An effective social media marketing strategy helps you reach your target audience, get them hooked, and keep them engaged with fresh content. Did you know that more than half of the world’s population is active on social media? That’s right – that’s 4.2 billion people who regularly use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, SnapChat, Pinterest, Reddit, or any of the other social media sites out there. If you own a business, finding the right niche within that vast world of social media is the key to growing your presence, brand awareness, and engagement.
Done right, social media marketing can seriously boost your brand’s online presence and drive results. Here are a few key strategies to help you get started today:
Target Audience: The Goldilocks Zone
Identifying your audience is the first step in growing your brand. To understand your audience’s concerns, desires, and interests, you need an appropriately specific demographic. Trying to target too broad of an audience will dilute your company’s real demographic of interest and put you at a disadvantage, but an overly narrow audience limits your reach. The “goldilocks zone,” or the audience that is “just right” for your brand, can be found by carefully considering each social media campaign’s analytics.
Dive Deep into Data Analytics
Social media marketing is made simpler by the built-in data tracking tools that most social media platforms offer with business or admin profiles. Analytics can help you answer questions like:
- What are the demographics of my audience, including age, gender, occupation and general location?
- What social media platforms are my audience actively using the most?
- What style of content does my audience engage with consistently?
- Are my promotions and special offers still enticing customers, or do I need fresh content?
- Is it time to reevaluate my social media marketing strategy?
Playing the social media marketing game requires consistent analysis of data and reevaluation based on results.
Increase Engagement Opportunities with #ActionableHashtags
Ultimately, business owners want a direct line of communication to their customers. Social media provides this connection, and audience engagement with your posts measures how well your strategy is working. So how do companies get those clicks, likes, comments, and shares?
Actionable hashtags can start a conversation with your consumers. Not only do hashtags help build your brand’s personality – for example, is your brand witty, inspirational, sarcastic, or goofy – but they also encourage customers to become a part of your story. Hashtags create a specific online location for your customers to share and discuss a particular topic related to your brand or a specific campaign. Hashtags should be easy to spell, relevant, and actionable – and don’t forget to study your hashtags’ success with analytics.
