The benefits of a social media marketing strategy are clear to most businesses. Increased brand awareness, more traffic, and greater brand loyalty are a few of the advantages, with most strategies being affordable. The approach you take will heavily influence results, though, with an inconsistent schedule having downsides to your reputation. So what are the main social media strategies you should be working on?
Create Branded Hashtags
General hashtags are useful for putting your content in front of interested audiences. Results, however, can be minimal, with posts getting lost in the crowd. Developing your own hashtags won’t offer immediate results, but you can see the benefits over time. The most invested followers will start to use your branded hashtags, with their followers paying attention. Gradually, consumers will post your hashtag to showcase your products.
Focus On Instagram Stories
Content on social media doesn’t usually have a long life. Instagram Stories can make the most of this fleeting interest, offering high levels of engagement. You can post a single story or a series of posts that highlight a simple idea. If you can grow your following to 10,000 people, Instagram allows you to add a swipe feature to an external site. This element can transform engagement rates, leading to followers moving instantly to a targeted offer.
Integrate Customer Service With Social Media
Many customers turn to social media for advice from a business. While you may prefer to have a dedicated customer service helpdesk, this can frustrate customers. Integrating your customer service and social media lets you offer quick advice that can satisfy customers swiftly. More complicated questions or specific order queries can be directed to the helpdesk, ensuring people get the most appropriate service.
Make Use of User-Generated Content
User-generated content offers the chance to build a community, helping to increase brand loyalty. Users often like to post products they have purchased, but this can go unseen on small accounts. Promoting high-quality user-generated content provides social proof, showing there are active customers with good experiences. User-generated content can also reduce the burden on businesses to consistently create new output.
Use Social Listening
Discussions across social media can offer a wealth of information to businesses. Customers may be discussing their experiences, opinions, and competitors, all of which can add value to your company. Social listening tools can monitor brand mentions and other keywords, providing insight into the various conversations taking place. This data can be used to map out new campaigns and correct any common issues.
Run Social Media Contests
Social media contests are often built around growing follower numbers. Followers tag their friends into posts to enter, leading to new followers discovering your brand. An effective social contest can go further, though, helping to maintain interest in your business and increase sales. Your prizes must be relevant to your business, so followers gain an interest in your products. Don’t be afraid to get creative with your contests as long as they resonate with your brand identity.
Master Visual Content
Visual content is essential to most social platforms. Sites like Instagram and Facebook require a strong visual identity, with images and videos gaining high engagement levels. Visual content needs to be eye-catching and representative of your brand. Videos can be created to appeal to diverse audiences, using short clips and longer live streams to vary the brand messages. You can track results easily across social media, enabling you to make quick adjustments to your output.
Social media has become a central pillar of a digital marketing strategy. Social platforms can bring a lot of new interest, turning these leads into loyal customers. There are so many approaches and a range of social platforms, though, so it can be tricky to know where to focus your attention. Using these strategies can help maximize your efforts, making the most of the time and resources you have at your disposal.
If you have any questions, our team would be more than happy to help. Call us today at (484) 893-4055.
