Most people engage in social media for fun, entertainment, or simply getting in touch with their loved ones. However, it becomes a different story when you use this platform as part of your marketing strategy.
Social media marketing is a great way to engage your audience and create awareness about a product, service, or even an advocacy. However, you need to realize that this practice is not just about posting pictures or links to your website. There’s more to it than that.
If you’re new to social media marketing, here are five important things that you need to know.
1. It all begins with a good product.
Even if you put in hours and hours into social media marketing, it still won’t work if your product or brand is not marketable to begin with. Generally, brands that have maintained a good relationship with their market through the years have no problem engaging people to their social media accounts.
Before you create a social media marketing strategy, look at what you’re selling first. Does it offer a good solution to a particular need? Can your market relate to it? What are the ways you can improve it?
2. Automate with caution.
Social media marketing can be time-consuming. To make it more manageable, you can turn to applications that can automate your posts. Though these programs can be helpful in managing your time, you need to understand that scheduling and automating your posts can be harmful to your overall strategy when it’s overdone.
You do social media marketing to build a brand. When you build a brand, you also build a relationship with your clients. You cannot do that if all your social media posts are automated. You need to engage with your followers and respond to what they have to say. This will not only make them feel important, this can also help you improve your product and strategy.
3. Know the best time to post.
Several studies and research have published the best times to post on social media. Of course, their results vary and they may or may not be the same for you. But if there’s one thing you can learn from all of these, it would be to level up your social media marketing during the time when there is high engagement from your target audience.
When you’re just starting out, you can experiment. Vary your posting schedule and see which timeframe generates the most responses or engagement from your followers.
4. Use images.
No matter how great a wordsmith you are, your chances of generating audience engagement is low when you don’t use images. Studies show that people are more compelled to respond to a post if it’s supplemented by an image.
However, don’t just include a photo just for the sake of following this tip. The photos that you plan to use for marketing purposes should be self-explanatory and relevant to your message.
5. Use it to stay ahead.
Apart from focusing on brand awareness and making noise, use social media to see how your competitors are performing. Through social media, you can see how the market is responding to them and see how you can use their feedback to improve your brand.
