There is nothing more satisfying to a marketer than putting out a post and watching it soar; fantastic engagement, countless likes, and hitting the social media jackpot…can anyone says VIRAL?
Having consistent and quality social media output can be intimidating to many but once you have a robust strategy you can grow your social media engagement exponentially.
But where should you start?
That depends on where you are. Below are five social media strategies for beginners, intermediates, and advanced social media managers.
Beginner
Sync Posts
The biggest tip for beginners who are just starting is to invest in a social media management service. This software can help you to schedule your posts beforehand to be posted on specific platforms at specific dates and times. But most useful is the ability to sync your posts across multiple social media platforms. This allows you to deploy the same posts in multiple places, keeping content uniform and introducing your audience to all your different platforms. These management software are also great for providing metrics allowing you to keep track of which posts are the most successful.
Recycle Old Posts
Remember that you can also make the old new again. Use your social media metrics to identify your most successful posts from your backlog of outdated content and update them with fresh ideas and SEO to be reposted again. This technique is especially useful when you are low on original content and when you have less time.
Schedule During Off Times
Each social media platform has the best days and times for you to post in order to get the most engagement. While it is a good guide to follow, don’t get stuck in it. Don’t be afraid to post during off times. Try scheduling your posts for evenings and weekends to engage with global audiences in different time zones. While a midnight post may not get much engagement from your local audience, on the other side of the world it would be during their peak time. However, be careful with this strategy. Make sure that you don’t post anything that requires timely responses or engagement, i.e. competition posts etc since your team will not be awake to answer.
#Hashtags
Use hashtags to increase your online reach. Not just the most popular ones like #MarketingGoals that may get lost in the sauce but more specific ones like community-based hashtags like #Toronto or #TheAnnex specialized, branded hashtags like Adobe’s #CreateYourStory or event hashtags like #TIFF for the Toronto International Film Festival. These are the hashtags people are more likely to be checking out.
Use Visuals
Humans are visual creates, so make sure to use a lot of visuals in your social media content. Visuals draw the eye and break up your text, giving your content dimension and giving it a better flow. To do this there are several free platforms you can use to create your visual content like Canva. Also, while stock photos are great in many situations don’t forget that phone in your pocket. Modern smartphones take high-quality photos, so take photos to be used as visuals.
Now that you’re off to a roaring start let’s move to the intermediate stages.
Intermediate
Post Several Times Daily
Up the ante on your postings by posting a few times per day. It doesn’t have to be every hour but two to three times should do the trick. This will increase your brand’s presence keeping you fresh in the audience’s mind. However, don’t be intimidated by having three content-heavy posts per day. Take this as an opportunity to interact with your audience. Try reposting ideas from other brands or audience members or commenting and/or starting a conversation with your audience.
Use Your Brand
Incorporate your brand into your social media strategy by making sure that it is blended into your social media posts. Add your logo to your visuals, create a company hashtag, or highlight monthly employees.
Focus On Growth
Make sure that every step in your social media marketing plan is geared toward growing your audience because a larger engaged audience leads to more lead generation. You can achieve this by having a strong presence, with consistent, quality content. Cross-promote your other social media accounts so that audience members can follow you on all platforms and ensure that you link your social media to your website and email signatures so that all of your current customers can follow you.
Interactive Content
Audiences love to engage with interactive content so add it to your marketing strategy. It helps you to promote your products while connecting with your audience. Several social media platforms have features to help you achieve this like Twitter polls, Instagram Lives, Instagram Q&As and many, many more. This will help you diversify your content keeping it fresh and interesting. Find out what audiences want to see by looking to competitors or even asking your audience directly.
Invest in Visuals
Social media posts that contain images are more successful on average than those without. In the beginners’ section, we told you to use visuals, as you enter the intermediate stages of your social media journey it’s time to start investing in high-quality custom visuals. Commission infographics, videos and photoshoots in order to have great branded visuals.
At the end of this period, you should be a well-oiled machine ready to tackle the advanced tips. Here we go.
Advanced
Utilize App Updates
New apps pop up all the time, don’t be afraid to try them out. Most recently, TikTok has been all the rage and other apps like IGTV have been gaining traction as well. These apps provide the opportunity to meet millions of phones. So, expand your marketing strategy to include these new apps to go where your audience is going and even capture new audiences. It provides fun new opportunities to create new kinds of social media content to take your brand places it hasn’t been before.
Social Media Influencers
Invest in social media influencers to promote your brand. Audiences are more likely to try a brand if it has good reviews or if recommended by someone they trust. Social media influencers encompass both of these ideals, especially for young audiences. Social media influencers review products on their channels, giving their honest opinions to their audiences who trust them. So, researching influencers in your particular industry and pitching a partnership with your brand is a great way to grow your younger audience.
Diversify Content
As a beginner, you synched your posts to all of your social media platforms but now it’s time to step it up. Instead, you should be diversifying your content for each platform. This means making the content on each of your platforms unique. This means thinking critically about what content should be posted to each platform. Save your videos for Facebook, high-quality images for Instagram, infographics for LinkedIn, threads for Twitter and so on. Also, when you do need to post the same content to each platform, tailor it with each social media’s unique format. With whatever you post, just make sure that it aligns with your company’s goals and vision.
Promotions
Running promotions or contests are a great way to promote audience growth and engagement. It could be as simple as giving 10% off your products or services or it could be as elaborate as a mail-in code that’s found on your product packaging. But try out a promotion today to expand your reach.
Timely Content
Your content should be of the times so that it resonates with your audience. Don’t be afraid to add some fun to your channel by indulging in the newest meme, posting about fun holidays like #NationalSiblingday, or just adjusting your social media strategies for the seasons.
Trends change by the day so keeping content fresh can be difficult, but with these tips, you’ll be posting like a pro. Stay current and grow your audience to solidify your brand and generate leads for your company.
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