By Art Unlimited.

Did you know that for 45% of consumers, social media is one of the first channels they go to if they have questions or issues?

This fact alone makes it essential to have a strong social presence and digital marketing strategy (after all, they need to see you’re active and engaged). We’re here to help you through the first steps of launching a successful social presence.

Social Media & Your Website

If you’re starting your social media journey because you want it to drive tons of website traffic and conversions, be patient! Social media is, by definition, social. Badly presented sales content won’t make people like you, especially if they don’t know you yet. It’s wiser to start with a focus on brand awareness, customer relationships, and showing your values.

It’s true that connecting your social channels to your website (and vice-versa) will strengthen your website’s SEO and increase website visits, but a successful social media strategy takes time, effort, and consistent engagement to grow.

Get a Handle on It

When you’re ready to start, even if you’re launching only one social channel at a time, try to claim a good username (handle) on any social media platform you may later want to use. Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc., are all good places to have a presence. As your brand or business becomes more popular, people are more likely to snatch up the good names and leave you with a long, messy handle.

Why Social Media?

Social media is not only another way to ‘be found.’ According to PwC, “Social networks are the biggest source of inspiration for consumer purchases, with 37% of consumers finding purchase inspiration through the channel.”

If you’re marketing to a younger audience, it’s worth knowing that social is the most relevant advertising channel for 50% of Gen Z and 42% of millennials.

Channel

The channel, or platform, of social media you use greatly forms the outcome you will receive from your marketing tactics. Places like Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can allow you to send indirect messages to long-time customers as well as prospective clients.  The key is knowing what your message is! When you’re creating an account and planning out your content (whether for a week, a month, or a quarter), use this as your starting point:

[Social platform] is where {target audience} can find {what content}. 

A rural resort could fill it out this way:

{Instagram} is where {adventure-seeking 25-35-year-olds} can find out {about our fun vibes and local attractions/activities}

This can be the same for more than one channel, or it can be different for each one! As you watch your audience’s engagement rates, you may find the people you’re picturing aren’t the ones loving your content, and that’s okay too. In the world of social media, where a post rarely matters more than 24 hours, it’s vital to be flexible in your game plan.

If you don’t know which channel (or channels) to choose, start with this general guide:

• Facebook –  97% of social advertisers chose Facebook as their most used and most useful social media platform in 2018, and Facebook is the second favorite platform for consuming videos after YouTube! Have a lot of video content and a slightly older demographic? Start here.
• LinkedIn – Recognized as the top-rated social network for lead generation, LinkedIn is especially useful for B2B (business-to-business) companies. Why? It’s chock full of decision-makers.
• Twitter – How many times have you heard Twitter is going out of style or that people don’t really like it? In truth, Twitter is still growing rapidly and becoming increasingly popular as a customer support channel! Twitter is more of a niche platform than some others, so it may be wiser not to favor this channel if you don’t have a schedule which allows you to engage with your followers in the moment.
• Instagram – This platform is becoming increasingly popular for all ages, but over half their user base is people from ages 18-24! If you’ve got strong visual content (Instagram is all about photos) and a younger demographic, get started now! 80% of Instagram’s users follow at least one business account. Better brush up on your hashtags!
• Pinterest – This visually pleasing, unique channel is usually the odd one out in a social media line-up, but 90% of weekly active users are utilizing Pinterest to make purchasing decisions. Also, it’s actually the 4th most popular social media platform in the US! They’re still growing, and they recently expanded their advertising options to make them more versatile for marketers. While your average tweet is relevant for about 18 minutes, content on Pinterest can often last 1-3 months!

Post

Your account is set up, you know your ideal audience, and you’re ready to roll! Except, what do you post? In your social media work, it’s important to strike a balance between fun, educational, and more business-oriented content.

Many social media professionals employ the 5.3.2 rule: for every ten posts you create, five should be interesting content from other sources, three should be educational, non-salesy, relevant information for your follower base, and the last two should be fun company-culture posts.

Unless you have a great deal to deliver to a warm audience, an outright sales call is almost never the way to go. Gain your followers’ trust, teach them how your product can solve their problems, and nudge them in the right direction so they’re free to seek you out when they’re ready.

Reach

The number of people who have seen your posts and updates is commonly called the reach of the post. Reach is tied closely to engagement; if people are engaging with your content, the social platform rewards it for being interesting by giving it better reach.

The more people see you on social media, the more people will be drawn back to your website. And even if they don’t convert off the first visit from social, or the second or the third, you’re in the front of their mind. They’re likely to Google your company by name and convert later!

Engagement

Engagement is when someone interacts with your social media account beyond looking and scrolling by. To engage, they click a link, like a post, retweet, swipe through photos, or comment on your posts. People are on social media to be entertained, so make sure your content appeals to them and encourages them to interact.

Schedule

You want to post when the most people are online, or just before they get there so your post is already nestled in the newsfeed. On most platforms, you’ll be able to find these activity metrics somewhere in the platforms own insights. While your social channel is new and hasn’t collected enough data to display these metrics, follow a guide, or in general, plan to post in the afternoon between 12 pm and 5 pm (stick to later times on the weekends).

To maximize the flow of traffic to your social media page, get in touch with Art Unlimited to help give you the right marketing techniques to get ahead of your competitors on the web (and on social media!).

Source: Art Unlimited