Select an image, create a caption, include a link, click “Publish,” and drop to your knees and pray something happens.
Unfortunately for many of today’s business owners, this sequence of events sounds all too familiar. That’s because social media marketing is still a hazy area to many businesses. This is usually due to difficulties creating content, insufficiencies in page monitoring, general misunderstandings regarding relevant tracking metrics, or a deadly combination of all three.
But here’s the reality: Social media marketing is not something to put on the backburner simply because you feel that you haven’t truly mastered it yet. This practice is absolutely essential in today’s business world! If your business is not active on social media, then most likely, you are already behind your competition.
So, get ready to switch from aimless posting and praying to confidently and intentionally taking your social media marketing by the reins!
Social Media Marketing Starts With Genius Content.
“Genius” sounds intimidating, but guess what? You ARE capable of it! All it takes is an understanding of particular social media platforms and the willingness and patience to see what works (and what doesn’t work) for your business!
In previous blog posts, we have written extensively on the particular nuances of each social platform, as well as what constitutes as “genius” social media content. Take a look at the posts below.
1. The Social Effect: 10 Tips for Better Social Posts on Your Brand Pages
This post discusses ten general social media best practices.
2. Social Media Marketing 101: How to Authentically Engage Your Audience
This post provides ten practical tips for creating authentic social posts that are sure to engage your audience and create connections.
3. 12 Tools to Help You Make Easy and Awesome Images for Your Social Media Posts
Choosing the right image to accompany your social content is imperative! This post identifies 12 easy-to-use platforms that businesses can utilize to create visually-appealing images.
Try out some of the tips and tricks from these previous posts, while keeping in mind that it is vital to remain patient. At first, you must think of your social media marketing as an experiment you are conducting. In order to achieve prolonged success, your business must develop a good understanding of the types of social posts that resonate the most with your audience.
Social Media Marketing Requires TLC.
A loyal base of social media followers must be carefully cultivated. This means that your business should be intentional about engaging its audience. To accomplish this, businesses should frequently create posts that subtly demand a response. These types of posts could pose an interesting question or ask for a “reaction,” a like, or a simple comment.
Giving your social pages some TLC also requires careful monitoring of your business’ page. This means promptly replying to direct messages, liking people’s comments and commenting back on them, following back the accounts that followed your page, etc.
Social Media Marketing Ends With Effective Tracking.
For a variety of reasons, many businesses have developed a common misconception that tracking social media marketing is far too cumbersome of a task to take on. However, we have good news! It’s completely doable (and frankly, it’s also necessary for prolonged success!).
In order to truly understand your business’ performance, you must be able sort through the expansive world of social media and learn which tracking metrics matter the most.
Here is a list of the most telling marketing metrics in the social media world:
- Reach
Definition: The maximum number of people that have been exposed to your social media posts.*
*It’s important to note that “reach” doesn’t necessarily mean that the entire audience will see your social media post, but rather, it tells you the maximum number of people that it could potentially reach.
Why it’s important: This metric helps your business understand the percentage of your following that could come into contact with your content. “Reach” is a great baseline metric because it sets the bar by saying, “Here is the number of people that you could reach.” Your business can then use this number to determine whether or not your current posts are effective enough.
- Post Engagement
Definition: A measurement of the public shares, likes, clicks, and comments for an online business' social media efforts.
Why it’s important: Think of it this way: Engaged couples are more committed to each other than dating couples. In the same way, “engagement” demonstrates more of a commitment to your social posts (and your business) than a simple follow does. As discussed above, by using “reach” as a baseline metric, your business can determine what percentage of its following feels compelled to go one step further and engage with your posts.
- Referrals
Definition: The number of people visiting a business’ website via their social media accounts.
Why it’s important: One of the ultimate goals (if not THE ultimate goal) of social media marketing is to drive traffic to your business’ website. This metric can be measured by analyzing how many users click on the links included in your social posts. Be sure to frequently direct your social followers to your website in order to help move them through your sales funnel and turn them into future customers.
- Individual Post Performance
Definition: A measurement of the public shares, likes, clicks, and comments received by one, individual post.
Why it’s important: It is crucial to monitor the performance of individual posts, so that your business can get a clear picture of what your audience engages with the most. This will significantly help your business determine what types of posts to schedule, saving you time and increasing the chance of having interested followers who feel inclined to turn into customers.
By creating genius content, committing to providing some TLC to your social pages, and making efficient tracking a priority, your business will be able to kiss those hopeless-sounding prayers goodbye and fully harness the power of social media once and for all!
Remember, it certainly takes time and patience, but the results are well worth it! If reading this post causes you to realize that you do not have the necessary time needed to become a social media marketing master, then leave it to us! We provide a variety of social media services that are sure to help your business stand out and make a significant impact! See a more detailed description of the social media services we provide here.
