For marketers, social media is not only a means of communication but also a business tool. It allows you to magnify your brand’s online presence and shape customer perceptions of your products or services. Indeed, social media is something you can no longer ignore. You either hop on the social media train or get left behind. How to improve social media results, however, is still a mystery to many. With the ever-changing algorithms and constant updates from various platforms, it can be challenging to stay on top of your social media game. Here are three ways you can improve your social media results and see better engagement with your audience.
But communicating effectively through social media requires understanding the new rules of the road. The social web is getting more crowded each day, and businesses are struggling to get noticed online. While social media enables your business to be present where most of your customers are, that is simply not enough. You need to reposition, re-strategize and reinvent, if need be, so you can get the results you want.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Are your posts engaging your audience effectively?
- Does your social media marketing strategy resonate with them?
- Are you getting the best ROI from your campaign?
Social media marketing is not easy, but it is something you can navigate and adjust to fit your goals.
READ: Why Social Media Works (Spoiler alert: It’s about human connection … not distraction)
Here are three ways to boost your social media efforts:
- Stay committed to your goals. Imagine hitting the highway for vacation without knowing where you are going. Buckling your seat belt and hitting the accelerator won’t guarantee arriving at a desired destination. In much the same way, many marketers get lost in a long list of tasks without realizing their activities are misaligned with company goals. Remember, a good social media strategy is always guided by a clear purpose.
The reason for having goals is to give you a sense of direction and keep you on track no matter how tough the going gets. When you commit to your goals, you are able to prioritize the initiatives that will help you achieve your end vision. It will also help you find meaning in your social media metrics and make better marketing decisions going forward.
READ: Avoid the Biggest Marketing Mistake of All Time
- Treat each channel as a separate entity. You are certainly bound to fail if you develop a generic social media marketing strategy. Each social media channel has unique strengths that you, as a marketer, should leverage in your campaign.
For example, the LinkedIn community is mainly composed of business professionals. You can maximize its potential as a referral source by sharing industry insights and company news. Google+, on the other hand, has Hangouts, +1s and hashtags that you can use to boost your online visibility.
You have more tools at your disposal than you might be aware of. You just have to pick the ones that can translate your social media management efforts into actual business results.
- Use social media to align sales and marketing. We know that sales and marketing don’t usually see eye to eye. The salespeople may think that marketing lacks the deliverables to support their efforts. The marketing team, on the other hand, could be having difficulty getting the sales team to stay on target with the company’s messages.
Instead of ignoring the gap, encourage both teams to work as one cohesive unit. You can have the sales team contribute ideas for your social media campaign or you can ask them about their experiences with the sales process. Leading them through a formal buyer persona workshop can be a powerful way to create alignment.
You’ll also get a clearer understanding of your buyer personas and be able to provide the right marketing support for driving more leads. The more people pitching their ideas, the more unified your social media marketing strategies become.
For something once considered to be a fad, social media has come a long way. True, it’s hard to stand out in the online world, but great content won’t distribute itself; social media will. If you are willing to put more time and patience into your work, your efforts will yield favorable results.
