8 tips for a successful social media marketing strategy
Pippa and Libby set sail for Poole harbour to deliver a bespoke Social Media and Marketing course.
The course was tailored specifically to meet the needs of marina managers and formed part of an Intermediate Marina Managers Course hosted by British Marine, in conjunction with the Global Marina Institute. The purpose of the session was to give the delegates an insight into how social media and marketing can benefit their business, and our top-tips for creating a successful strategy.
We wanted to share our top tips for successful social media marketing with you too! So here goes:
Identify your target audience
To attract the attention of your target audience, it is critical that you understand their characteristics and buying behaviours. Collect data from social media, website analytics and customer surveys to identify age, gender, location, average income, and other facts that are important to your business. Analyse the data trends and you will have a clear insight into who your target audience is.
Planning
Once you are familiar with your target audience, you will need to come up with a killer social media strategy. Firstly, conduct a social media audit. Identify who you brand is already connected to, which platforms your audience uses, and how your own social media presence compares to the competition. Set your objectives and create a content calendar which includes the day and time you want to post.
Have a purpose
If you have carried out market research correctly, you will know which platform(s) your target group prefers. Focus your efforts on these. Share high-quality content and understand its purpose. Does it solve your audience’s problem, makes life easier, educate, inspire or entertain?
Use a call-to-action
Do you want the reader to sign up for a free trial? Download a guide? Drive more traffic to a landing page? Call you? A call-to-action is a prompt to get your reader to do something. Usually in the form of a button, clickable image, or link on a web page.
Use pictures, videos and graphics
Today, consumers are viewing more video content than ever before. By 2022, it is estimated that online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic — 15X higher than it was in 2017. If you are unable to use video content, ensure you use an image – posts with images receive 2.3 times more engagement than without!
Related: Smartphone video – a game changer?
Work with the right tools.
There are lots of useful social media management tools available online, helping you to schedule and manage your content, but one of the main barriers to successful social media marketing is time. If you have got no time to tweet, you can call on an experienced social media agency like us, we can help with anything from bespoke training to a fully managed social media marketing service.
Engage and respond
A quick response to questions from your customers makes your brand look more human. According to Hubspot, 85% of customers on Facebook expect a response from companies within six hours. You have to engage to get engagement. Brands who focus on building their online engagement can reap the rewards from better marketing reach and ROI, and a greater brand awareness, making it easier to attract new customers.
Test, evaluate and improve, repeat
Review the objective you set out at the start of the campaign. Identify your most important KPI (key performance indicator) and track your meaningful metrics. The digital landscape changes from day to day – which is what makes it exciting!
Related: Using insights to revolutionise your social media accounts
If you would like some assistance in creating, managing and implementing a killer social media strategy, contact us today for a chat about how we can help.
We know that social media can be an essential growth tool for your company. Download our free Social Media Content Planner now and change how you engage with your audience!