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Nearly every business can agree that social media is a necessary part of every marketing strategy. Today, over 97% of Fortune 500 companies have at least one social media account. With nearly half the world’s population on social media, your brand should also join a platform if you want to see tremendous growth.Joining social media is the easy part. However, once you have an account, the real work begins, and many companies feel overwhelmed with the fast pace and complexities of the platforms.You will soon realize that your traditional marketing goals and strategies don’t translate well on social media. If you don’t see success on your accounts, it’s time for you to refresh your social media strategy to reach your audience, increase your engagement and meet your business goals.Use this guide to develop a social media marketing strategy in 2022, from identifying your purpose to analyzing your results.
Social media is essential for marketing in businesses because of the large number of consumers actively using social media and the average person spending over two hours a day on their account. It shouldn’t be an afterthought. It should be a prominent part of your marketing toolset.Social media is your chance to engage your customers personally, which builds relationships and increases your conversions. About 54% of users research new products on their social media platforms. In addition, 71% of customers who have a positive social media experience will recommend that brand to others.
Use these ten steps to build a social marketing plan that encourages engagement, brings in quality leads, and turns your followers into loyal customers.
Social media is a significant time commitment. Before you go all-in with your strategy, you must first ensure it aligns with your business’s purpose and goals. Your business goals will guide which platforms are the best, what types of content you publish, and what metrics you measure. You will also use it to decide between paid content and organic strategies.For instance, a B2B business might consider using LinkedIn for their social media strategy because there are 63 million decision-makers on the site and is the top B2B marketing platform. On the other hand, brands that market to Gen Zers might see their best results from TikTok or Instagram.The most common goals to include in your social media strategy proposal include:
Make your goals specific and measurable as you select a purpose for your social media and individual campaigns. Use data insights to guide your benchmarks, ensuring your goals are attainable within your set timeframe.
Measuring your social media performance isn’t as easy as counting sales because often, your results don’t translate to a dollar amount. Instead, the most important metric you will track is your engagement rate. This is the number of people who see and interact with your social media content.When your (positive) engagement rate is high, you know your content is performing well and resonating with your audience. This means you are building trust and customer relationships. When customers are satisfied with their experience, they are more likely to purchase from you and remain loyal to your brand.Use these KPIs for social media campaigns to determine your engagement rate and measure your social media success:
For more accurate results, look at several metrics next to each other. For instance, you will want to compare your total impressions to your post interactions to see your engagement rate. You might also consider comparing your post interactions to follower count to know how many followers are actively interacting with your content.Use the following formula for calculating your growth rate.
Image from Hootsuite
Create audience personas specific to each social media, including triggers that affect their decisions on the platform. These triggers will often be different from other channels because consumers on social media are usually more casual in their interactions, looking for a sense of community, and typically more responsive to emotional content.Get to know the platform your audience frequents and learn about its capabilities. You want to understand how people interact with content, the language people use on the platform, what formats perform the best with your audience, and other relevant data.
There are two groups of people on social media, the creators and the consumers. While these two groups often overlap, they have distinctive behaviors on their platform. Don’t only focus on your audience and neglect the other group on the platform.While creating a social media strategy, take the time to learn about the other creators and what content they are producing. The most successful brands on social media can serve as inspiration for your content and strategies.
With your framework built, you can move on to creating a content strategy. You will use your audience research to find what topics and content they find most engaging. You can also identify common phrases they search for content inspiration.As you fill a list with common consumer questions and other content inspiration, you will organize the list in a content calendar, including each content piece’s purpose and other relevant details. Your calendar will keep your teams organized and ensure you are publishing regular content.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Explore these topics further to take your social media marketing strategy to the next level.
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Social media is a huge time commitment. If you attempt to perform all your tasks manually, you will be restricted and won’t see as much growth as you could experience.Incorporating automation tools will streamline your processes. For instance, a social media platform like Brandwatch, Buffer, Hootsuite, or Sprout Social can manage your posts and gather insights in one location. You can also set up a content calendar that will track projects and automatically publish-ready content for you.Outsourcing is another solution to add to any basic social media strategy. A social media agency, like Kubbco, understands the business and has hands-on experience with your platform. We have the tools and knowledge to build and execute a successful social media campaign, saving you hours and freeing up your team to interact with the followers and customers you gain from your content.
Social media is built on engagement. Positively engaging content is quality media that encourages your followers to interact with the content and your brand. It must be unique and offer value.Some examples of valuable content include:
When you create engaging content, you will connect to customers. Connected customers are more likely to purchase from you, recommend your brand, spend more on your business, remain loyal, and stick with your brand even after a negative experience.Below are a few examples of what customers describe as feeling connected to a brand. The same customers in the following survey also said social media is the best platform for connecting with brands.
Image from SproutSocial
While quality content will increase engagement, it doesn’t always guarantee someone will see the content. On Facebook alone, there are over a billion shared stories each day and four billion video views. In addition, about 35 million users update their status every minute.If you want your content to be seen among the oversaturation of other content, you must incorporate strategies that help your content appear in searches and encourage engagement to boost its reach.For instance, social media SEO using relevant keywords and hashtags will increase your content’s likelihood of appearing in related searches. You can also optimize your profile and settings for your industry to occur in recommendations for consumers.When you invest in paid advertising or sponsor your content you ensure it will get in front of the right audience and cut through your competitor’s content.
If you only post content, then move on, you are missing out on the critical social element of the platform. Follower interaction will boost your content performance and improve the consumer’s experience.When your followers leave positive comments or likes, taking the time to send a quick thank you or emoji will go a long way in building positive customer relationships. And yes, negative feedback deserves your attention too.About 79% of customers who give negative feedback don’t receive any response. Not resolving an issue will hurt your business as 39% of customers who had a poor experience will avoid the company for over two years, and most will also share that poor experience with others.On the other hand, a positive customer service experience will create loyal customers, as 73% of consumers stick with brands where they enjoy their interactions.With social media being a primary location for ecommerce and leaving reviews, stay on top of your customer comments to maintain a positive brand image and build trust with future customers.
Social media is ever-changing. To stay on top of trends and know how well your content is performing, you must constantly track and analyze your content.The data you collect will tell you how close you are to meeting your goals and where to adjust your strategy to avoid wasting valuable resources and time on content that doesn’t give any return.
Of course, this is just scraping th surface of social media strategy. The experts at Kubbco understand social media and have the tools for creating, managing and tracking content. Consult with our experts to develop a customized strategy for your business’s unique needs and audience.Contact us to learn more about our social media strategy solutions.
As Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) @ Kubbco, I lead the global strategic efforts and oversee the research and planning, community, content strategy and paid social teams.
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