Social media continues to be one of the greatest marketing tools. From your company to yourself, social media allows not only for promotional materials, but the ability to track how well that promo is performing. But even before you can get there, you need an audience and followers to track how they’re interacting with your accounts and content.
With all these different avenues, and some new apps that cater to niche markets, it can be difficult to pinpoint what strategies are the most effective to help you grow your following. If you want a better ROI on your posts, follow these six social media marketing strategies.
1. Set Goals
This may seem obvious, but it’s easy to get caught up in the content you want to create and post rather than the goals you have for the accounts in the first place. Instead, be SMART. Or, in other words, have your content or goals be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound or Timely.
For example, let’s say you set a goal to gain 50 followers on Instagram in a month. This is specific because of the parameters you have set. You’re measuring your success by whether you gain that many followers in the time allotted. Looking at data from previous months will be a helpful indicator if this goal is realistic or not. Being SMART is one of the easiest ways to get organized and on track to gain more followers and can be applied to any platform.
2. ME: Metrics & Engagement
Social media can be used to entertain, inform, and publicize, but most importantly it’s meant to allow people and brands to be social. This means you should be avidly interacting with your audience. Not only does this show that the account is active, but it also sheds a layer between you and the person or people, making for a more personal experience on both ends.
Now that you’re active, you have content to track. As mentioned, social media is so dynamic and useful because of the ability to monitor engagement. Having a good grip on your analytics lets you see what is working and what isn’t. In turn, you can push out content or replies that get better engagement rates so you can appeal to and rack in new followers.
3. You Feat. Influencers
A great way to garner publicity and keep content fresh is to bring in influencers or prominent figures of the industry. This also plays into name recognition, which helps grow a following. To help with this is an app called Tribe. It allows you to connect with influencers at scale.
4. Different Platform = Different Types of Content
Although there are a lot of cross-platform opportunities, some content types are better suited for specific platforms.
Facebook is good for longer posts, but also for archiving event photos that your audience can engage by liking and commenting. Twitter is one of the best platforms for direct communication; most social platforms offer direct messaging, but Twitter allows a person or brand to have conversation threads out in the open, offering more publicity or simply answering the questions of others. Instagram is great for photosets, individual photos, and short-form videos. Your best asset when it comes to Instagram is your ability to make someone feel like they are missing out on something. Understanding what belongs where is one of the best ways to maximize your content and have followers pour into each account.
More: 5 Steps to Gain More Instagram Followers
5. Content Scheduling
There are more ways than ever to schedule your content. Queuing content not only lessens the workload but allows for consistency. And being consistent ties back in with being active for your existing and new followers to see.
One of the biggest drop-offs in terms of followers and engagement is when content is sparse or sporadic. There are several social media management tools, but two free options are Hootsuite and Buffer.
6. Bang for Your Buck Advertising
Last, but certainly not least, social media has become so valuable because of all the advertising opportunities, which includes paid for ads. Paid advertisements on social are beneficial through your ability to choose which demographics see the ad, and then you can also see things like the click-through rate (CTR) and other types of engagement.
Test promotions regularly to see which helps you gain the most followers. It is recommended that you abide by an 80/20 split, with 80 percent of your content focused on providing value and 20 percent promotional. That way, your audience, and those you’re bringing in, won’t feel inundated with sales-driven content.
This post was selected as one of the top digital marketing articles of the week by UpCity, a B2B ratings and review company for digital marketing agencies and other marketing service providers.
