When it comes to social media, there’s nothing that you can’t do – however, there are many ways that you can go about and amongst them some are okay and some are not-so-okay.
So, as a digital marketer, what are you supposed to do? What should you focus on and where? Where do you even start?
Get to know your audience
The very first step that you need to focus on is your audience – you need to learn everything about them. If you don’t even know who your audience is, how can you give them what they want?
Who is your audience?
Single moms, retirees, millennials – getting a name for your audience is a start, but you will need to be more specific than that – the more specific you are, the better will it be for your business.
What networks should you focus on?
Just because you are a business doesn’t mean that you will need to focus on each social network available out there. You are recommended to research your audience – doing that will lead to insights that you will need for your business to succeed.
Researching your audience will lead you to know what and which networks they use and at what time and such. Then combine all of those readings, and you will be able to sell your brand much better.
Having a plan
Simply just being on social media is not enough. With the competition in today’s market, you will need a plan and a solid one at that.
What do you want to achieve on social media? Why do you want that?
If you have the answers to the above-mentioned questions! Then, that means, you have a plan, and that alone is the first step for your success. Of course, you will need to set up goals and make sure what’s working and what’s not – or what do you need to improve, and all that.
Combine all of these, and you will have a solid brand worthy of being a success.
Keeping an eye on your competition
Of course, you will need to do that – or else, they will get the upper hand. Don’t simply copy them! Take notice as to what they are doing. It will help you to decide what you should do and what shouldn’t.
Do you know that competitors can be a great inspiration for your social media activities? You can even contact them, and befriend them, share ideas for doing better and improving yourself.
Many do, and you can and should do that too.
Listening to mentions of your brand
Take note of what people are saying about your brand on social media. If possible, you should respond to those conversations and analyze them on what you should do next.
If someone has praised your brand, take a few minutes to thank them – or you can even collaborate with them. Or even if someone is not happy, you should still respond to them, and try to improve on the feature that they hated.
As a brand, you should listen and learn, and earn.
Taking note of conversations relevant to your industry
No matter which industry you are in, you should follow what others are saying about your brand. Some tools can help you with that – on, how can you monitor where people are mentioning you, what hashtags they are using, what’s the recent trend that currently on the front seat in the industry.
Some of the best tools that you can have in your arsenal – BrandWatch, Reputology, Nuzzel, Google Alerts, and HootSuite.
Establishing your brand’s tone on social media
Do you know that every time you post, write, talk, thank, and connect with others on social media, you are exercising the voice of your brand?
So, doesn’t it make sense to do it cleverly?
Let others know about your brand in the best possible way – avoid jargon, and write from the perspective of the readers. Be simple, clear, and transparent – avoid all the drama, and go head-on, so that the readers will get to know what they get at the very first glance.
What to post on social media?
Wondering what to post on social media so that your brand gets a good standing amongst the visitors? It’s recommended that you should share posts that promote your business that will convert your visitors into loyal customers.
That said, you can also share stories of influencers from your industry or of like-minded businesses. Even personal stories also work best for building your brand.
Responding to comments and mentions
Because if you don’t – it will make you look like you don’t care about your brand, and it will come off as lazy or unwilling. You don’t want that to happen to your brand, do you?
So, why not welcome all into the party – you as a brand should welcome, listen, and encourage them. Doing so will create a long-lasting relationship between your brand and the customers.
Don’t repost across all social media
Under no condition should you repost the same message across all the social media networks – instead, take your time to craft a new one, that is, a different one for each different network? Yes, it will take time to craft a new one each time, but doing so will pose your brand to the people as a one that cares what it shares.
When should you post on social media?
Now, it’s not exactly easy to say when is the right time for your brand to post on social media. Instead, here’s what you should do – you should take time out to track the results of your brand and see who is engaging with your brand, and when. Based on that, you should post on social media and not simply, based on your hunches.
Testing your message
Do you know that you can test your message and check which one responds best to your customers? First, you will need to separate your customers into two groups and send a different message to the groups, and then, compare the message on the metrics – or else, you will send your messages to your customers based on a hunch.
Using the right tools for the job
Managing social media is not an easy task – but you can take the help of various tools that can make your job easier. Canva, CampSite, Planoly, and Story Slicer are some of the best ones that you should go for.
Simply getting to work on social media is not enough in today’s market – you will need to have a solid plan and follow the best practices that it is available, and only then, you will succeed as a digital marketer.