Unless you have been asleep or stranded on a desert island with no access to technology for the past 10 years then you can’t have missed the explosion in the use of social media platforms for both personal and professional use.
Whether or not you are a user of the platforms, you will no doubt have had someone refer to seeing content on a social media platform or someone wanting your details in order to tag you into a post. There simply is no escaping it!
In fact, there are over 2.3 billion active social media users in a global population of over 7.39 billion*. A heck of a lot of people at the tip of your fingers.
So, if you’re not using this platform to promote your business or service offering then it’s worth asking yourself the question why not.
In fact, we already know the answer and we’ve heard it many times this week: “I’m a social media dinosaur”, “I don’t get it”, “I don’t like to share my personal details”, the list goes on.
And we get that, we truly do so here are a few tips to get you started;
Consider your audience
This is the most important step and without undertaking this you are already setting your social media strategy up to fail.
Who is your audience? What platforms do they use? This is crucial, if you’re looking to sell your products to a 15-year old, you are not going to find them on LinkedIn, similarly, if you want to get in front of a 30 something professional it’s unlikely you’ll find them on Snapchat – although we’re not saying you won’t, it’s unlikely you’ll find them there en masse.
Struggling to figure out where they are? Consider whether or not they actually use social media? If not, then find an alternative way to target them. Shock horror – an agency saying don’t use social! This is where our ethics kick in and if we don’t think you should be using social media, we will say so!
Figure out what you want to say
Now you’ve defined your audience and the platforms to use, think about what you want them to feel and what you want them to do when they read your content.
Ultimately, you are trying to generate engagement and leads here so think about content (both written and visual) that will capture their attention in a sea of content.
Consider, limitations such as twitter’s 140-character limit. We appreciate it’s not easy coming up with a catchy tweet when that’s what you have to work with which is why you need to invest the time at this stage.
Get visual
As the saying goes “A picture speaks a thousand words” so make the most of being able to share images and videos. Get a creative or a photographer to come up with some captivating visual content that is relevant to your brand.
Increasing in popularity is the use of video so consider how this could be slotted into your social media strategy.
Consider when to say it
So you’ve identified your audience, what social media platforms they use and what you want to say, but now you need to think when to say it. It’s no good just firing out some posts in the hope they’ll hit the target.
Consider the actions of your audience. If you’re after a 16 – 25-year-old then tweeting/posting to Facebook (and other platforms) during the Hollyoak’s ad break is a good example of when your audience is likely to be active.
Alternatively, a business professional is likely to look at LinkedIn first thing in the morning.
If you’re using Twitter you might also wish to consider taking part in Twitter Hours – the perfect opportunity to get in front of a key audience. These can be anything from location-based e.g. #HuddersfieldHour through to more interest-based e.g. #EquineHour
The good news is you don’t just have to second guess when to post your content as pretty much all social media platforms have fantastic analytics tools to provide you with insight. If you’re still not sure, there is a great blog on Hubspot we recommend you read.
Content is King
Simply firing out a few craftily worded posts (repeatedly) won’t cut the mustard and your audience will soon get bored leading them to unfollow your account or in the worst case, block you. Consider offering them more engaging content and link them through to blogs on your website. More content will also support your website’s search engine optimisation so it really is worth taking an integrated approach to your marketing and social media strategy.
Use tools
We appreciate social media is time-consuming but the great news is that there are tools out there to minimise disruption to your day.
Tools such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social and many others allow you to plug in social media content and schedule it to be posted throughout the week – so no need to get your phone out mid-gym session because you need to tweet during the Game of Thrones ad break!
If you’re purely using Facebook and you don’t want to have to get your head around a third-party tool, you can schedule into the future directly from your Facebook page.
Measure it
You’re now posting to social, you can see followers increasing and you’re getting some likes and retweets BUT is it really working?
Well, there are a few things that can tell you that.
Firstly, have you seen an increase in enquiries or sales? That is the first tell-tale sign of a successful social media strategy but in some instances, especially if you are selling business services or high-end goods patience is a virtue.
Generally, all social media channels have their own analytics plugin that allows you to identify how many people are seeing your posts and the most popular times of day, which enables you to shape your future strategy.
Tools such as Google Analytics also enable you to identify traffic coming through to your website and where they have come from. You can even set up goal conversions to directly track a lead or purchase that has come from social media!
Still not convinced?
Since Wild PR was founded a little less than 2 years ago, we’ve worked with a number of businesses across different industries to support them with their social media and integrated marketing strategies. So if you are looking for someone to give you a helping hand, look no further.
We’re proud to be a little bit different so if you’re simply after someone to increase your followers or get your likes to a certain figure then we aren’t the agency for you. If, however, you are after meaningful content that relevant people want to read and more importantly generates leads, then you have come to the right place.
Contact us, we’ve already got the biscuits in!
*Source: Smart Insights