their time. Though every brand’s social media should be unique, if you are unsure where to begin, there are some core components that will help create a positive social media presence. Here are our 5 key elements to help you create a successful social media strategy.
1. EXPAND YOUR AUDIENCE
When creating your social media platforms, your first goal should be to expand your audience. To reach this new audience you will need to begin developing your voice as a company.
Find your true brand ideals and the voice that you want your business and its social media presence to have in order to best attract your target audience. This voice should be reflective of the audience you are trying to target to ensure you can increase your social traffic and gain a larger following.
Promoting your own profiles on other platforms will also help to develop an audience. Getting the most clicks on a post isn’t the point of a great social media strategy. You want to develop a strong online voice that attracts your particular customer niche.
2. ENGAGEMENT
Engagement is the key to any successful social media platform. After you understand your target audience, use this information to post engaging content that is relevant to them.
Keep your social media authentic by creating content specifically for your audience that reflects your brand ideals. Stay true to your company and brand, while also adding posts that will grab people's attention.
You have to learn how to juggle between posts that will get a lot of traction and content that aligns with your brand. Knowing how to balance these posts will hopefully bring in new audiences and keep them interested, while also engaging with your loyal followers.
The real key to driving engagement is interacting with your audience. Reply to comments, ask questions, and create polls. Do things to get involved with your audience and grow your platform.
3. TRACK RESULTS
Successful social media strategies have a content plan, that is not only executed but also tracked. Tracking your growth and engagement levels can give you insight into what your audience wants to see from your company.
By tracking your social media you can learn valuable information about when to post, what to post, and what types of posts reach the most viewers.
You can also track your website clicks to see if your social media is increasing your website traffic. Not to mention, tracking your results allows you to see the progress you are making. All of the above allows you to set new goals to continue growing as a business.
4. MAKE CLEAR GOALS
Once you start to track your results, you can create goals for your social media and your company. It could be as simple as making a goal to get more likes this week on Facebook, or as complex as an annual strategic social plan that has goals within it.
The most important thing is to stay consistent. Having a post schedule will keep your posts active and timely, which will help to grow your audience. Setting goals will display your progress overtime and show how effective your social media strategy truly is in the long run. Make sure to have a clear call to action on your social media pages, so that when your social presence does increase your key message and desired action is clear.
5. CREATE MULTIPLE PLATFORMS
A strong social media brand is interconnected! Your blog, website, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter should all work together and complement each other in order to make your strategy work effectively.
To successfully connect audiences with all your channels, you should be promoting your other pages on all your platforms. Your blog should be shared on your Facebook, your Facebook should be shared on your website, and so on, so that your entire platform is interconnected and easily accessible for your audience.
You do not have to have multiple social media pages or websites to be successful, but as a minimum requirement you do need a clear, reliable website and at least one strong social media page.
The upside to having more platforms is that your company will have more search results. According to Search Metrics, the correlation between social signals and ranking position is extremely high. This means your social media pages will increase your audience with search results by giving you more chances for engagement with new customers.
Social media platforms have become an important aspect of running a business. A well thought out social media strategy could increase your audience and ultimately generate more business.
