Social media platforms are becoming increasingly prominent in the corporate world – whether to interact with their customers, or to stay aligned with current trends in the market, businesses have started turning to these avenues for a more succinct and efficient marketing strategy. Before you implement a campaign or promotion, you should also have a clear vision of what you’re hoping to achieve. Once you know what your objectives are, you can follow the next few steps:
- Choose the right platforms
Although there are several social media platforms that you can turn to, it is essential to start off by choosing the one that is most suited to your business needs. The most popular social media platforms are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn – and each of them can cater to specific demographics. Where a platform like Facebook could help you reach out to millennials, Instagram might do a better job at frequently engaging with the Gen Z demographic. Hence, it is important to choose the platform most suited to your business needs.
- Know your audience
Social media is a powerful tool, and sometimes it can be easy to lose track of who you want to target. Defining your audience will help you understand what your demographic is most responsive to, and this will go on to influence your content, strategy, and choice of key performance indicators. Since these platforms allow you to micro-target customers, it is important that you scope out your base from existing data and then create targeted promotions around that.
- Choose the right KPI’s
Key performance indicators (KPI’s) are important in measuring how successful your campaigns and promotions are. Examples of a few key KPI’s include number of follower count, impressions, and average engagement rate. The ones you choose to focus on will also be dependent on the type of platform you are using, as well as the overarching objective behind building a social media presence.
- Create a social media calendar
These content calendars will help you organize your posting schedule and give you an overview of how the company’s content will look. You can use a regular calendar to plan out your posts in advance, and schedule posts in advance to make sure that your promotion stays on track. A common heuristic is the 80-20 rule: 80% of your content should inform and educate your audience, and 20% should promote your brand. You can adjust this ratio based on your existing social media presence and future objectives.
- Use interactive tools to engage with your audience
Whether it’s the ‘ask a question’ feature on Instagram or a poll on Twitter, using interactive features of your platforms will assist you in better engaging with your audience. This way, not only do you build your presence on these platforms, but you can also monitor how responsive your viewers are to the content that you are publishing.
As we become a more digital society, it is even more important to create a presence on social media platforms. Whether it’s one or
multiple platforms, your brand will expand both its reach and engagement levels if you start with these few simple steps. Good luck!
