One of the most powerful ways to connect with your target market is through social media. Proven to have become the most effective way to advertise absolutely anything, every business should be able to figure out a successful social media marketing strategy to increase brand awareness and customer engagement.

Social media marketing lifts the limits that traditional marketing has set for your advertisements’ content, variation, frequency, and even the duration. When using social media as your platform for marketing, your reach multiplies without needing to spend extra on your ads.

Whether you are part of a startup or a big corporation, you will surely benefit from being active in the social media scene. It does not consume as much time, and is more cost-effective, making it the most practical way to market your brand, products, and services. The more you engage with your customers, the more they trust your brand and generate profit.

If you are planning to take the leap and kick start your social media marketing campaigns, or boost your current strategy in place, take a look at this list of tips we have put together to guide you through the process!

1. Plan your campaign

No matter how successful you envision your campaign to be because of strong content and your massive connections, your chances of succeeding will be very low if you do not plan your campaign ahead. Surely, social media promotes a world where everything comes and goes in an instant, but that does not mean your marketing and advertising has to be instant too.

Spend time on researching your target market, your competitors, and the behavioural patterns they come with on social media. Define your goals while doing this, and use the SMART method when doing so. Set social media marketing goals that are specific, measurable, appealing, realistic, and timed.

2. Choose your platforms

A major part of figuring your social media campaign is selecting the platforms you are going to be on. Social media keeps on developing, and even if everybody with an internet connection can access any of them at any time, you still need to make sure you are on the right platform to be able to reach the right audience for your business. It will be a waste of time and money if you will be going on all platforms available and just throw all your marketing strategy content there. You need to filter and pick the top platforms with the most audience who are existing consumers and possibly new ones for your brand.

This should be part of the first few steps of planning you have for your campaign since trends in social media are always fast-changing and are starting to be directed to specific audiences in different social groups and classes.

Aside from finding out which social media platforms your consumers mostly use, you also have to be knowledgeable enough to be able to maximise the features that the platform has. Taking advantage of the tools and features available to your chosen platform can save you a huge amount when it comes to producing your content and making it circulate online.

3. Provide Customer Support

With customer engagement as one of the biggest goals of social media marketing, it is a must for you to provide support to your audience, regardless if they are existing customers or potential customers. Businesses grow more when they provide great support to their customers because they remember the experience very well. Social media makes it possible for your consumers to be able to connect with you no matter where they are in the world. It makes you accessible and it builds trust faster.

Great customer service experiences leave a lasting impression on your consumers, making them remember your brand enough to recommend you to their colleagues, friends, and family. This generates profit from repeat consumers, and reel in new ones, creating your cycle in growing your market.

Aside from gaining trust from your brand, using social media for customer support also cuts your costs on this aspect of the business. While large scale customer support has been proven to be effective in making a huge impact, social media customer support’s accessibility is better because of its all-in-one features. You promote your brand with your content, and your consumers can reach you real-time through the same platform if needed.

4. Be consistent

Just like in any other marketing platform, consistency is key in growing your brand. Ina social media marketing strategy, a social media calendar is the most commonly used tool to keep track of your content. Make sure you are knowledgeable of the media to be used and make sure to plan out what you will deliver to your audience in advance to make sure you keep up with the current trend.

Be aware of the different methods included in social media marketing to make sure your activity on the platforms you choose will be consistent. Posting randomly will only make you lose attention and money in this aspect. Having a social media calendar will keep you on top of your content and make sure you are delivering the same quality to your audience every time.

5. Partner with influencers

While marketing your own brand has its perks, you still have to consider the benefits you will get from having other people work on building and growing your business for you. That’s another wonder of the social media age. It is now very easy to create a network of people who are willing to market your brand, for either freebies or at a much lower rate than TV and movie celebrity endorsers.

Over the years, influencers have made their own kind of fame from being active and engaging on social media. Since people spend a lot of time following these social media influencers in their day to day lives, 50% of people have been proven to purchase or avail services just because their favourite social media influencer recommends it. That’s how strong their following can be, and who would not want that kind of power for their brand’s marketing strategy?

Reach out to those with a huge following on your chosen social media platform and build relationships with them to gain your own following from their recommendations. Find out who the experts are in your field and extend your offer. Be prepared to negotiate terms, as it is important for you to make sure your chosen influencers’ needs are heard before coming to an agreement. This is how you grow your relationship and trust with them.

Keep communication open between your influencers and your team to make sure that their content will be cohesive to what kind of image you aim to have for your brand. Assure your influencers that you will hear them out and that you are collaborating with them and not just employing them to promote you.

Lastly, as fast as social media content circulates, patience is still a key factor in growing your social media marketing campaign. A successful social media marketing strategy needs consistency and determination. With the fast-paced changing of trends on social media, it is very easy to feel left out and lose hope. Keep your mind focused on your goal and keep generating your content. Be persistent and keep growing your brand online!

Let’s work together on your social media marketing strategy. Get in touch with MRS V today.