As per studies by Emarketer, 90.4% of millennials, 77.5% of Generation X and 48.2% of Baby Boomers are active social media users. This indicates the wide reach of social media marketing. Here the question arises, why is a social media marketing strategy essential? Every company, big or small, has a social media marketing strategy in place that can assist them in marketing their business and driving omnichannel customer engagement. Social media marketing is the easiest and most cost-effective way in which you can get your brand name in front of your target audience and ensure a seamless customer journey. Here are 8 ways by which you can use social media to market your business:
Choose the right channels
A difficult but common question amongst marketers is which social media channel to use? There is no dearth of social media channels. Be it Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc, there is something for everyone. A mistake that many rookie marketers make is advertising on every social media platform. Choosing the right social media channel is crucial for success at every stage of the customer journey. The audience associated with each channel is different and you must choose the social media platform where your target audience is active. For example, if you are a human resource company, chances are that your audience would be more active on LinkedIn and it would make more sense to target your social media marketing activities to LinkedIn.
Use influencers
A positive mention from a popular influencer can drive your sales and conversions. An important but often overlooked part of social media strategy is building long-term relationships with influencers. Gaining the trust of influencers should begin much before the rest of your social media marketing activities. Identify influencers related to your industry and start engaging with their social media posts. This will help in getting their attention and winning their trust so that you can use their connections in future for the benefit of your brand. A comprehensive influencer marketing strategy will enhance your omnichannel customer engagement by helping you engage and influence your social community.
Use a social media marketing tool
Effectively and efficiently handling all your social media channels can be a daunting task. Using a social media marketing tool is a great way to streamline all your social media activities and provide a superior experience throughout the customer journey. Talisma’s Digital Customer Engagement Platform comes with holistic social media management capabilities that can help you manage all your social media accounts from one place. A social media marketing toolkit can help you leverage the full potential of social media by finding new markets, understanding buyer personas and engaging with target audiences.
Talk to your customers
Your customers are talking on social media and the most successful brands are those that join these conversations! There is a considerable possibility of conversions if you build a rapport and relationship with your customers. This can be done by conversing with them, instead of just trying to sell your product or service to them. Join ongoing conversations on Twitter and Facebook and use popular hashtags to find conversations related to the same. In addition to building relationships, joining conversations on social media can also help you get an idea about the issues and pain points being faced by your customers and enable you to outline your social media marketing activities in order to augment omnichannel customer engagement.
Go organic
Many marketers perceive that social media marketing is entirely about promoting posts on social media to gain more engagement and followers. However, the best way to ensure long-term engagement is to opt for organic posts. Social media marketing is a way via which brands should provide riveting and relevant content to their target audience, without trying to consistently sell their product or service. The general rule is to follow the one-in-seven rule. In other words, for every 6 organic posts, there should be only 1 promoted post. By having engaging and pertinent organic posts, your target audience will be more inclined to engage with your content and ultimately drive conversions throughout the customer journey.
Discounts
A social media marketing strategy should adequately make use of social-only discounts and offers. Customers love discounts and exclusive offers and deals are a great way to magnify omnichannel customer engagement! Just like in traditional advertising, where periodic discounts are a common feature, social media marketing should also have periodic offers. Including coupon codes in your social media posts will drive your engagements in a big way. In addition, flash deals on social media during specific occasions and festivals can also help in obtaining more sales and conversions.
Make a calendar
Is a consistent social media calendar necessary? Low-quality content on social media pages can lead to a decline in engagements and impressions. One of the primary reasons for low-quality content is the absence of adequate time. Creating a social media calendar is an efficacious technique in ensuring consistent and quality content. Social media calendars enable marketers to plan their activities on various platforms as well as track the performance and expected results on these platforms. A systematic approach with respect to social media marketing can drive brand awareness and generate marketing-qualified leads at every stage of the customer journey. In addition, a methodical social media marketing calendar ensures that you can acquire valuable insights and discern the effectiveness of social media campaigns and activities.
Create targeted ads
A holistic social media marketing strategy should have an appropriate combination of organic and paid posts. Creating targeted ads on social media channels can drive omnichannel customer engagement by finding and focusing all marketing campaigns on suitable audience segments. Social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn make creating targeted ads an uncomplicated process. Facebook provides audience data which can be utilized to find relevant people and target them through ads. The dashboards on social media channels also provide valuable insights into how your targeted ads are going to perform and what changes you can incorporate for enhanced performance. Finally, using Talisma’s social media toolkit can ensure that the targeted campaigns are performing effectively by engaging with your customers on social media and driving conversions.
In today’s digital world, social media marketing is one of the most effective tools that marketers can use to market and promote their business. A holistic social media marketing strategy can not only help you acquire more customers but also retain your existing customers, by driving omnichannel customer engagement. Know more about our holistic social management solutions.
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