10 Tips for Building a Social Media Marketing Strategy that Actually Works

With around 80% of the Australian population having social media accounts, the platform cannot be ignored by marketers. The ubiquitous presence of smartphones and the growing number of hours spent on social media have contributed to the rise of these channels of communication. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest, and LinkedIn – all have penetrated the markets and gained a sizeable market share.

In a nutshell, social media marketing has become the most powerful marketing tool to create awareness, build customer loyalty, improve engagement, and generate leads. Thus, besides focussing on SEO Gold Coast, businesses must pay attention to building an effective social media marketing strategy. So here are few tips that will help you in this quest.

1. Set Your Goals

Setting goals does not mean blindly creating a roadmap with unworkable milestones. The social media goals should be aligned with the business goals and the overall marketing objectives. Follow the SMART technique, which involves creating specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely goals. Conducting quick market research about the competitor’s usage of social media can help you build your goals. For example, increasing social media followers by 20% in six months.

You will understand how similar businesses are using the platform to their advantage and how you should leverage it. Prepare a social media marketing calendar that will have details of the frequency of posting educational and promotional content.

2. Identify Your Target Audience

Every marketing plan starts with the research of the target market. If you do not know who you will be catering to with your messages, the communication will be a disaster. Therefore, it is vital to understand the demographics and psychographics of the buyers. It will help you to know the kind of content they consume online and what is their preference when it comes to social content.

As a marketer, you can take stock of social media engagement by participating in conversations on social media. It is the best place to ask for feedback and speak to customers to get an idea about their needs, wants and desires. Identify their pain points and devise a strategy on how these can be eliminated with your offering.

3. Determine the Best Social Media Mix

Marketers often make the mistake of being present on every social media channel to acquire more customers. However, this proves to be a damaging strategy that often backfires because of the lack of strategy. Every renowned digital marketing agency in Gold Coast suggests creating only a few social media channels, which are used by the target audience.

Your market research will help you to identify the channels that are most used by the audience. For example, youngsters are stuck on Snapchat and Instagram while baby boomers are fond of Facebook and Pinterest. You can also check how the competitors are reaching out to their customers. Make sure that you identify the best channels to promote your brand and work on them religiously.

4. Communicate Effectively

Content is the king when it comes to wooing customers online. Thus, you need to create valuable and informative blogs, articles, infographics, images, and videos that will be viewed, read, and shared by the users. The content uploaded on social media should be compelling and shareworthy. Sales-oriented content should be mixed with other entertaining and informative messages so that the audience remains engaged.

Remember that social media offers two-way communication. So, respond to comments and start discussions to gauge the response of the users and gain their feedback. The sentiments expressed by the users will help you to improve the content and your offerings.

5. Build Long-Term Relationships

Social media should not be used for direct selling unless you are advertising on the platform. Give a break to sales language and build relationships with the audience. Talking to your audience and resolving their queries and issues can go a long way in cementing the bond. Create a trusted partnership that positions you as a thought leader and authority in the space.

The rapport built through social engagement aids in enhancing customer loyalty, which in turn improves sales. Create a personal touch in your conversations and listen carefully to the customers to deal with their problems and provide them with solutions.

6. Use Social Media Tools

There are tools that allow the marketer to schedule the posts, blogs, tweets, images way before the publishing date. You can even prepare the posts for the entire month, depending on your communication strategy and upcoming offers and announcements.

It will free up your time that can be utilised in engaging with the customers and replying to their comments. The dashboard of the tools allows you to track what has been posted and how many people have viewed it. Thus, you are in control of the messaging and not pressed for time.

7. Find Influencers

Making influencers endorse your brand is the biggest competitive advantage in the current scenario when people are spending more time on social media sites. They have a massive following on social media and customers trust them.

So, when these people promote your brand or say positive things about it, your target audience will follow suit. Word-of-mouth is still the most advantageous mode of advertising and when it comes from a credible and expert source, the consumers get influenced.

8. Lure Customers

Marketing is directed at increasing sales and that can be achieved through discount offers and contests. Running these schemes is beneficial for the business as more people will be interested in participating in a contest to win freebies and goodies.

You can also start referral programs that offer discounts on bringing new customers on board. Besides these, you should continue with the loyalty program that will bear fruits by retaining your repeat customers. Social media can work wonders in spreading the message and targeting a wider market.

9. Keep Track of Updates

The dynamic world of social media is constantly evolving and every day there are new features added to these platforms. You need to have an expert team or a digital marketing agency in Gold Coast to do the job.

It may seem easy, but social media marketing is a voluminous task and requires in-depth knowledge of all the features. For example, Instagram alone has stories, reels, posts, videos, and a lot more, which can be used to create highly creative and engaging posts. So, look out for the trends and the transformations and keep utilising them to stay relevant.

10. Measure Your performance

Analysing the output of your social media campaigns and communication strategy is crucial to understand what resonates with the audience. If some posts are getting more attention and engagement, they should be increased. Conversely, if long articles are not getting the desired views, you must consider shorter snippets. The analytical tools help to gauge the performance of the marketing plan and make improvements. It is similar to using the metrics for search engine optimisation in Gold Coast and does not take much time.

Conclusion

As a business owner, if you are planning to boost sales and acquire more customers, you must prepare an effective social media marketing strategy. So, make use of the tips mentioned above to strengthen your brand promotions.