While social media started out as a channel for person-to-person communication, it has now fully evolved into a marketing platform for brands and businesses. Unfortunately, with its growth comes market saturation, so it’s important to find your way out of the noise and stand out from the competition. But how exactly do you that? Simple- educate yourself with what’s keeping the market interested. Here are a few things you should give a go-to amp up your social media presence this 2019:
- Know and segment your audience
The first mistake brands make when trying to build a following on social media is not knowing who to target. As we’ve mentioned, this particular digital avenue is already a crowded one, so the start of a great social media strategy begins with recognizing and organizing your audience into segments. The reality here is that you probably have multiple markets who have the same need but respond to different triggers. Knowing the right people to market, as well as the groups that make up that market, will allow you not just to build specific narratives, but also when, where, and how to convey your message. - Use the right platform/s
“The more, the merrier” is not really the mantra you should be following when trying to implement an effective social media strategy. In this particular part of the online world, determining which social media platform to use will take you back to the first item on the list- your audience. Knowing your market will help you figure out which platform is the best way to reach them. For instance, if your goal is to communicate with a younger audience, then being more active on Instagram might yield better results than on Facebook or LinkedIn. Having this kind of information allows you to focus your efforts on the proper platform, which means fewer resources are spent on game plans that are likely to fail. - Be a storyteller
If you take a look at the kinds of branded content that’s taking the world by storm right now, they all have the same ingredient- a narrative. It’s not entirely surprising, after all, the popularity of social media is grounded on the fact that people use it to share snippets of their life through the magic of storytelling. The way we consume content is very different now- gone are the days of hard-selling and making everything revolve around your product or service. In this era, the way to get to your market is to make them the hero, and present your brand as a tool that will help them triumph over a specific challenge. Be a storyteller- making your content relatable to your market will greatly help in getting your product or service from the awareness stage to the consideration stage. - Prioritize quality over quantity
Flooding the social media feeds of your market or joining every bandwagon are not the recommended roads to online success. If you want your market to engage with you, focus on quality, not quantity. Publishing four uninspired content a day will get you nowhere compared to just posting four well-thought-out content in a week. Concentrate on gaining customer attention through posts that are creative, purposeful, timely, and relevant. A trending meme that has nothing to do with your brand or your market will not make any impact, so opt-out and think of something more apt and engaging. - Make your presence more human
The great thing about social media is it gives businesses an avenue to be more human. Using this digital platform for a more personal take on branding is key to making a connection with your market. This is the reason more and more brands are showing the people that make the company, not just the products or services it creates. Look at it this way, if you’re watching your favourite movie and you find out they’ve released a series of behind-the-scenes, wouldn’t you be interested in giving it a go? Of course, you would be! Knowing how it all came about- from the people to the props that made it happen- is an amazing way to relate and connect with your audience. - Go for hyper-targeting
Clients have one significant similarity- they like to be prioritized. Now, more than ever, it’s crucial that you constantly find ways to tailor-fit your message to various levels of hyper-targeting. Whether it’s trying your hand at remarketing ads or geo-targeting, refining your audience (through market segmentation) and making your marketing strategies more personalized is something that will really capture your market. Another way to do this is by coming up with promos and campaigns that speak out to a specific market, writing articles that talk about a particular topic, or using advanced filters on your data analysis. - Publish in-the-moment content
There’s a reason Instagram stories has been experiencing a steady rise in popularity- it allows for in-the-moment content. It makes a lot of sense, after all, the attention span of the online market is very short, a fact that Instagram stories took into consideration. While this may seem easier, it actually takes a lot more effort because you have to establish a solid video content marketing strategy. This also ties in nicely with a trend we just talked about, which is publishing posts that are more personal and with a human element. With the way things are going right now, it is very possible that live videos and updates on social media will be the next big thing this 2019, so you better prep for that. - Leverage chatbots
Part of making the customer experience more personal is attending to your clients’ needs the moment it arises. A fast and simple way to do that is to use chatbots. This kind of technology enables you to be more responsive to your clients within the first 24 hours of initial contact. Remember, the longer it takes for you to reply, the higher the chance your customers will switch to your competitors. Of course, nothing beats a human actually answering inquiries, but with chatbots, you can automate and have frequently asked questions attended to as soon as you get them. The trick here is to make your chatbots’ tone of voice in line with your brand- make it sound like you, not a robot. - Engage with your market
Being active on social media is not just about publishing posts on a regular basis, but also about going out of your way to engage with your audience. Set up an action plan- every social media player in your company should be able to know what to do in case a fan positively or negatively reacts to your posts. Whether it’s liking a comment, sending a personalized private message, or a discount coupon, your market will surely appreciate that you took the time to engage with them. Doing so will also encourage them to be more active as well. - Invest in paid marketing
While the organic way of doing social media management is still the best way to build a strong online presence, the present time is showing a prominent rise in the use of paid marketing (in fact, companies saw a 32% increase in their social ad budgets in 2018 alone). But as the landscape becomes more competitive, you have to prepare for it to be more expensive, too. To make sure you get the most bang for your buck, invest in great content- don’t forget, ads are not just about the money, it’s also about creativity and knowing the right ad type to invest in.
Now you’re up to speed, why don’t you work on re-calibrating your social media and content strategy for 2019? But hey, if you don’t have the time or the resource to design your own compelling social media content, our team of designers are ready to do that for you. Jump on our pricing page for more info
