Social media has for a fact become an integral part of marketing. Why so? Many marketers and business owners can attest to the fact that social media marketing is playing an essential role in driving branding, leads and sales.
According to new statistics, 71 percent of consumers who have had a remarkable experience with a particular brand on social media, will recommend it to others: you know what this translates to, brand awareness, leads, and conversions. Various social media metrics could take your business to the next level, for instance, your sharedcount shows the extent to which you have been able to reach out to your audience.
Well, as you know, social media is one of the most dynamic arenas. And that means being able to maintain a loyal following, let alone build it. However, there always will be light at the end of the tunnel. There are principles that you need to work with to ensure that your brand remains at the top of the game. The following are the primary principles of driving social media success in business.
- Prioritize your audience
What does this mean? Whatever you do, remember that you are supposed to produce content for your audience: not for yourself. You have to build a symbiotic relationship with your audience, whereby you create content that they prefer engaging with, then they will give you attention.
You can start by first understanding your audience demographics. Have a clue about what their needs and wants are and their online behavior (that is, how they spend their time online), to mention a few. Make time to interact with them by responding to their queries or even liking their comments. It is through this that they will be willing to return the favor by going into business with you.
- Find where your audience is
You do not want to embark on a wild goose chase. Do not just use any social media platform expecting your audience to be there. You have to target your audience by having knowledge about which platforms can work best with your audience. For instance, Instagram is prevalent among persons aged 18-35. Depending on the product you are selling you will know which platform best favors them.
In this case, for instance, there would be no need for you to use LinkedIn as your audience is not there. Do not spread yourself too thin; there is no point in being on four platforms where none of your audience is present.
- Have a sense of purpose
Do not be afraid of telling your audience to do things. If you need them to click on your link, communicate and tell them to do it. If you want them to do, reviews on a particular product ask them to. Remember that your objective here is to make sales, so every action that you take should be driven towards conversions.
Failure to do so will only end up making you lose a lot of time and money. Note that you should not be posting content for the sake of posting. Instead, it should add value to your brand.
- Track and measure your efforts
Are your social media marketing efforts reaping any benefits for your brand? Well, you will never find out if you do not measure the various social media metrics. Majority of the social media platforms, like Facebook, for instance, have tracking features, and you should make use of them.
Also, there are many software on the market that you may employ to track and analyze your efforts. Why is keeping track of your progress important? It is through this that you will be able to know when and how to refine your strategies for a better ROI or abandon the entire project.
- Create a calendar
If nobody has told you yet, social media marketing could be time-consuming. You need all the help you can for you to be able to find a middle point in balancing your other activities and managing your posts.
The platforms offer you features that will help you schedule your posts. Having a calendar will help you maintain consistency, which is vital in social media and be able to engage your audience as much as you would wish.
If you keep the five principles in mind, then you can rest assured that you will have a success story to tell!