How To Create A Social Media Marketing Strategy That Works?

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Did you know that over 98% of marketers trust Instagram as a reliable social media platform for influencer marketing? Facebook ranks a distant second, with 44% of online marketers using the other Meta Company for their influencer marketing strategies

That being said, if your audience accesses content through smartphones, choosing Facebook is still a good option. That’s because over 98% of Facebook users browse through their phones. 

Today, social media can help businesses close lucrative deals, should they choose the right marketing strategy.

Social Media Marketing Strategies for Businesses

Social media platforms today serve a massive family of over 3.8 billion users and counting. So, it makes much more sense now to take that leap and draw a summary of all the things you want to achieve on social media.

In short, start building your social media marketing strategy. The following segments have been framed meticulously to include every important aspect of this seemingly painful process.

Your business may want to invest in various social media platforms to promote brands and sell products or services. For instance, if your business has just come up with a new product and you are looking forward to promoting it on Facebook and Instagram.

But are all platforms right for you?

Just interacting with users in the comments section may mean social media marketing. But to be successful, you need more. For one, you need to create content that resonates with your brand’s story… You know how this goes, right?

Social media marketing requires a strategy. Let’s walk you through how to create a brilliant one.

9 Steps to Creating A Brilliant Social Media Marketing Strategy

So, how do you create a social media marketing strategy that works? Here are some tips to help you.

1. Set goals that resonate with your brand’s objectives

A brilliant social media marketing strategy is never considered effective without SMART goals: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

Let’s take you through 6 examples of smart social media objectives to add more clarity.

  • How many people are currently aware of your brand? ‘Brand Awareness‘ is one of the first entries on the list of goals. You can use metrics, such as audience growth rate, post reach, and potential reach, to measure brand awareness.
  • How many people currently consider your brand trustworthy? ‘Brand Reputation’ is a critical aspect of social media marketing as trust drives growth. The metrics you relied on to check brand awareness can also be used to track this objective, apart from brand mentions.
  • Does your brand have a website? Your brilliant social media marketing strategy should not be limited to what’s happening on social. Your website matters too. Use metrics, such as traffic to your site, email sign-ups, and network referrals, to track the progress.
  • Is your content meeting your target audience’s needs? Engagement is quite an underrated goal. Better engagement ensures better interaction with your audience. Likes, shares, and comments are all forms of engagement. Use metrics, including engagement rate by reach, engagement rate by post, and daily engagement rate.
  • Are people taking action on your post? For instance, are people making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter? To meet conversion goals, use integrated shopping tools, such as Instagram Shops, Shopify, or Pinterest Product Pins.
  • How well are you serving your customers? Customer service on social media and in four-walled restaurants share a couple of aspects – satisfaction and retention. After all, attracting new customers is as important as retaining them for a long time. Use metrics, such as customer satisfaction surveys and customer testimonials.

2. Focus on your target audience and learn what they want

We won’t be asking you to stalk your followers. But there are a few things you must know about your potential customers, such as age, generic location, average income, job title, and interests.

If your current social media marketing strategy isn’t working well, you need to refine it to better target your audience. Take the help of social media analytics tools to know your target audience better.

3. Don’t underestimate your competitors

Are your competitors already on social media? Don’t get disappointed, as you can always turn a crisis into an opportunity.

Carry out a competitive analysis to learn how well your competitors are doing on social media. The analysis is known for unveiling dominant players and underserved areas. Use sites where the dominant players aren’t that active. Use the gap as an opportunity to serve your audience better and grow your brand’s name.

Pro Tip: 

Experts, at times, call recession and rising unemployment an opportunity for brave souls. The idea sounds weird, but here is what economists know and we don’t.

Unemployment and entrepreneurship share a counterintuitive positive relationship. A lot of people who lose their job start businesses. Recession plays the role of market analysis as it shows weak spots that weren’t earlier visible. Revolutionary entrepreneurs learn these pain points and avoid them to stay safe.

4. Carry out a social media audit

  • What has been working, and what didn’t?
  • Has your brand’s social media presence surpassed that of your competitor?
  • What purpose did you want your social accounts to serve? How far have they been helpful?
  • Why hasn’t my account been verified yet?

Start finding satisfactory answers to such questions. Social media audit, apart from helping brands find ways to improve, keeps fake accounts at bay. These imposters steal your followers and revenue by pretending to be you. Report them!

5. Assign each network a different format

Stop making assumptions. Instead, rely on data to decide which type of content works well on what platform. Bigger brands, such as Starbucks and McDonald’s, have the resources to serve audiences on numerous platforms. But if your brand isn’t that big yet, it’s better to start prioritizing.

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Here’s a quick overview of each platform for you.

  • Twitter

This micro-blogging site is ideal for marketers looking to perfect their social media marketing basics, such as tagging and hashtags. It’s straightforward, and thus a great starting point for most brands.

  • Facebook

Brick-and-mortar businesses should always have a Facebook account. The platform helps effectively target local followers. With its reviews and check-ins feature, Facebook enables brands to create a dedicated local following in no time.

  • Instagram

Majorly focused on visual content, Instagram helps brands show off what they’re selling in creative ways. This vibrant platform serves influencers, e-commerce shops, and brick-and-mortar businesses almost the same. Remember to use eye-popping photos, relevant videos, and clever captions.

  • LinkedIn

This platform solely focuses on business trends and networking. LinkedIn is nothing less than a goldmine for people working in the B2B space. Your long and tiring search for the perfect marketing manager, influencer, or even CEO will possibly end here.

  • Pinterest

Immensely popular among the millennials, Pinterest is a powerful tool to increase brand awareness, improve website traffic, and overall, grow your business – all organically.

  • YouTube

Although YouTube has never been considered a traditional social network, its massive community cannot be underestimated. Videos are currently the best-performing type of content on social media. If you have already been creating videos for your business, share them on YouTube as well. Content repurposing heavily improves brand awareness.

  • TikTok

TikTok is the new social media darling, but its power as a marketing tool hasn’t been realized by many yet. Many still believe TikTok only has a young user base. However, the platform has already started serving millions of people above 30. The current low business competition on TikTok is something brands need to take advantage of.

6. Find the right influencers

Influencer marketing isn’t an overrated concept. While traditional advertising works great, influencer marketing adds more genuineness.

Numerous platforms support branded content. But Instagram is usually the most recommended one. Here are a few rules:

  • To create the perfect Instagram influencer marketing strategy, start with the goals.
  • Once the objectives are all listed down, start searching for genuine influencers.
  • Do a thorough background check. Learn the demographics of their followers to ensure your target audience isn’t left unserved.
  • Don’t use the first message to send the complete idea. Instead, focus on developing a solid relationship first.

If you want to find genuine Instagram influencers to start and make the most of your influencer marketing campaign, you can use an influencer marketplace like Ainfluencer. It helps both brands and influencers connect and collaborate. Ainfluencer‘s AI-powered search engine lets use custom search filters such as location, hashtag, language, gender, category, etc. to simply explore and find niche influencers.

7. Search for inspiration

While it’s necessary to stay unique, you can still draw inspiration from your competitors’ content. Your followers can also help you on your quest. Remember, original content, personal style, and consistency are the keys to a powerful online presence.

8. Plan on creating a feasible social media content calendar

Use social media analytics to get recommended best times to post content. Brands sharing content on these particular time slots get the maximum impact.

Your social media content calendar simplifies your work. It lets you maintain consistency as well as the right content mix. Use the calendar to decide on the posting frequencies. While too many posts per day might annoy your customers, too little will possibly turn you into a forgotten piece soon.

Once the content calendar is all set to offer you its professional support, go select a scheduling tool.

9. Go through insights and adjust your strategy

Remember, nothing is final. You need to treat your strategy like a living document and constantly update it. Don’t overdo it. Social media has been shown to affect mental health, and if you want to be in the long haul, you need to be responsible with your strategy. For one, you can also avoid buyer fatigue. 

That being said, social media is fast-paced. Some social media marketing strategies work, and some don’t. Go through the analytics regularly and don’t be reluctant to make changes, if necessary.

Apart from the numbers, you can also rely on your followers, website visitors, and email lists for honest reviews and recommendations.

How Well Does Video Marketing Work For Businesses?

Videos are the future of social media content. We aren’t claiming this without a reason. Videos are versatile as they can be reused multiple times on different networks. Moreover, in contrast to traditional styles, videos offer customers a better understanding of how a brand works.

Video marketing ensures relatively more brand awareness, engagement, and Return On Investment (ROI). Here are a few trends observed these days:

  • Live Video Formats:

Did you know that live-streaming videos usually generate 6 times more engagement, compared to pre-recorded ones? While netizens love videos in general, they engage relatively more with live streams.

Pro Tip: Use some of the best Windows 11 screen recorders to record multiple streams at once. These screen recorders go beyond just recording your screens. For one, you can record your audio seamlessly, and then edit the screen recording once done. 

If you want to record videos for YouTube, want to create training videos, or just want to share your gaming sessions by recording them, some good screen recorders can work just as well. And with the intensive video editing tools on tools like Movavi, you can do a whole lot more – like adding in more effects to make the video look more professional. 

  • Vlogs:

Vlog video production doesn’t need fancy cameras, expensive editing software, or special skills. This format helps the brand create a more intimate relationship with its customers.

  • Seo-optimized Videos

These videos are perfect for serving a specific purpose. Use keywords in descriptions, give every comment a reply, use relevant thumbnail photos and post consistently to improve your ranking.

  • User-generated Content

User-generated materials are highly impactful. They are more trustworthy and many customers find them relatively more entertaining. Ask some of your ‘happy’ customers to collaborate with you as brand advocates.

Final Verdict

The path to a brilliant social media marketing strategy is similar in many respects to its traditional counterparts. Ensure you have clear goals, reliable analytics, trustworthy influencers, and knowledge of how each platform works. We hope this article gave you the right social media marketing ideas for your brand.

Cyrus Nambakhsh

Cyrus is a serial entrepreneur, product-led-growth expert, a product visionary who launched 7 startups. He has built scalable platforms to help businesses and entrepreneurs. Contact: Cyrus@ainfluencer.com