7 Tips for Effective Business Social Media Marketing

Are you looking for some basic tips as to how to effectively promote your business using social media marketing? Here are 7 key ones to get you started:

1. Focus Your Attention on One Platform
There are dozens of social media platforms online, but they are not all as valuable as each other. Different platforms attract different user bases.

So, you need to determine who your target audience on social media is and which platform they are likely to be using. In order to do this, you need to create profiles of your main customers. Customer profiles will help you to zone in on your target audience.

Once you figure out which platform has a user base most similar to your target audience, start focusing your attention only on that platform. You need to master a marketing strategy on one platform before you start to expand your reach to additional social media networks. If this all sounds a little out of your comfort zone why not contact the experts at ClickFirst who will guide you through the social media maze.

2. Cultivate Your Brand Voice
Buyer personas have multiple uses. Not only do they help you determine the profile of your main target audience, but they can also help you to cultivate your brand voice.

So, what’s a brand voice exactly? It’s basically what you say, how you say it (brand tone) and the intent behind the words and delivery. It’s a key component to the personality of your brand. Suffice to say, to appeal to your target audience, it needs to be developed with that group of individuals in mind.

How do they communicate? Do they use complex terminology? What is their average level of education? Does your brand voice fit with what you are selling? These are just a few of the things you need to consider when creating a brand voice to attract and engage your target audience.

3. Make Your Goals Specific and Achievable
A key element of successful social media marketing is setting goals. Not the vague kinds which are impossible to define or ridiculously unrealistic. Instead, you need to create clearly defined goals that can be achieved within a stated time period. Furthermore, all of your goals should be backed up with a strategy — a step-by-step plan to make success more probable.

Recommended eBook: Marketing Goals Pocket Guide

4. Create a Posting Schedule
Planning is crucial. An effective social media strategy does not rely on the success of random or sporadic posts. That said, it’s obviously fine to post outside of a fixed schedule every so often if the mood strikes or you discover something interesting you know your target audience will like. Those spontaneous posts should just be bonus content on top of your regular posting schedule.

Posting consistency will increase anticipation for your brand’s content and encourage engagement. To make regular posting easier, you might want to invest in a scheduling tool. Such a tool will ensure you save time and reap the benefits of consistent social media posting.

5. Learn from Your Competition
Want to know what posting strategies will be effective at capturing the attention of your target audience? Take a look at what your competitors are doing. It only makes sense to learn from what your successful competitors are doing right on social media, but you should also check out the strategies other businesses are using.

You can learn from the mistakes of competitors that are currently be doing worse than you. Build on the successful social media practices of your strongest rivals and take care to avoid the mistake of businesses who are struggling to survive. You don’t have to waste time and money experimenting with various tactics. Let your competitors absorb the cost of trial and error on your behalf.

6. Get Your Followers Off Platform
Social media platforms won’t benefit your business if you use them in a vacuum. Even if you have tens of thousands of active followers, they all mean nothing if you don’t get them off the platform. You want your followers to take actions outside of social media, such as checking out your online store, reading the latest posts on your company’s blog and more.

So, how do you get your followers to take actions off-platform? You need to direct them to your blog, online store, or website by taking advantage of all linking opportunities. Make sure you use your profile bio on social media sites wisely and always include links in your tweets, posts, and stories.

7. Use 100% Promotional Posts Sparingly
While your overall goal is to grow your customer base, you shouldn’t make every post a sales pitch. Pushy self-promotion is sure to lose you followers, as it gets old real quick.

Promotional posts are obviously appropriate in lots of cases, but they need to be inter-spaced with more human content. Your social media posts should showcase your personality and encourage users to engage with your brand. Today’s customers want to know more about the people behind their favorite brands. Creating genuine emotional connections on social media platforms can drive more sales than 24/7 hardcore promotional advertising.