This post is submitted by Jason Dirkham.
With 75% of businesses claiming that social media marketing has increased their traffic in recent years, modern business success is unlikely unless you’re making some noise on social platforms.
But, just as social media can become a time-consuming and unproductive past-time in our personal lives, businesses are also at risk of getting sucked into a focus that reaps very little reward.
This is terrible news for spending. Poorly placed posts and lackluster social marketing efforts are also online forever, and can leave a lasting bad taste in consumers’ mouths.
Luckily, there are ways to avoid this black hole and instead enjoy social media success like the best in the business. In this article, we’re going to consider just a few of the ways you can do it.
Have a clear goal for your social media
We hear about the need for social media in business so much these days that many brands get an account because they feel they should, rather than because they have any express goal for it. As well as being a waste of potential, this ‘make do’ attitude is no way to get consumers on-side.
Instead, it’s important to always have a clear goal in mind when posting on social media. Most often, this will be conversions, but social media is also great for garnering loyalty, ensuring repeat custom, and generally managing your brand reputation.
By factoring in these goals in advance, you can develop a concise social media marketing plan that ensures no post is wasted. Instead, you’ll be able to determine straight away which social platforms you can make the best use of, what audience you’re ultimately aiming to attract, and even the type of content you should be posting.
Keep your brand consistent across platforms
Social media is never going to serve you if you develop one voice on YouTube, but a completely different voice on Instagram. Given that most consumers will interact with you on more than one social platform, this can make you look unreliable, and can even confuse your products or services.
Despite these differing mediums, you need a comprehensive marketing plan that keeps things consistent and on track. Whether you’re making video content or writing an image description, try to keep your tone of voice along the same vein, and always stick to the same messaging.
As well as making it more likely that you’ll build lasting connections with customers across platforms, this consistency can help you tie everything that you do here in with your overall brand messaging. And, that’s going to make all the difference to your outcomes.
Follow it up with a great site
While social media platforms like Instagram do now offer shop fronts, social media is ultimately about driving interest to your website. But, regardless of how great your social media is, or how strong your social media connections are, none of that will lead to sales if your website is slow, poorly designed, or not fit for purpose.
In a roundabout way, then, you could argue that a lot of social media success rests not on your posting schedule, but on the website at the other end of your CTAs. To secure conversions, there’s no getting around the need for an optimized, easy-to-use, and well-designed website like those offered by Total Care Websites. Fail to ensure this, and your money, time, and effort are sure to slip right down the social media black hole. Not to mention that even loyal social followers will probably unfollow in quick succession.
Be a fan as well as a creator
Social media is a delicate web of unpredictable algorithms, and it’s not always easy to know what will get your posts seen. One thing we do know, however, is that social media platforms are trained against championing overly promotional uploads. If you’re all about posting your latest products without interacting, then you just won’t get great coverage.
To achieve that, you not only need to be present in your comments, but you need to be a fan as well as a creator. By following and interacting with posts from complimentary brands, influencers, and similar, you can convince the social media moguls that you’re not a machine. Your posts will then be far more widely viewed than if you were posting into a silent void.
Social media can be a black hole for anyone who uses it, but it can also be one of the best powers for modern business success if you shine a light on your social media strategy in these ways.
