Social media usage has skyrocketed during the pandemic, so brands have set out to become more effective with their social media marketing. Over 3 billion people use social media worldwide, so steering your strategy in the right direction and delivering the right message at the right time with social media marketing is vital for your success. Setting clear business objectives, understanding your target audience, and crafting a strong social media strategy aligned with these goals is key to your inbound marketing efforts. We’ve developed 7 effective tactics to help you use social media marketing to your advantage, so you can drive traffic to your website and enjoy greater sales.
Creating a business profile that you can use across all social media marketing channels is important to ensure you remain consistent and recognisable to your audience. Users will have a first impression of your brand based on your profile, so building a professional business account will establish your online presence and generate trust. Including your eye-catching brand name and logo will ensure you are up to scratch, painting your business in an impressive and memorable light.
Incorporating your website and address are also key pieces of information which will shape your profile. Providing an overview of your organisation and brand values will give an insight into your business, and with a call to action such as ‘sign up’ or ‘view products’, you will encourage users to engage with your brand. Showcasing your business and streamlining your social media strategy will ensure your social media marketing is consistent. This will build your brand’s reputation and increase the traction on your website.
Using insights on Facebook and Instagram will help you to understand your customer profile, the channels they visit, and what motivates them. Identifying the touchpoints across your users’ online journey will help you to tailor personalised content to accurately target specific demographics. Making use of trending hashtags with relevant keywords as part of your social media marketing will also attract users. Adopting this strategy will drive traffic to your website, and allow you to retain your loyal customers, sell your products or services, or acquire new customers. Understanding the objectives of various social media platforms will enable you to pinpoint which channels will be the most effective for your business’ social media marketing strategy. This will help you to accomplish your goals by increasing brand awareness and engagement to strengthen your social media community and convert your followers into high-quality leads.
Engaging with your customers is a key social media marketing strategy, which will enable you to build a loyal community and grow a trusted consumer base, ultimately enabling you to establish your brand as credible, encourage engagement and generate sales. Through replying to comments and sharing user-generated content, you will establish an authentic two-way conversation with your audience. This will encourage strong relationships and drive successful traffic to your website. Hosting live question and answer sessions on channels such as Facebook and Instagram will also allow you to resonate with your target audience through real-time video. This will create meaningful connections and help you to reach a wider audience through social media marketing, ultimately directing interest to your website.
A social media calendar is crucial to your social media marketing. This will help you to coordinate your campaigns, organise your content, and ensure you deliver the right message at the right time. Devising a calendar will also enable you to plan ahead so you have more time to prepare for specific events, increasing your productivity. Posting content frequently will increase brand awareness, show consistency, and ensure you stay relevant. Sending posts at the same time each day, for example when your users commute in the morning, will also provide your audience with a regular routine. Establishing an original tone of voice will allow you to stand out against your competitors as a unique business and remain recognisable to your target audience.
Recording the time your users engage with specific social media networks and monitoring what type of content grabs their attention will focus your social media marketing. This will help you to share your posts at the right time to reach a larger audience, resulting in greater engagement. Online tools such as Buffer, will assist you with measuring your performance and will provide you with detailed insights about when to post your content to maximise your results.
Crafting compelling visual content which captures your brand’s personality will put your
organisation’s best foot forward as both an original and valuable company. Using bold visuals such as photography, infographics and animations should be at the heart of your social media marketing, to captivate your users and generate long-lasting impressions. Posting engaging visuals will encourage them to share and promote your content, which will increase your reach and drive traffic to your website. Running competitions or limited time offers as part of your social media marketing is also easily shareable and will prompt your users to circulate this content, which will in turn increase awareness of your brand.
Investing in social PPC advertising is essential for boosting brand recognition and reaching your target audience. Firstly, by defining your business objectives, you can choose a suitable platform for an effective PPC campaign. Do you want to generate revenue? Do you want to increase website traffic? Understanding what makes your audience tick will allow you to target your paid ads to specific demographics which align with these goals. Creating impressive visuals with tailored and relevant messages will capture your customer’s attention and drive relevant traffic to your website, which will in turn increase revenue. Researching your industry’s average cost per click will help you to define your budget for your PPC campaigns so you can invest effectively. Regularly analysing your PPC campaigns is also important so you can continuously mould your approach to ensure your strategy is profitable and meets your objectives. For example, pairing your Facebook social PPC strategy with the Facebook Pixel tool will enable you to track your sales so you can evaluate and improve your PPC performance.
The recent addition of the shopping feature on some social media platforms makes it simple for brands to directly sell their products and services, and with Instagram Shopping and Facebook Marketplace, turning visitors into loyal customers can happen at the click of a button. Offering opportunities to purchase by including a call to action such as ‘swipe up’ on Instagram and ‘shop’ or ‘add to cart’ on Facebook allows customers to purchase directly from your business with speed and ease. This simplicity generates sales and provides your customers with a seamless e-commerce experience, which increases the likelihood of your customers returning to purchase from your organisation.
Measuring key metrics such as audience engagement, click-through rate and reach on tools such as Hootsuite or Sproutsocial will allow you to track the success of your social media marketing strategy, so you can continually evaluate your marketing efforts against the evolving digital landscape. This will enable you to monitor your performance against your business goals, so you can adjust your strategy for the most effective campaigns.
Through bespoke strategies and competitor analysis, the social media team at Mantra nurture social media tactics and have the expertise to put your organisation in the spotlight, so you can enjoy increased traffic and sales. We ensure that social media marketing for small businesses or large businesses always aligns with the business objectives, so our clients can reach the right audience at the right time, building strong connections and laying the foundations for their business’s growth. For successful social media marketing strategies, contact us via telephone, email or social media to boost your visibility and welcome new custom.
If you’ve enjoyed this blog post, check out our latest tips for social media marketing for small businesses here.