Social media can be a great source of traffic to your website when you know what you’re doing. In fact, for many of us, the first thing we do in the morning is open up Facebook or Twitter, or Instagram and start our daily scrolling.
As a result, businesses have sat up and taken notice of the potential power that social media has. It’s now one of the most important cogs in the marketing wheel. Many brands and businesses are experimenting with new and exciting ways to reach their audiences.
To spark your inspiration, we’ve gathered together a list of the best social media marketing tactics for getting cold, hard results.
The Best Social Media Marketing Tactics
It’s no secret that social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others rank amongst the most popular websites in the world. Billions of people are connected to one network or another and they keep growing.
And every day, new users are joining the party, which is why businesses are now taking a keen interest in how they can make the most of these free opportunities.
Here are five simple ways to get the most out of your social media marketing:
1. Develop a Social Media Marketing Plan
It's easy to just jump into social media without much of a plan, but that's not going to help you achieve your goals. Instead, take some time to develop a social media marketing plan.
Your plan should include objectives, target audiences, chosen platforms and benchmarks. This will make sure that you're on track and getting the results you want.
2. Use a Social Media Calendar
A social media calendar is an essential part of content planning. Especially if you work with multiple people or are publishing content across multiple channels. It's an organized way to keep track of upcoming posts and other important deadlines.
Plus, it makes it easier to share information among team members so everyone knows what to expect in the coming weeks or months.
3. Post at the Best Times
Every social network has different best practices when it comes to posting content — even down to specific times of the day. For example, according to HubSpot research, the best days and times to post on Facebook are Thursday through Sunday from 1 – 4.
Social media is a great tool for marketing, but it only works when you know what you're doing. This article will walk you through actionable steps to help you get the most out of your social media platforms.
4. Establish a Consistent Posting Frequency
Let's be honest, posting on social media can be a daunting task. But by establishing a consistent frequency, you'll find that it gets easier over time and the results are greater in the end.
How often should I post? That's a tough question to answer because there isn't an exact science to it. The best way to determine which frequency works best for your business is to do some testing. Start with one post per day, then two posts per day, and so on until you find the sweet spot that resonates with your audience and converts into sales/leads.
5. Add Shareable Graphics to Blog Posts
Create graphics that enhance your blog posts and provide value to your readers; this is such an effective tactic because it increases shares and traffic. If people get value from your content, they'll share it with their friends, family, and followers who will hopefully do the same.
The average Facebook user scrolls through more than 1,500 stories in his or her feed each day. So how do you get them to stop and notice yours? Graphics help — they draw the eye and give people a reason to engage with your brand.
6. Tailor Content to The Specific Strengths of Each Network
The layout, functionality and user base of each social media platform vary widely. Successful marketers know that the structure and subject matter of their content must reflect these differences in order to get the best results possible.
For example, Twitter is not a good platform for posting long-form content, while Facebook and LinkedIn are ideal. Instagram is great for photo-based content, but not so great for detailed product descriptions or infographics. Pinterest is perfect for visual content too, but it’s a bad place to post videos.
By tailoring your content to the specific strengths of each network, you can maximize your reach and engagement results on social media.
7. Use Demographic Data to Tailor Content on Each Network
The audience on each social network is different from those on other networks. It, therefore, follows that marketers should tailor the content they share on each network to suit the audience there.
This means that you need to pay attention to demographic data when crafting your social media strategy. For instance, according to HubSpot’s 2018 State of Inbound report, Facebook has more users aged 65+ than any other age group (31%). Twitter has more users aged 18 – 29 (37%) more than other agegroups.
8. Pay Attention to the Length of Your Captions
Including a caption with each of your social posts is a good way to increase organic reach and engagement. For example, Instagram captions average around 2,000 characters, which is more than enough space for an engaging caption that can describe your content in detail. Posts on Facebook average 40 characters, but if you write longer captions, they’ll show up in full when users click "see more."
9. Try Instagram Shopping if you are selling online
Create an Instagram Shopping account and get started selling products directly from your Instagram posts. This feature is still in beta, so not everyone has access to it yet. But if you do, you can tag products in up to five posts per day.
If there’s one thing that Instagram has done well, it is the introduction of shoppable posts. Nowadays, it is possible to sell your products directly to your Instagram followers without having to leave the app.
To get started with Instagram Shopping, all you need to do is:
- Verify your Instagram account as a business profile (if you haven’t already).
- Go to your bio and click on Edit Profile. Scroll down until you see the Product Catalog. Click on Edit.
- Follow the instructions on the screen by scanning in barcodes or uploading images with product information. (you will need an approved Facebook catalog). Finally, select Your Business Manager Account.
10. Include User Generated Content in your strategy
User-generated content (UGC) is any type of content that was created by a user or fan of your brand. UGC includes things like photos, videos, tweets, and blog posts that are related to your brand. This is a great way to increase engagement and add authenticity to your posts. It also helps make your business seem more approachable and down-to-earth for potential new customers.
But here's where it gets really interesting: For every dollar spent on influencer marketing, companies generate $5.78 worth of media value, according to influencer marketing hub.
And while your company might not be able to afford an A-list celebrity as a brand ambassador, many smaller businesses have had great success with influencers who have tens or hundreds of thousands of followers but are still affordable.
11. Repurpose and Cross-Post Content
One of the best ways to get results from social media is to repurpose your blog articles and cross-post them on different platforms.
When you have a piece of content (video, podcast, or blog post) that you know is going to perform well, it would be a shame if it only performed well once. Here's what I mean…
You should make it as easy as possible for people to consume your content, no matter what platform they're on. Make sure that if someone reads your blog post that they also know about the podcast episode. Make sure they know about the video as well.
The key to social media marketing is to be as active in your community as possible. No matter what you’re doing, there are always opportunities to engage and interact with your users.
When we talk about the type of content you should be sharing on social media, this includes the following:
- Original content – Blog posts, articles, videos, etc. This can be content you create yourself or content from other sources that you’ve curated and believe your audience will enjoy.
- Repurposed content – Turn long-form blog posts into shorter video clips, infographics or quotes. Video testimonials from customers are another great example of repurposed content.
- User-generated content – Content created by your customers. You can encourage them to share their own photos or videos with you for a chance to win a prize or simply share their thoughts and opinions on a subject.
12. Improve Customer Service
The days of having poor customer service are over. One bad experience can get shared on social media and ruin your reputation very quickly.
One way that you can improve your customer service is through Twitter Direct Messages (DMs). These allow you to have conversations with customers in private rather than publicly on Twitter where anyone can see it.
Another way is by using Facebook Messenger. Facebook allows you to create a business page that makes it easy for potential customers to reach out directly with any questions or concerns.
Social media provides an easy way for customers to voice concerns about your business in front of a very public audience. Since 67% of Americans have made a customer service request through social media, it's important to be responsive with high-quality answers. Southwest Airlines is well known for its top-notch customer service via Twitter, Facebook.
12. Get Employees Involve
Posting content is one of the best ways to increase engagement on social media channels; however, this can also be one of the most time-consuming tasks.
The solution? Get your employees involved! Ask them to share company updates, industry news, and other relevant content on their personal social media profiles. This will help you increase your reach and generate more engagement without having to manage multiple accounts.
Your employees may be one of your most valuable assets, especially when it comes to social media marketing. Encourage them to create their own personal profiles and share content from your business on their networks.
13. Get Employees Involved
Posting content is one of the best ways to increase engagement on social media channels; however, this can also be one of the most time-consuming tasks.
The solution? Get your employees involved! Ask them to share company updates, industry news, and other relevant content on their personal social media profiles. This will help you increase your reach and generate more engagement without having to manage multiple accounts.
Your employees may be one of your most valuable assets, especially when it comes to social media marketing. Encourage them to create their own personal profiles and share content from your business on their networks.
14. Make Use of GIFs and Memes
Incorporating GIFs and memes into your social media strategy is a great way to add some fun, creative content to your page. It's also a great way to save time since these types of posts don't require much text or explanation. Plus, because they're so popular right now, they encourage engagement.
If you want people to pay attention to your social media posts, then you need to grab their attention as quickly as possible. And one of the best ways for you to do this is through GIFs and memes.
These types of images tend to grab people’s attention immediately and hold it for an extended period of time. If this happens, then there is a good chance that your company message will stick in their head long after they have moved on.
Which Social Media Marketing Tactics Will You Use?
Although you can go at social media any number of ways—be it posting the most unusual content, starting heated online arguments with other users, or providing them with something they will find valuable and engaging—the common denominators of success are consistency and communication.
Those are just a few of the things that social media offers. It is a powerful tool, but it needs to be treated as such. Take care of your profiles and make sure they stand out by using posts that offer useful information to your followers.
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