Are You Utilizing the Right Social Media Strategy?

Operating social media for your business isn’t quite like operating your personal social media profile. Apart from selecting the relevant platforms to optimize visibility and brand awareness, you have to ensure your content itself is relevant to your audience’s needs and interests. With that said, is your social media strategy where it should be?

What Platforms Should You Be Using?

First of all, who is your audience? More importantly, who are your customers? Importantly, rather than spread your resources across a bevy of platforms, you should be focusing on a small handful. Most businesses, at the very least, have a Facebook profile. The simple reason? Facebook Ads. With over 1 billion daily users, Facebook takes the cake when it comes to visibility. But after Facebook, what other platforms should be part of your social media strategy?

Instagram sees over 1 billion monthly active users, Twitter can engage your audience in 240 characters or less, and LinkedIn is perfect for capturing business-to-business leads. Even Snapchat can be helpful in growing brand awareness among the younger demographic. Figuring out which social media platforms will be most helpful for advertising your business requires analyzing your audience. In other words, figure out where your customers spend their time and advertise there. 

Don’t forget to take your goals into account. What do you hope to accomplish through social media marketing? Apart from driving sales, some businesses use social media for customer support, while others use it to develop meaningful relationships with their customers. Once you establish what you seek to gain through social media, you’ll be able to determine which platforms can help you achieve those ends. 

What Type of Content Should be Part of Your Social Media Strategy?

What is the most popular social media platform? Without looking it up, you’d probably guess Facebook. Worldwide, the three most popular social media platforms are Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp. Instagram is a distant fourth. What does that tell you? Apart from solidifying Facebook’s position as the go-to platform, it tell us video content is grossly underrated. 

In 2015, 78% of marketers said they used video as part of their strategy. In 2020, that number swelled to 92%. Furthermore, in 2021, the average American spent over three hours a day watching videos. Video content is simply more engaging to audiences. But what kind of video content should you be using?

From showcasing product demos to events to brand or employee profiles, there’s little you can’t do with video. Still not convinced? A HubSpot survey found 54% of respondents preferred video content, more than any other form of marketing, including social media posts, blogs, and newsletters. If you’re not using video content to marketing your business, start thinking of ways to integrate it into your strategy today!

Don’t Underestimate Social Media

Your customers are already spending time on various social media apps. Establishing a business profile will not only increase your credibility but will help you develop relationships with your audience. If used correctly, social media can also positively impact your audience’s emotions. Since emotion is the primary driver of sales, above all else, social media can be used to keep your audience in a good mood!

Determine the two or three best platforms to exemplify your brand message and put all your resources into maintaining engaging, insightful profiles. Mix up your content both thematically and in terms of media (video, text, pictures, etc.) and avoid being too sales-oriented. 

At the end of the day, social media is a competitive marketplace. Don’t expect to start a page and have thousands of folks flocking to follow it. However, by following a sound social media strategy, you can use social media to achieve your brand goals, improve brand awareness, and drive sales.