The hectic social networking landscape is growing tremendously fast. Namely, studies predict that the number of social media users will reach 2.62 billion by the end of 2018. So, what do these impressive figures tell you? To stay establish yourself authoritative and raise people’s awareness of your brand, you need to invest in a solid social media strategy.
However, you need to know that social media marketing is much more than sharing a piece of content every once in a while or getting random people to like your page and share your posts. It’s about delivering the right content to the right people, across the right channels. Most importantly, you need to know your target audience and go the extra mile in engaging with them effectively.
Here are several amazing social media strategies you should keep an eye out for in 2018.
Who is your Target Audience?
To tailor your social media campaign to your target audience’s expectations, you first need to know who they are. This is exactly where target audience segmentation steps in. When doing your research, you need to take a plethora of variables into consideration, such as demographics (age, gender, income, education, occupation), physiographic data (lifestyle, hobbies, personality traits), and geography (country, region, area). Only this way will you be able to know what social networks your customers use, understand their preferences, and deliver outstanding user experience.
Take a Look at your Competitors
To be on top of the game, you need to keep track of your competitors’ behavior on social networks. Pay special attention to the type of content they share. Do they create their own posts or curate the existing ones? How do they schedule their posts? What about their feedback and customer services? These are just some of the numerous questions you need to ask yourself when doing competitor analysis. Most importantly, you need to determine who likes, shares, and comments on their content. These people may be your target audience, as well.
Choose your Social Networks Wisely
There are so many social networks out there and it can be pretty overwhelming trying to use them all. Remember, not all social media channels have the same purpose or target the same users. This is exactly why you should focus on the ones your prospective customers already use. For example, since the majority of your competitors and customers are on Facebook, you need to be there, too. This channel is all about creating massive online community and engaging with different generations and types of buyers. Twitter is for those brands that target information junkies, while Instagram may work well for you if you have a knack for photography. Finally, LinkedIn is a perfect option for B2B companies that are looking for influencers, new employees or business partners.
Collect Real-Time Feedback
Today’s customers are tech-savvy and they use social networks to voice both their satisfaction and disappointment with brands and products. This gives you an amazing opportunity to collect invaluable insights into the overall performance of your brand. With a wide range of social media monitoring tools like Topsy, Mention, and Sprout Social, you can keep track of your brand and product mentions in real-time. By knowing how your users feel about your brand, you will be able to use this information constructively and offer better customer services, adjust your products to their needs, and personalize your approach.
Improve Customer Services with Chatbots
Even though the integration of chatbots into social networks is still a fairly new concept, it is expected to gain momentum as one of the major customer experience trends in the years to come. It’s not surprising at all, given the fact that 51% of customers expect the businesses they buy from to be available to them 24/7. Namely, chatbots are software apps that are specifically created to stimulate human-like conversations and give instant answers to all your customers’ questions. Presenting your business as approachable, chatbots will boost your followers’ experience and turn them into loyal customers or even brand advocates.
Focus on Creating Engaging Content
Creating and sharing quality, informative, and authoritative content that answers your customers’ questions is the backbone of your social media strategy. However, this is not always enough for you to grab your readers’ attention. To do so, you need to do the following:
- Leverage ephemeral (short-spanned) content on Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook. It boosts your followers’ excitement and evokes FOMO (the fear of missing out), motivating your followers to take action faster.
- Improve interactivity. Content creation goes far beyond writing articles. To get the most of your posts, you need to make them entertaining, visually appealing, and easily digestible. The experts behind a digital agency from Sydney emphasize infographics, quote graphics, HQ photography, and videos as the most engaging types of interactive content.
- Stick to a distribution calendar. For example, you could introduce a “Pro Tip Tuesday,” a day when you will share industry-specific content and answer your followers’ questions. On the other hand, Fridays could be your fun days, when you would post fun GIFs, memes, quotes or even go live and let your followers meet the people behind your brand.
Back to You
Social networks give you the opportunity to reach a wide audience, promote your brand, and deliver a personalized customer experience. As a result, you will generate higher revenue and better conversion rates. Hopefully, the tips listed above will help you harness all the power of social media marketing.
Dan Radak
Dan Radak is a marketing professional with eleven years of experience. He is a coauthor on several websites and a regular contributor to BizzMark Blog. Currently, he is working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies.