INSTAGRAM. FACEBOOK. SNAPCHAT. LINKEDIN. YOUTUBE. TWITTER. AHHH! The list of social media platforms just keeps on going. And if it wasn’t enough that there are so many platforms out there to choose from, now we have to constantly watch out for updates on these social media platforms as they compete for popularity. Social media trends are changing ever-so quickly, and as a business owner, it can be incredibly difficult to keep up with all the upcoming social media trends and be able to monitor, track and conduct the right research to produce effective engagement on social media. Here are some tips on how you can internally control the way you run your social media platforms through effective social media planning and engagement for your business so you can stay on top of your social media game.
Identify current industry trends
If you have a communications or media team, make sure they are constantly up to date with current industry trends such as current topics that are heavily discussed, or audience opinions to a particular industry related product or image. Knowing the latest trends of the business will help you evaluate the changes taking place, allowing you to mould your social media strategy around it! Identifying industry trends can be difficult sometimes as people’s needs are constantly changing and evolving with time. However, by keeping up with the trending news circulating around your market and by researching on your competitors, it should not be too difficult to keep yourself in the loop on everything new and happening around you. At Anchor, our team is constantly sharing latest news and topics with each other so we are always up to date!
Identify why you are using social media for your brand
It is common knowledge that everyone is now using social media to promote themselves and their business. Many businesses turn to social media because all other businesses already do it and it seems like an easy way to reach their targeted audiences online. They curate and schedule posts without employing proper tactics (which are readily available online). However, using social media to bombard audiences with random promotional content left, right and centre is not an effective way of reaching your targeted audiences. As a business with clear goals and objectives, it is important to define the role social media can play for the business. Ask yourself these set of questions:
- Why have you decided to use social media as a promotional tool?
- What message are you trying to convey through social media?
- Does your target audience predominantly use social media and which platforms?
- What do you hope to achieve from having an online presence?
- Are you going to stay dedicated to updating and checking all social media accounts?
Identify which social media platform to use for different promotional topics
While some businesses do go for the option of having an account for every online platform, it’s not necessarily the best or most effective option (Trust us, you ain’t achieving much except spamming your audience by publishing the same exact post on 10 different platforms!). Having one dedicated social media platform where you convey and promote your products and business with thought-out tactics and a clear brand voice can be much more powerful than trying to manage five different social media accounts consistently but poorly. In fact the more platforms you use for promotion the more complex it gets.
You need to ensure you maintain a consistent brand voice throughout all platforms while still making sure you have interesting content to publish that is catered to each individual platform. Sounds complicated doesn’t it? So, how do you determine which social media platform is best suited for you?
- Determine the means you will use to promote your business (video, text or images). Depending on the type of your business, the means through which you promote your business and products will differ across different businesses. If your product is based around beauty and wellness, Instagram is generally the preferred means of promotion. If you are looking to impart information about your industry, business and products, blogs may be the way to go in this case.
- Conduct research on your target audience to determine which platform they use the most. For example, if your primary customer base is present more on Facebook rather than LinkedIn, then your prime promotional platform should be Facebook. It would be redundant to pour time, effort and money into a platform that will not be worth your while.
- Having a budget set aside for investing in promotion can also help determine which online platform you should use. Different platforms have different terms and conditions and different prices for promotion. If you are not expecting to spend on promoting through social media platforms, you will need to research the best ways to drive organic traffic to your posts.
- Or leave it to the Anchor Digital team to create a successful brand image on the right platform ;)
Identify and create your brand voice
With the number of emerging brands and products out there, no service seems to be unique anymore, making it that much harder for customers to pick who they want to be loyal to. In order to help diminish their confusion and make them believers of your product or service, you need to ensure your brand has a clear key message across all media platforms. Customers remember and respect businesses that have a clear objective. Because, how is a customer supposed to place their trust in your product or service if you don’t even have a clear message about what you are offering? Therefore, it is crucial to establish your brand voice and use it across all bases. Keeping all your posts connected with one main objective in mind will strengthen your social media game. Determining your brand voice and sticking to it through all platforms, however, is no piece of cake. Your brand voice needs to catch the attention of your desired audience without them thinking that your brand is too sale-sy.
Create a structure (social media plan) to organise and plan posts.
Define the rules for improving engagement - how often you will post, response times, managing comments and targeting a specific audience. This is a crucial step. As we all know, social media, while fun can also be very complicated. There are so many factors that need to be taken into account when scheduling your posts. With millions of social media posts published every second, finding content for your target audience could be like finding a needle in a haystack. One piece might rank highly and others might not be successful at all. This is why it is important to structure your posts to ensure it receives the most traction. The first step to doing this is creating a social media calendar. This will help you keep track of when you are posting, how often etc. Here is a comprehensive step-by-step on the process and importance of a social media calendar.
Creative and compelling content will never get old
The best thing about content on social media is that creative and compelling posts never get old. With all the changing trends in the industry, content always has a place in social media. Creative and engaging content that follows a structured set of keywords and is interesting to read and watch will always attract attention even with the ever changing trends. So even if you are a social media rookie, as long as you have got some good content and keywords under your belt, your post will surely get some heads turning. Videos marketing on social media has quickly picked up as an effective tool for promotion. Delivering creative and compelling content through videos is an effective way of not only reaching your target audience, but keeping them hooked to your ad. However, video marketing is not as easy as picking up your phone and taking a video. Without proper content and direction it will get lost just as easily as any other post. Here is an article on how you can use videography for marketing.
Make a social media report - to keep track of progress.
Yeah, we know. You hear the word report and you instantly feel like running the other direction. Trust me, we get it. However, creating a social media report is a crucial task for businesses wanting to promote their brand through social media platforms. Creating a social media report helps a business analyse which promotional tools and tactics work and which don’t. They also help determine the importance of certain keywords as well as when you should be posting to get the most attention from your target audience. The benefits of creating a social media report goes on and on. Which is why you need to get on it straight away to monitor the growth and success of your social media posts! Or you know, palm it off to us at Anchor to get the job done quickly!
Summary
Social media has developed into an extremely powerful tool to increase engagement between a company/ brand and its customers. With the exponential rise of social media posts however, content easily gets lost. Social media has quickly developed into an industry of its own and managing an entire sector of an industry on your own can be quite difficult if it isn’t your forte. Therefore, if you are looking to improve and boost your business with the help of social media, consider hiring a marketing agency such as Anchor Digital. We are a team of trained professionals that make use of analytics and current trends to produce valuable content. Contact us if you need to grow your business.
