7 tips to improve your social media marketing strategy

As businesses and entrepreneurs continue to shift their focus to digital strategies, there is no better time to boost your social media presence, connect with your followers, and understand your customers better. Social media marketing is one of the most effective ways to grow your brand and reach your target audience. According to Hootsuite, 50% of the global population is using social media: that’s 3.8 billion people.

Last week, we shared how physical stores and showrooms are adjusting during the crisis – this week, we're diving into the details and providing you 7 useful tips on where to direct your efforts when it comes to empowering your brand through social media strategies. Let's dig in.

1. Narrow your efforts to social platforms that speak to your target audience

Setting specific goals for your business and determining your target audience can help determine which social media platforms require your full attention. It’s important to understand how different platforms cater to different audiences and objectives. The number of social media platforms continues to grow, and every once in a while, a new one is developed that becomes a networking channel ''everyone must have''. Attempting to focus on all of them can be a waste of both time and effort, as it will be difficult to create a loyal network and properly reach your target audience.

If you have a smaller marketing team, focus on two or three social media platforms that you are confident will reach your target customer and help you meet your sales and marketing goals. This multichannel strategy should be approached by establishing your primary platform where you will center your main activities - together with a few other channels where you can leverage the same content you are creating. For example, when we post a new blog, we create different image assets to promote the same blog across Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin.

2. Engage with your loyal customers

A company’s or individual’s impact and influence on social media isn’t just measured by number of followers. The more qualitative measure, which can help you attain more loyal fans, is one you should definitely pay more attention to – engagement.

Maximizing your investment on social media means making sure your potential customers can relate to your brand, as well as find a way to participate in your content. How can they do that? By providing them with fresh and unique content, even if it's not directly related to the offering of your services or products. Vitamin brand, Ritual, does a great job inserting educational content, fun videos & memes and questions to engage with their customers. If you’re an entrepreneur, give them a peek into your daily life, use this opportunity to introduce yourself or your team; insert personal moments, emphasizing captions, and try asking them to share their concerns or thoughts with you.

Make your followers see there's a two-way communication on your social media channels and not just a monologue about something you want to sell.

3. Be active and be consistent

''This is not the season to be quiet, this is the season to communicate'' – this is how Jenna Kutcher, an Instagram expert, encouraged small businesses to be more active on social media. Consumers are adjusting to self-isolation by being online more often, which means now is the perfect time to be present on platforms they’re active on to find inspiration. The home industry has a particularly unique advantage in that people are currently forced to be at home and take in their personal surroundings.

Moreover, once you gain your follower's interest and trust, try to be consistent with your posting schedule. Social media algorithms favor accounts who post content consistently. It doesn't mean you have to post three times a day – simply determine a weekly number of posts you want on Facebook or Instagram and do your best to stick to the schedule.

4. Create visually appealing design templates

Taking the extra step to set yourself apart from your competition on social media can pay off very quickly. Now is a perfect time to come out with innovative visual designs you can test on your social media platforms. Luckily, there are plenty of useful tools and apps you can use to make your posts more appealing and engaging. A few of our favorites are, Storyluxe, Unfold, InShot, and Over.

Canva, a collaborative graphics platform, is also an exceptional tool when it comes to creating social media templates, especially if you're not a graphic designer or don’t have the resources to hire one.

5. Measure the success of your social media strategy

Simply posting beautiful, engaging and carefully curated content will not result in a successful social media strategy. It is essential, and just as important to track the analytics of your posts and accounts. Marketers are constantly testing, measuring, and optimizing their campaigns for better results. “Instagram for Business” is the easiest platform to pull stats from while also giving you instant access to your post insights. You can also use popular social media management tools, such as Buffer, everypost, Hootsuite, Digimind and Sprout Social to help you gather information and measure the success of your posts. If you notice your audience is engaging with posts that are more personal versus tips, you can quickly shift your content to the needs of your audience.

6. Start doing videos

In 2017, Mark Zuckerberg claimed video would be a megatrend, and he wasn’t wrong. Between YouTube, Facebook, Instagram Stories, IGTV, Snapchat, and now TikTok, it’s safe to say video content is here to stay. According to Forbes, 90% of customers report that product videos help them make purchasing decisions. A great advantage of video content is it can be repurposed across multiple platforms, as it performs well on all devices. You don’t necessarily need to hire an expensive production crew either, as real, raw and authentic content makes a big impact. By creating engaging, easy-to-interact-with video content, brands can grow a substantial online following and develop customer retention.

7. Pay to play

As social media platforms are free to use, the investment you are making is either your own time or resources you are spending to hire a team to execute your social media strategy. If you want to increase your chances of being “found” by people who are interested in your type of content, you should consider boosting some of your social media posts. Paying to boost your posts can significantly improve your reach, and you don’t have to spend a lot. You’ll be surprised what results a $10 boosted post will garner.

Another great way to accelerate your social media growth is through influencer marketing. Implementing your product into an influencer's feed can empower the image of your brand in the eyes of potential consumers. Influencer content can also benefit you more than classical or paid ads. An influencer has already become a trusted source your customer identifies with, which is exactly why they are a powerful tool to drive purchasing decisions for your brand.

For a deeper dive into influencer marketing, check out our previous post on why you should incorporate influencer marketing into your marketing strategy.

Conclusion

Social media marketing allows you to not only stay connected to your customer, it also gives you the unique opportunity to deepen your relationship with them. Leverage this time to amplify your social activities, adapting to current circumstances while having fun interacting with your loyal fans. And, don’t forget to take risks! Audiences are always hungry for clever content, and right now is the opportune time to catch new buyers’ attention. Go ahead: get social!