Social media is a whole new world that can be hard to understand. However, social media marketing is a necessary step to expanding your business as this is where people like to hang out. The more people you bring in, the more conversions you’ll get for your brand.
These are things to keep in mind when you get started with social media marketing for the very first time. As a digital marketing agency in Orange County, we have lots of experience with this!
1. Identify Your Goals
Before starting a new business, you must first determine what you want to achieve with said business. Who is your business for? What type of goals do you have? When do you want to achieve your goals? How are you going to achieve your goals?
It’s important to know all these things so you can have a sort of timeline for the expansion of your business. This also helps keep you organized and motivated, especially when it’s easy to lose track of things when running your business.
2. Understand Your Target Audience
And speaking of knowing your goals, it’s also important to know who your target audience is. This will help you create content and draft social media posts that will resonate with your audience. The words you speak and the way you say them have a massive impact on who reads them!
For example, the younger generations love it when you have a sense of humor. They’re more likely to remember you if your posts are funny and entertaining. On the other hand, the older generations prefer a more professional and business-like tone.
Besides your words, the social media platform you use is also important. Facebook and LinkedIn are commonly used by the older generations, while Instagram and TikTok are more commonly used by the younger generations.
3. Follow a Schedule
You should always have a set schedule for everything. Not having one makes it easy to forget! Before long, you start neglecting your social media pages in the hustle-bustle of business management, and that’s something you definitely don’t want happening. A regularly updated profile is crucial for social media marketing.
You should also try assigning different days for different kinds of updates. Mondays could be for new posts, Wednesdays for videos, Fridays for customer reviews, and a few comment responses in between. Don’t do everything at once—that’ll be overkill.
Another thing you should be aware of is time. Your audience will be awake at different times, and some times are busier than others. You want to schedule your posts so as many people as possible will see them.
4. Have Fun and Interesting Content
Content is a key element of social media marketing, and for you to consistently have content that readers are interested in reading, you should have different kinds of content. For example, if you own a Thai restaurant in Los Angeles, you can have blogs about Thai desserts, Thai curries, Thai herbs and spices, Thai noodles, and more. You can also experiment by posting pictures, videos, or even podcasts!
Not having the same type of content also makes it easier to make new content. It’s tiring writing about the same things over and over again, so get creative when you’ve hit writer’s block!
5. Tag with Hashtags
One way to make yourself easier to find on social media is by using hashtags. These are keywords users use to find things that they’re interested in. They are used by many of the top social media platforms today including Twitter (which revolutionized hashtags), Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and more.
You need to make sure your hashtags work well for you. They need to be general so that a wide audience will see them while specific enough that your post won’t be lost amid other posts. For example, if you own a CBD oil company for pets, your hashtags can be #CBDOilforDogs or #CBDOilforCats instead of just #dogs and #cats.
6. Connect With Your Audience
The whole point of being on social media is connecting with a wider audience. So, what’s the point of garnering an audience but not making an effort to interact with them, right? Not only does customer interaction improve the customer experience for them, but it also helps you come up with new content!
For example, a lot of people these days love a good challenge. You see singers these days encourage their fans to do their choreography or fitness bloggers encourage followers to post workout results. As a business owner, you should capitalize on these by reposting them on your social media profiles (with permission, of course!).
Also, you can ask for feedback in the form of polls or surveys. Ask your customers what they want to see next if you need inspiration!
7. Put Love Into Everything
The more effort you put into your business, the more impressed customers will be with you. If you can’t even be bothered to proofread your written content, use non-stock images and videos, or release new and refreshing content, why should customers choose to buy from you? They could always go to your competitors—you’ll need lots of effort to be special.
8. Don’t Be Boring
Don’t be all so uppity. This is social media, not a presentation for the United Nations! You can afford to have some fun with your posts. This down-to-earth attitude will also make your customers more likely to interact with you—it lets them know you’re just like them!
9. Know Your Competitors
You should always aim to be better than your competitors, and the only way you can do that is by keeping your friends close but your enemies closer, as they say. Look at the things they’re doing right and try to do it better than them. If they’re doing anything wrong, use it to your advantage!
Another way to track competition is by being friends! It’s always nice to have someone you can count on. You can do collaborations, share each other’s content, follow each other, and more.
10. Don’t Forget to Advertise
Never lose sight of your main goal—expanding your business! Advertising your product or service should always be your #1 priority. It’s why you’re on social media in the first place, after all.
Always make a point to incorporate your product or service into your content. Images and videos should feature your product in a great light. Written content should rave about how great your product is and how it can help other people.
On top of that, you also want to make your product page as visible as possible. With every social media post, have a link to your website embedded so people can buy them easily.