Are you happy with your business performance? Are you happy with the exposure you are getting for your brand? Do you know why your competitor is experiencing growth, and you are not? Well, in this day and age, modern businesses need to participate with their customers actively.
The new-age customers are not passive buyers. They want to relate to a brand. What they want is to have a trustworthy brand with the human element. And to appeal to this new type of customer, you need to engage with them. How do you do that? Well, social media, of course.
What Does Social Media Do for Your Business?
Social media has changed the landscape of human connectivity and communication. Now everyone has a voice. Statista says that about 2.77 billion people are using social media in 2019. The number is expected to be at 2.92 billion in 2020 and is on its way to hit 3 billion by 2021.
A recent study has shown that on average people spend around 2 hours and 22 minutes on social media daily. The number is much higher when focused on young people. The brands realized this pretty early and utilized the platform.
The brands have made changes to their approach. They brought in specialized personnel and made sure they have a legitimate social media strategy. You too should have one.
As you can see, social media has a lot of traffic. If you can utilize the platform properly, then you can get huge exposure. This can increase your own business traffic a lot. Nowadays, building a community of dedicated people around your brand is the way to go.
Need for Social Media Strategy
For the modern business to survive, it has to transcend the faceless, personality-less model of old. Now just having a social media presence doesn’t do you any good. What you need is a killer social media strategy plan.
You need to develop a social media technique or strategy that will help you leverage the community. So big brands can go in pretty aggressive with their social media strategy. That’s because they have money to burn.
How to Build a Social Media Strategy
Now small independent and new businesses like yours don’t have that much money. So how to create a social media strategy for less money?
Well, there is no fixed template for social media strategy. But there are methods people have followed which are tried and tested. To start with, you can use free social media management software.
However, you should remember that the social media landscape is ever-changing. What may have worked last year might not work this year.
You need to keep up with the trends of the market to grow your business. Here in the following paragraphs, you can find the points that should be a part of every social media strategy plan for your business.
I have found that a blend of old and new techniques gives you the best result. So there will be some classic, evergreen social media strategies.
Basic Social Media Techniques
These are basics and should be considered as the foundation of your social media plan. I will also include some new strategies that you should follow in 2019 that will get you amazing responses.
So what are they? Well, I will first start with the basics. These are tried and tested methods that are guaranteed to work for any social media plan. Here are the basic social media strategies and techniques.
Content Diversification
It is pretty easy to post pictures on Instagram and short tweets, and so on. It is so easy that it can become a routine.
But, posting the same type of thing over and over again on social media platforms will make your account mediocre. Your audience will eventually tire out, or your posts won’t resonate. You need to remember that this is the information age. People are exposed to so much information from different sources.
People now look for a fresh perspective or something different. If your audience becomes bored or can’t relate to your posts, then your targets will most definitely be missed. This is why content diversification is needed.
You should post different formats of content like blog posts, videos, photos, infographics, and more. This will ensure that all aspects of your audience's needs are met. Your brand will have an appeal for your audience as they can get something fresh every time they come.
This also helps target a lot of different types of people. Different people respond to different types of content. By having a large library of varying content ensures that all sorts of people can get their fill. This, in the long run, helps your target audience base.
Teach, Don’t Preach
See whatever your goals are people respond to educational material. If you put out informative content that teaches the audience something about the sector you are in, then they are more likely to come back.
You should continuously be providing valuable information and practical advice. This helps the audience recognize you as an authority on the matter. When this happens, people will refer to you whenever they need help.
You can easily add this to your social media strategy. Just direct the people who are looking for information towards the right source.
Share educational content blog posts, white papers, webinars, and others. Ask the social media followers to look into the posts.
Educational posts attract maximum user engagement. And almost everyone in your audience will start to value your brand as an authority in the sector.
Be a Storyteller Not a Marketer
Long gone are the days of shameless, constant self-promotion. People are now looking for something more substantial. This is why teaching your audience something is the best option.
Along with teaching the audience, you need to invoke an emotional response. We are emotional creatures by nature. No matter how much we rationalize, we make decisions that we can relate to emotionally. This is why you need to be a storyteller. Every great storyteller is a great educator.
They can make their audience listen to relate to and believe in their words. Tell a story with relatable characters and situations, or at least with characters and conditions that will invoke an emotional response.
Effective storytelling means more engagement; and more engagement means more exposure, which means more traffic. So this is a sure-fire strategy to include in your social media plan for 2019-20.
Involving Influencers
You should look to partner up with online influencers with a wide reach. This opens up new avenues and also improves your credibility.
Partnering up with an influencer will mean that the influencer accepts your brand. This will give your brand validity, social standing, and expose you to new audiences from the social influencer’s community. Influencers hold a lot of power and sway over the masses.
If you can get some of them to endorse your brand, then it would mean that they like your brand. But make sure you go to influencers with a fantastic product. At the end of the day, if your product is not up to the mark, you won’t be able to get any influencer endorsement.
Unlike traditional celebrities, influencers are always in contact with and care about the community. They will not showcase anything that might hamper that relationship. Also having a great product is good for business anyway regardless of any influencer.
Influencer endorsement is one of the most effective ways to increase your reach and exposure. Don’t forget to add in your social media marketing strategy.
Building Brand Advocates
Your most loyal customers are very powerful in their own right. They have the potential to be brand advocates. You should always look for these types of people.
Your loyal customers can help with brand awareness, and be social proof of your brand. Their words hold influence and can sway other customers' trust in your favor. Trust is the foundation of any new business. And brand advocates can help you achieve it.
Social media becomes a powerful tool in the hands of a brand advocate. But you are the one who will have to create and motivate your most loyal customers into being one for your brand.
So how do you motivate brand advocates? One of the most common ways is to encourage reviews on social networks. Facebook and Google reviews hold a lot of power, and you should look to utilize them. Another way is to provide a platform for positive user-generated content.
These contents can even work on your social media campaigns. Sharing customer stories and experiences is another fantastic way to create brand advocates. You should look to interview satisfied and happy customers, tell their stories to the audience.
This way, the audience will be able to relate to them and see your brand in a different light. Customer endorsement is priceless, especially in the digital atmosphere.
If you want to find potential brand advocates, you can hold contests and offer incentives for your audience. These are great motivators, and the word about contests and incentives spread like wildfire online. So these are a few things you can leverage to build your brand advocates.
There are plenty of other ways you can utilize your social media strategy template. Remember, your audience wants something refreshing. Being innovative with your social media strategy is the right way to go.
Social media marketing requires a lot of time and effort. GoodFirms has listed the top social media marketing software that can help you run a successful SMM campaign.
New Technologies and Techniques to Adopt for 2019
The strategies listed above are tried and tested methods that will be true for the foreseeable future. However, the platform is ever-changing. This means that there are always new avenues to explore and exploit.
The technology for the digital realm is evolving. The line between the digital realm and the real one is being blurred with every passing day.
There are new ways you can reach audiences now. Being ahead of the curve is a sure-fire way to run a successful business. So what should you include in your social media marketing strategy for this year?
Well, the following are some new technologies and techniques that you should be looking to incorporate in your social media marketing strategies.
Utilizing VR/AR Technology
People are looking more into an immersive experience now. This is why there is a sudden boom in Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technology. These are also extensively being researched as marketing tools.
VR will give people a complete immersion by shutting out the outside world while AR will add digital elements to a live view. Just think about the possibilities of these technologies.
You can have a direct influence and have a hand in how the customer experiences your business, product, and brand. For anyone to establish a brand, they have to be able to look ahead of the curve.
Incorporating these technologies will give you an advantage, and you will be at the forefront of innovation. And we all know innovation is the key to a successful business. So start utilizing and incorporating VR and AR in your social media marketing.
Live Content
The idea of live content has been around for some time now. However, it has not been utilized by companies to its fullest. This should be a mainstay in your social media marketing strategy.
In a recent study, it was found that 80% of brand audiences respond more to live events like live video streaming than social posts or blog posts. Video, in general, has risen in popularity, and the metrics for this will only grow higher.
You should also look into starting podcasts. This is a great way to format your content along with live video streams. You can easily do both things at once.
Just set up video equipment where you record the podcast, then, live stream it in your social account. Integrating these small techniques and being a little smart will do wonders for your social media.
Live interactive content has a more engagement rate than any other form of content. This is why incorporating them into your social media marketing plan is imperative.
Mobilephone Supported Content
The entry point to the internet is your mobile phone. So it is no surprise that over 75% of video consumption that happens is on mobile. This is why social media platforms are emphasizing on vertical videos.
This goes hand in hand with the next focus, which is social TV. While Instagram may be the early bird here with Instagram TV, other platforms are moving in to make videos more accessible and easy to view on phones. Instagram has had great success with Instagram TV.
This allows brands and people to showcase long-format video content easily. Youtube TV and Snap Originals are other social TV examples but haven’t yet been made available to the masses.
For growth, your business needs to be social media-friendly. Utilizing the Social TV platform and the mobile phone aspect of the internet will give you a huge advantage.
Marketing Mughals like Gary Vaynerchuk have been utilizing vertical videos for social media marketing campaigns and his branding to great effect. So you should also look to incorporate these elements into your social media plans for this year.
Humanizing the Brand
People respond to people. We all know that. One of the most effective ways to increase your brand’s name on social media is by humanizing it.
Putting a face on your company makes people relate more. It makes people think of your brand in personal terms rather than a corporate entity.
So how do you humanize your brand? You must interact! Talk to your customers, talk to your followers, respond to as many messages and comments you can, use user-generated content and other types of interaction.
Doing these will help the audience know and understand the values of your brand.
You should also put the spotlight on your hardworking, dedicated team members. This will also showcase the caring nature and the familial bond your company has with them and boost company morale as well.
Transmitting your company’s unique brand image should be your utmost priority this year. So try including these things in your social media marketing efforts.
Utilizing Chatbots
One thing people hate is to wait. Especially when it’s a question online, they need instant answers, or they will move on.
But it is not always possible to give an instant answer. So what do you do? You must integrate chatbots with social media accounts. These bots are great for instant replies, to start a conversation, encourage unlikely sales, answer FAQs, and they can even provide personalized customer service and support.
The chatbot technology has developed a lot, and there isn’t much the chatbots can’t do nowadays. Introducing these to your social media plans will help you out in all aspects of the brand. Trust me, you will see the results within a few months of installation, and you will be amazed.
Integrating Voice Search and Visual Search
Visual search is getting increasingly popular. Pinterest, the picture-based social media platform, has utilized the visual search aspect to great effect.
Optimize for voice search to make your social accounts and your website accessible through visual searches. Pinterest has come out with its own visual search engine which you can leverage to get more traffic on image-based websites.
Voice searches will increase with time. You should start incorporating an image-based search on your social media marketing strategy. Voice search is the next big thing. Many experts believe that with time, typed search queries will be replaced by voice search.
Google Assistant and Alexa from Amazon are leading the market for voice search. It is common knowledge that brands are already optimizing for voice search. You should be trying to optimize your content for voice search. This way, you will be able to deliver specific content for each member of the community.
Wrapping Up!
So there you are. These are some of the strategies that you should instill in your social media marketing plan. The mixture of tried and tested methods while utilizing cutting-edge technology will ensure that you dominate the social media sphere this year.
Formulating a solid plan also requires you to understand the metrics involved. Make sure you read through everything and understand what you want to achieve. Also, do an inventory check of resources to find how much resources you can allocate to your social media campaign, further to each social media platform.
Every social platform is different, so you may need to do some heavy research on this one. Make sure you know your goals and what you want to achieve from each social platform.
So, what are you waiting for? Try the SMM tools, Hootsuite, Buffer, ContentStudio, Picalytics, Juicer, etc. now. And, if you have used a social media marketing software, do post a review!
