Move over baseball, America has a new favorite pastime and it doesn’t involve any peanuts or cracker jacks; all that’s needed for our new love is internet access and a capable device. So…what is it? What could people possibly love more than baseball? You guessed it – social media. According to a recent study, the average American now spends 1.77 hours on social media each day (1). That’s some serious screen time. People are trading in happy hour with co-workers for catching up with their Facebook friends and spending their weekends pinning instead of shopping at the mall. While this might be bad news for the mall, it’s great news for the digital marketing world. It means virtually unlimited, free exposure that’s accessible right at your fingertips. It’s basically a dream come true and, when used smartly, can be infinitely valuable to your company. The ultimate goal of a company’s social media presence is to create awareness while building trust for their brand. This means there’s no room for “winging it” in the game plan; you have to hit it out of the park with each post, capturing the attention of your audience and creating a consistent voice that represents your brand. With a ginormous amount of exposure at stake, don’t let being a rookie keep you from getting in the game–here are some myheartcreative-approved tips to grand-slam social media marketing:
Play the Field
In other words, diversify your accounts. Different audiences are reached on each social media platform, so having a presence on multiple sites is an absolute must. For example, an overwhelming majority of Pinterest users are female, so that would be a great place for content intended for women. For business to business interaction, LinkedIn is the place to be. Facebook by far has the most users, with the majority also being female. Twitter reaches a fairly equal amount of men and women, although it reaches less than ⅓ of overall social media users (2). That means you’d miss out on a lot of potential views if you only had a presence on Twitter – yikes! Knowing the demographics of each platform can be a total game-changer. It shows you where your intended audience is, so you know where to concentrate your efforts. This will ultimately determine the amount of viewers you engage and the success of your marketing plan.
Mix it Up
A company should use social media to promote their company, but not only for that reason. Your audience wants to see personable, relatable posts. Instead of blasting your friends and followers with daily ads, mix it up by posting something like:
- Informational articles or how-to videos relating to your industry or use of your product.
- Behind-the-scenes video of a real day in the office or a sponsored event. This is where live coverage through Periscope would come in handy…you can read more about that here.
- Contests, giveaways and discount codes for products
- Questions or surveys that encourage viewer response
Regardless of what you post, each one should be consistent in voice, so you are building your company’s brand and it’s overall message to the world.
Engage Your Fans
Or clients, customers, friends; whatever you call them, your content will likely gain their response. It’s beyond important to read their comments and respond where necessary. Your current and potential customers want to know you care about their opinions relating to your products or services. People also turn to social media now more than ever for instant customer service and resolution to issues, so you can count on getting messages and comments of the like. Many companies are finding this as a positive because they are able to give their customers instant gratification. Engaging with your customers and solving any issues gives them a sense of comfort, ease and trust for your brand, which is crucial to growing any business.
Know Your Stats
Simply put, check your analytics to see what’s working and what isn’t. Social media effectiveness is measured in likes, shares, favorites and retweets, so you’ll need to know which posts are getting the most. This will give you a better idea about the audience you’re reaching and how effective your engagement is. Our own Webvis CMS, which we use on all projects, tracks website analytics and allows you to generate data reports containing all of this vital information. Once you know what’s working and what isn’t, you can make adjustments accordingly. For example, if you get the most views on Monday at 10 a.m. and the least on Friday at 3 p.m., you will have a better understanding of when to schedule posts. You can also gain valuable insight from studying your competitor’s analytics. See what’s working for them and how your company measures up.
Still not sure you’re game-ready? Let myheartcreative, an Oklahoma web design company, help! We are well-versed content writers, experienced designers, and social media enthusiasts. We have the expertise it takes to tackle your social media needs and will make it our goal to get your company gets the presence it takes to make the World Series of exposure.
Contact us today or swing by here to check out our work!
Sources
- Globawebindex.com: [http://insight.globalwebindex.net/social]
- Duggan, Maeve: The Demographics of Social Media Users: [http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/19/the-demographics-of-social-media-users/] [August 19, 2015]
