You’ve probably noticed that in recent years, social media marketing campaigns have started to flood your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds. As various social media platforms have developed more sophisticated tools for launching social media marketing campaigns, businesses small and large alike have increased their dependence on these outlets for spreading the word about their products and services. However, not all social media campaigns are created equally, with some leading to tremendous exposure and revenue flow, and others becoming time-wasting money pits.
Social media campaigns can take many forms, usually depending on the platform that’s being utilized. It’s important to understand what the best methods and options are before launching your campaign, but it’s also important to take advantage of a few tricks of the trade.
If the thought of delving into various social media platforms is intimidating, you may want to consider handing the job over to a company who specializes in social media management for small business. But if you’re a growing business looking to save a few bucks, consider these four tips for improving the effectiveness of your next social media marketing campaign.
Focus on the Right Social Network(s)
While it’s important for your business to be as visible as possible (and that will likely mean having your business appear on more than one social network), you don’t want to spread yourself too thin, especially when it comes to running a social media campaign. Facebook may work better than Twitter, which may work better than Instagram, which may work better than LinkedIn, which may work better than Google+. It’s important to figure out which social networks work best for you and the audience you are trying to reach.
The social networks that you use for your marketing campaign depends largely on your campaign’s goals. Are you simply trying to raise awareness of your brand? Maybe start generating hashtags on Twitter. Are you trying to attract more customers? Perhaps hold Facebook-exclusive giveaways or contests. Are you trying to get some reshares or ad mentions? Try a blitz of high quality images and video on Instagram.
Once you figure out which social network (or networks) you should use, focus your campaign’s energy on those networks and don’t look back. If one particular platform doesn’t seem to be working, adjust your strategy and use a different network.
Make Sure to Engage with Users and Collect Feedback
This is really part of any successful business with a social media presence, but when running your social media campaign, you absolutely must engage directly with the participants and take their feedback into account when making adjustments and decisions regarding your business down the road.
Hold Facebook Live sessions with users and field their questions as they come. This is especially crucial if you have a “face” associated with your brand. You can also do things a little more formally, like holding a poll or sending out a link to a survey on Twitter or other platforms. This can give you lots of helpful feedback that you can go through before making any further decisions.
Don’t sit around and wait for everyone to ‘like’ you; go out and show them you ‘like’ them, too! Finding Instagram accounts that are similar to your product or service and liking their photos can dramatically increase the number of Insta-followers to your account. Retweeting customers who mention your brand in a positive light will slowly but surely increase your Twitter followers.
Make Sure to Use Social Media Analytics
Whether you sell discount car lip kits or provide expert jewelry mold making services, using social media analytics can really help you have a handle on your social media campaign’s effectiveness. This helps your business be more data-driven and give you a rational idea of what’s working and what’s not. Thankfully, there are literally dozens of free advanced social media analytics tools that you can download and apply, including Buffer, Google Analytics, Quintly, TweetReach, and Social Rank.
Reach Out to Social Media Influencers
One last but not least way to help ensure greater success with your social media campaign is to reach out to social media influencers. These are people with huge swaths of fans and followers and you might be surprised who you know or are even friends with who commands tens of thousands of followers if not more.
There’s certainly a chance of user overlap where your business and your social media influencer friends might have some of the same followers, but the potential to grow your follower base, and thus campaign participants, can skyrocket quickly if an influencer or two gets on board with your business. If you have the best business content related to your industry within their sphere of influence, you can really make an impact.
Use these social media tips when strategizing for your next social media marketing campaign. Take these ideas into consideration while crafting your next social media campaign and don’t be afraid to take some chances!
This guest post is from Alex G Forrester. He is a freelance content marketer and consultant, with nearly 7 years of content writing experience about everything from marketing and technology to family and travel. When he’s not brushing up against a deadline, he can be found on the beach with his black lab, Louie.