Social media can provide a world of benefits or detriments, depending on the way you go about it. If you do it right, you gain followers and brand approval. If you do it wrong, it can hurt your conversions. Don’t take the risk of ruining your marketing campaign because you didn’t connect with users properly. Use these rules to help you get your social media marketing right the first time.
1. Be Patient
The first thing you need to be aware of before you begin your social media marketing campaign is that patience is key. According to Ankita Sinha of Housing.com, an online real estate platform, “Social media success doesn’t happen overnight. It takes patience and dedication. It might feel like you’re talking to a wall at times, but if you stick with it, it will pay off in the end.” Going into social media with realistic expectations regarding the timeframe will make it even more rewarding when your rankings begin to improve.
2. Give Followers a Voice
If you want to find success in your social marketing campaign, you need to spend ample time listening to your users, who will help you shape your marketing campaign if you let them. Anytime you share a piece of content, pay attention to how your users respond. If they share it with others and comment positively, the content is good and your campaign is working. If they comment negatively or don’t interact with the content at all, that’s your audience’s voice telling you that you need a new strategy.
3. Offer Quality Content
In social media, quality trumps quantity every time. The content you share with your followers needs to be engaging enough that it’s shared and reviewed by your followers. A long blog post will not always keep the attention longer. Likewise, the content needs to hold value for the customer by being relevant to both your business and the users’ needs. Studies find that a short, high-quality blog post that answers a need will actually keep the attention of a user and boost page rankings much better than a long blog post that’s irrelevant or poorly written.
4. Interact with Followers
Online websites don’t offer the same personalized service as what you would find in a brick-and-mortar store, but social media works to soften that barrier. By interacting with your followers, you can offer some of that personalized service that many users crave. Building relationships with your customers is the most important part of brand loyalty and it’s as easy as acknowledging a user when they acknowledge you.
5. Analyze Past Content
The best way to ensure that you’re developing your strategy and improving your content as much as possible is to analyze the reaction your users have given content you’ve shared in the past. Use a third-party testing tool to gauge the effectiveness of your content and assess how many shares and likes it has generated. Looking at the success of past content is the best way to gain a clear picture what you need to generate and share in the future.
6. Find Influencers
You can post high-quality content that will be shared around the web, but if an influential friend doesn’t recommend your brand to users, your social media campaign isn’t living up to its full potential. Spend ample time searching for online influencers with quality followers that might be interested in your business. If you can gain the approval of such influencers, your brand will spread across the web, and your rankings and conversions will improve exponentially.
It’s worth it to jump on the social media bandwagon. Successful social media marketing will lead your business to more traffic, customers, and conversions.
