People are spending an increasing amount of time on social media, with office workers wasting an average of two hours per day scrolling through socials. That alone represents a significant amount of squandered man-hours and revenue. But is your company spending too much time on social media?
Without a doubt, social media has transformed the world of marketing for both large and small businesses. It enables businesses to reach their customers on a much larger scale than before, and it is an excellent way to raise brand awareness and promote new products.
It also makes it easier than ever for businesses to interact with new and existing customers on a more personal level. Despite these advantages, it is far too easy to focus all of your marketing efforts on social media at the expense of other tried and tested channels.
Knowing your customer base, why you’re on social media in the first place, what you’re using it for, and which channels are best suited to your business are all questions you should ask to avoid wasting time on ineffective social media campaigns.
Why do you use social media?
The unsettling truth is that, like the pouty teen posting selfies on Instagram, businesses frequently use social media to feel good about themselves. Posting about business successes and awards strokes the collective ego of the company and provides them with a nice, gleaming online presence to be proud of.
If you suspect that vanity is your primary motivation for maintaining a social media presence, you should reconsider your marketing strategy and determine whether social media has any real impact on your business. You should have more compelling reasons to be on social media. These could include increasing brand awareness and strengthening customer relationships.
Social media is also a great way to drive traffic to your website through actions like post boosts and strategically placed CTAs (calls to action). If you haven’t given much thought to why your company is on social media, it’s probably time you did!
Do You Have a Social Media Marketing Strategy?
The key to avoiding wasting time on social media is to develop a well-thought-out social media strategy. A social media strategy allows you to see how social media can help your business while also ensuring that your social media presence is meaningful and productive. Without one, you will most likely be wasting time and energy on social media with little to show for it. When creating a plan, there are several factors to consider, such as;
- Which are the best channels?
You must determine which social media channels will be the most effective based on your target demographic. Conduct some research to determine the platform on which your target audience is most likely to be found. Regardless of their client base, many businesses continue to use Facebook as their primary social media platform. This is probably prudent, as Facebook continues to reign supreme in terms of consumer engagement, even in some of the younger age demographics (80% of 15-25-year-olds use Facebook regularly). - Establish Achievable Objectives
You should set short-term, attainable goals for each social platform you use. This will then allow you to assess the effectiveness of your social media marketing. For example, your goal could be to gain 100 new followers on Facebook or Twitter each month. This provides you with a clear goal to strive for. - Creating a Content Strategy for each Channel
Different channels necessitate distinct strategies. What works on Facebook might not work on Twitter. For example, to increase customer engagement in your brand, a short-term strategy could be to post two images on Instagram every day for a month. Alternatively, you could decide to boost your Facebook posts for your local area for five days to see if you see an increase in sales.
Once you’ve written your strategy, make sure you set aside time and money for social media each week, and try not to exceed either. Have a realistic idea of how much time and money you can invest in social media and what you can expect in return.
Credit: Scott Jones
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