When is social media marketing successful and how do we make it such?
The ways we interact with our clients are diverse, dynamic and constantly changing. Consumers have numerous needs and wants that the brand needs to understand, keep in mind and look for various ways to satisfy. And the best way to do that is through social media marketing. But what exactly is it and how can we use it successfully for our business?
What is social media marketing?
Social media marketing is about creating and publishing unique content that should always be tailored to the specific platform, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, LinkedIn, TikTok, etc. It must meet the needs of our customers, which requires us to listen carefully to our followers and try to engage with them through our content. All this is followed by analyzing the results, running ads and, of course, promoting our business. There are several main steps in developing social media marketing.
Strategy
Developing a marketing strategy in advance is extremely important. In this way we determine exactly what our goals are, that is, what we want to achieve.
- Our client
First of all, we need to study in detail the profile of our client – who we want to reach, who they are, what are their needs and interests, what type of content would be suitable for them? For example, if we are a brand that sells cosmetics and skin care, we would like to reach mainly young and middle-aged women. Accordingly, we need to determine exactly what is the profile of our client – what are their interests, hobbies, habits, brand influences, in which social networks they spend time, what exactly they do in them, etc.
- Social platforms
Therefore comes the second step in developing a strategy, namely the choice of social platforms. The most popular social networks are Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and others, through which we can easily reach our customers. We need to know the specifics of each platform in order to handle it successfully. Continuing the example from a while ago, after we decided to sell cosmetics to young and middle-aged women, it would be best to opt for Instagram, TikTok or Youtube platforms where young people spend most of their time.
- Content
Finally, the question is, what type of content should we create? Already knowing our audience, we know that the content must meet its needs. It should stand out from the rest and bring real value to the customer. Our competition itself can be helpful, as it is important to research who our competitors are, to look at what they create, and to try to be even better. Of course, it is compulsory that we take advantage of the opportunities that social platforms themselves provide, engage with our audiences by encouraging feedback, and reuse our content as soon as we find the right strategy for us.
Planning and publishing
Once we start publishing content, our presence on social media should be constant. According to statistics for 2022, more than four billion people worldwide use social networks, which is an additional motivation for us to position ourselves in them as soon as possible. Therefore, once we have a strategy that is right for us, it is time to plan what and when we will publish. For this purpose, we can use various tools to ease our work, such as ready-made online planners. With their help we can use automation and delayed publishing, publish on schedule and monitor the social commitment of our publications. This would be very useful as it saves a lot of time. Here comes the question: how often should we publish? The truth is that we do it when we really have quality content, a reason to publish and a clear goal. If we do it rarely, there is a chance that our audience will lose interest in us or forget us. But if it’s too often, we face the risk of becoming annoying. The most important thing, however, is to experiment in order to find the most effective way for us.
Listening to the audience
Feedback and personal opinion are crucial if we are to keep our customers as such. We must not only observe where and what is being said about us, but also encourage our followers to do so. Furthermore, we need to take into account what has been said and strive to improve. In this way, both we and our clients benefit, as we build trust and a sense of security in them.
Results analysis
It’s time to look at everything we’ve done so far and see how we’ve managed. Have we met our goals? If so, what else can be improved? Here we can measure the success of our posts and the impact on our audience through the following indicators: engagement, reach, number of followers, impressions, video views, profile visits, mentions and shares. In addition, different platforms give us the ability to measure performance using tools such as Facebook Analytics, Instagram Insights, Google Analytics and others.
Given all that has been said so far, you should not hesitate, but take advantage of the opportunities that social media marketing offers as soon as possible. And how exactly would that help us? It affirms brand awareness and improves brand presence among social media users. In addition, it significantly helps to increase sales and not only connects us with our already established audience, but also helps us find new customers.
