Social Media Marketing Tips
As much as we all hate to admit it, social media truly runs the world. Even more-so, the world of business. Since social media platforms were originally created, the world of social media has been growing rapidly and has yet to reach its peak. The internet and social media platforms are where the world finds news and information, where people share their lives openly and publicly, but most importantly, a place for businesses to connect with their potential clients quickly and easily. Social media makes your target demographic accessible and makes it easy and effective to build connections and authentic relationships. While there are negative impacts of social media being such a prevalent piece in today’s society, and there are many, when it comes to running a business the positive factors are nearly endless.
Why is it important to utilize social media marketing?
With social media booming the way it is, it seems only right to seize the opportunity, doesn’t it? And by booming, I mean that 82% of Americans are on at least one social media platform in 2021. When you have MOST of America in one place, you have to take advantage of it. Historically there have been many other successful ways to market your business - ways that really worked. For so long businesses relied on radio, newspaper, television ads, and even the phone book. While most of those options still exist and do work in some capacity, utilizing social media marketing is by far the most effective way to promote your business.
There are countless benefits to social media marketing, and it’s important to keep those in mind as you embark on your journey with social media marketing.
With GOOD social media marketing you have the ability to:
Grow your audience quickly and effectively
Engage more easily with your audience
Drive traffic to your website
Create leads to potential clients
Land your dream clients
If social media marketing isn’t your area of expertise, we are here to help! Here we compiled a list of social media marketing tips to help you create the most effective social media marketing strategy for your business!
1. Set your goals
Setting out clear goals for your business before you embark on a social media marketing journey is KEY to your success. After all, how will you get to where you’re going if you don’t know where that is?
It is a proven fact that you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down. So, start there! Think about the future of your business. Where do you want to be in a year? Five years? Ten? Set your sights on a clear goal and then write it down physically on paper. For bonus points, write it on a post-it note and slap it up somewhere that you will see every day. Setting goals, SEEING those goals, and then reminding ourselves of them on days where we lose sight, is a foolproof way to achieve success as a business owner.
In terms of social media marketing, you want to set goals that are clear, attainable, and in alignment with your general social media marketing strategy. Some ways to set attainable goals are to:
Use numbers (number of followers, email subscribers, etc)
Divide your goal up into sub-goals that you can achieve along the way
Set a deadline. Always.
If you are clear about what you want to achieve and what you want your business to be doing, your market strategy will follow suit. You can cater your own individual social media marketing strategy to your timeline, the outcome you are planning for, and how you want to get there.
2. Get to know your target audience.
There are many ways to go about getting to know your target audience. You may already have an idea of WHO your target audience is, but is that all you know? The deeper you become familiar with the demographic of people you are wanting to draw to your business, the more likely you are to build genuine and successful relationships with them. Beyond just landing them as a client, you want to have a positive working relationship with them, so getting to know them beyond what they want and need from you is beneficial long-term, as well.
To truly get to know your target audience beyond their demographic, one of the first things to do identify their “pain point.” What that means, is looking at their business and how it operates, and figuring out what they MOST need assistance with. After you identify what they need, you can better display to them how and why YOU are the answer to all of their problems.
Another way to get to know your target audience, is to utilize your social media platform’s business analytics. On the most-used social media apps, there is the capability to look at your business analytics and hone in on who your following is actually made of. In the deep dive into your analytics, you’ll find your audience statistics. This will show you who is following you, their age, and other helpful details to help you better understand your following.
Knowing your target audience is key in creating a good social media marketing strategy. You will be able to use all that you know about a more specific demographic, which will help you hand-craft marketing content just for them. Instead of making broad content to try to appeal to the masses, you can be intentional about your marketing and have it impact the RIGHT people.
3. Engage with your following.
Now that you know who is following you, engage with them! This means following accounts of your ideal client, liking their posts, commenting on their content or simply responding to their comments on yours. Hop into people’s DM’s…in a tactful way, of course. Reach out to potential clients about their business in a natural and organic way and explain to them how you think YOUR services can help provide ease in their daily life as a business owner.
Let’s face it, owning a business is anything but easy. When you engage with someone in your audience, express to them a specific service you can offer to them individually. Notice something they could use assistance on, small or significant, and target that point. I don’t know about you, but as a business owner myself I am much more likely to respond and engage with someone who is speaking my language and telling me how they can help lighten my load.
Make it a part of your social media marketing strategy to authentically engage with your audience. The more personal connection you can make through social media, the more success you will have bringing in real clients. Once they know you exist and can help them, the more they will trust you and then they will invest in you. Trust that process.
4. Stay up-to-date on what’s current on social media.
Trends on each social media platform are ever-changing and basically different every week. Reels, stories, guides - the best thing you can do as a business owner on social media is to stay on trend. It may be the last thing on your list of things to-do, or fall completely off your radar, but it’s so important to know what is getting the most screen-time at the moment. In order to satisfy the algorithm and have your content SEEN, you have to be posting click-worthy content that people will be drawn to.
It’s easy to see what’s trending just by looking at your feeds on all of your social media platforms, but the most ever-changing and “trend happy” of all, is Instagram. An easy way to see what is currently trending, is to spend some time on your discover page. You will pretty quickly be able to see what everyone else is posting about and what is working and what is not. Do your research on the platform itself and also tap into the lovely world of Google. You are bound to find hundreds of articles on what is trending and what you SHOULD be doing on social media to stay up-to-date.
5. Schedule your content and be consistent.
I cannot stress this enough, consistency is KEY. The secret to building your following and engaging your audience over time is to SHOW UP on your platforms and do it consistently. If you are posting infrequently, your posts will very likely get lost in the sea of posts. To satisfy the algorithms, you have to be posting and sharing constantly in a variety of ways. Of course, most importantly, you want your content to add value to people’s lives. When they are scrolling for hours on their feed, you want YOUR content to stand out and provide something to them in their personal life or business that others could not.
Not only do you want your posts to be seen, you want your potential clients to see that you are consistent, that you care, and that you are ready to add value to their business. You can show all of that in your content and your consistency. Showing up on your social media platforms consistently shows that you are committed to your business and you are ready to show up consistently for them as well.
With all of that said, you’re a business owner and that means that you are inherently busy. You wear so many hats, your plate is incredibly full, and you have A LOT going on. For many of us, social media is the last thing we have time for. That’s where my next tip comes in – plan your content!
There are several apps that allow you to plan and schedule your content ahead of time. Planoly and Later are two of the best out there! You can schedule your content down to the minute, add hashtags ahead of time, tag your location, and have it automatically post without you doing a thing. This allows you to eliminate that feeling we all know and don’t love, when you’re staring at your phone trying to think of WHAT to post and how to formulate the perfect captions. You can sit down whenever you’re free and plan your week’s content and then not have to be burdened by it on a daily basis.
6. Brand your business.
The final, and arguably most important, social media marketing tip is to brand your business. Read that again, write it down, underline and highlight it. Branding your business is defined as, “the promoting of a product or service by identifying it with a particular brand.” Essentially, branding your business is like giving it personality, a face and a presence.
When you choose to brand your business, you’re covering everything from the logo to the email signature and everything in between. With a good brand strategy, you can:
set yourself apart from the other businesses in your niche
breathe life into your business
attract your ideal clients
share the value of your business
Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Branding your business and creating a social media market strategy share many of the same benefits. It seems like a no brainer that they go hand-in-hand. Branding is an incredibly crucial step in leveling-up your business, and can enhance your social media marketing strategy exponentially.
How can we help you?
At Northwest Brand Design, our goal is to create a powerhouse brand, tailored specifically to your business. Not only do we carefully consider every area of your business, we get to know YOU and create your brand with intention to reflect what your business embodies and what it can accomplish.
We give you the confidence and clarity to show up online.
When you’ve gone through the brand strategy and brand design process, you know your brand backwards and forwards. You know exactly what it is you do, who you do it for, how you show up and serve your audience, and how to communicate your unique value. All of this translates into your social media marketing strategy.
Your strategy will determine what social media platforms are right for you, and which ones you can leave off your to do list. We’ll identify your values, mission, voice, and messaging to help you create content that connects with your ideal clients. We’ll also create a rock solid brand identity to fall back on so you know exactly what colors, images, fonts, etc. to use to stay consistent, stay current, and grow your business on social media.
If you’d like to learn more about how an investment in branding can help you grow your business and establish a social media marketing strategy, click the button below to schedule your free 30-minute discovery call.
