9 Social Media Marketing Strategies Your Business Cannot Ignore In 2019
Gone are the days when having an active presence on social media meant you had an edge over competition. Back in 2013, a company using
Facebook advertisements to market their business meant they were light years ahead of competition. Today, being active on social media is merely a prerequisite.
Why is that? Because competition in social media marketing is at an all-time high! More than 80% of brands and companies big and small have an active social media presence.
With the increasing noise, it has become increasingly difficult to stand out and be heard.
Therefore it’s even more important than ever to have a sound strategy in place if you wish to stand out from competition and reach your target audience.
But it is challenging especially when the social media platforms itself keep changing. There are also changing trends that affect how users engage on these platforms.
These changes in turn act as a catalyst for businesses to adjust and improve their social strategies.
This
blog discusses the
strategies that businesses simply cannot ignore if they want to make it big on social media.
In order to build a successful social media marketing strategy, you need data. Data or information about potential customers, who they are, who you’re marketing to, the market sentiment etc.
Agreed, this information doesn’t come easy. You have to monitor and watch out for all relevant conversations happening online. You are going to need information like powerful keywords, brand mentions, common hashtags used, know about your audience, know who your influencers are etc.
Of course, there are online tools and software that can help you with this. With the help of this information you can manage your online reputation by jumping into all conversations that mention your brand, monitor competition, content that works best, audience sentiments etc.
Target True Engagement- It has been a popular practice to create fake engagement without actually creating a real conversation. Companies create posts suggesting users to repost and share it by tagging their friends.
This increases the no of shares and therefore how engagement. However Facebook has become smarter now and has decided to track down such names.
The fake method of gaining likes and shares isn’t going to work anymore. Facebook Algorithms are looking for
real content that is relevant and interesting to the audience so the audience would love to share it or talk about. Real conversation in terms of comments, responses etc is what is going to count in 2019.
Connect with Influencers – Influencers are Facebook users with medium to large follower base mirroring that of the target audience of the brand. Brands then reach out to these users and encourage them to share and post content about the brand in an effort to tap into their audience network.
Of course you will first need to first identify influencers in your niche, connect and convince them about your brand or product. They may expect to be compensated in some way.
This way because the content will come from a Facebook user rather than a company business page, it will have better chances of showing up in front of an interested audience. Moreover coming from a Facebook user just like somebody from the audience, it will enhance brand value and credibility of the brand.
Pay attention to Fake Followers – Talking about Influencer marketing on social media, fake follower accounts deserve a special mention. These days a lot of Facebook users expect to become popular just by buying a big number of likes and followers. This holds no meaning as the followers don’t really know these users.
These are Fake accounts. Many people use the names of celebrities and other media figures to garner popularity. Make sure not to fall into such traps. Do your homework well when looking for influencers. Do thorough research and communicate with them before you go ahead with any kind of collaboration for your brand. Checking out their profiles on other social networking platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn can also help.
Facebook Live Videos – It’s something which started way back in 2016, however if you are not using it already, you should definitely start using it now to up your engagement metrics.
These live video streams allow for real-time interaction with your friends and followers thereby allowing you to showcase the personality of your brand.
Video Marketing – Apart from live videos, videos are still the most popular form of content. Create a short video about your product, explaining its features, benefits or maybe simply an explainer video and post it on social sites like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube to boost your CTRs. These videos can then include a link to the related web page or blog.
Moreover
studies show that around 80% of web traffic comes from video marketing. Therefore it can be safely assumed the video is popular content format and the concept of video marketing is here to stay.
Shoppable Icons on Social Profiles – Facebook, Instagram and now even Pinterest have made news with shoppable buttons. This simply means that buyers can check out the products on their social profile without the need to leave the app or go to the shopping website.
‘Shop Now’ button on Facebook or Pinterest’s product pins that take the user straight to the product page from where the user can check out the product detail or buy the product. This works wonders for ecommerce businesses by increasing their click-through rate and conversions.
Narrow down your focus to specific Social Channels – There are many social media channels and many new ones gain prominence every year as competition keeps increasing. However Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest rule the world when it comes to using social media for brand awareness. However you don’t have to be present on all of them.
It all depends on which platform works best for your business or where most of audience hang out. Gone are the days when you had to be present on a platform simply because everyone else was!
For instance if you are e-commerce business owner, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook would be more important to you than say Twitter or LinkedIn. On the other hand, if you are clothing brand, Instagram and Pinterest would be more important for you from visual point of view to showcase your products, similarly LinkedIn, Twitter can be useful for connecting with popular personalities in your niche to add value to your brand.
Stay on top of latest Trends – Staying ahead of the crowd is essential for success. With dynamic and ever-changing social media platforms, algorithms are being changed every year thereby making it crucial for business to stay abreast with latest changes and improve strategies in keeping with latest trends and techniques. Read up on social media changing statistics and data and scale your marketing strategy accordingly.
Social Media marketing is undoubtedly a lot of hard work. But the benefits it offers and the rewards it promises make it all worth it. Ignore this aspect of marketing and you lose out on leads, online visibility and eventually sales. These latest tips will help you craft a winning
social media marketing strategy for your brand. Stay alert, stay active and make your audience your top priority.
Agreed, this information doesn’t come easy. You have to monitor and watch out for all relevant conversations happening online. You are going to need information like powerful keywords, brand mentions, common hashtags used, know about your audience, know who your influencers are etc.
Of course, there are online tools and software that can help you with this. With the help of this information you can manage your online reputation by jumping into all conversations that mention your brand, monitor competition, content that works best, audience sentiments etc.
Target True Engagement- It has been a popular practice to create fake engagement without actually creating a real conversation. Companies create posts suggesting users to repost and share it by tagging their friends.
This increases the no of shares and therefore how engagement. However Facebook has become smarter now and has decided to track down such names.
The fake method of gaining likes and shares isn’t going to work anymore. Facebook Algorithms are looking for real content that is relevant and interesting to the audience so the audience would love to share it or talk about. Real conversation in terms of comments, responses etc is what is going to count in 2019.
Connect with Influencers – Influencers are Facebook users with medium to large follower base mirroring that of the target audience of the brand. Brands then reach out to these users and encourage them to share and post content about the brand in an effort to tap into their audience network.
Of course you will first need to first identify influencers in your niche, connect and convince them about your brand or product. They may expect to be compensated in some way.
This way because the content will come from a Facebook user rather than a company business page, it will have better chances of showing up in front of an interested audience. Moreover coming from a Facebook user just like somebody from the audience, it will enhance brand value and credibility of the brand.
Pay attention to Fake Followers – Talking about Influencer marketing on social media, fake follower accounts deserve a special mention. These days a lot of Facebook users expect to become popular just by buying a big number of likes and followers. This holds no meaning as the followers don’t really know these users.
These are Fake accounts. Many people use the names of celebrities and other media figures to garner popularity. Make sure not to fall into such traps. Do your homework well when looking for influencers. Do thorough research and communicate with them before you go ahead with any kind of collaboration for your brand. Checking out their profiles on other social networking platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn can also help.
Facebook Live Videos – It’s something which started way back in 2016, however if you are not using it already, you should definitely start using it now to up your engagement metrics.
These live video streams allow for real-time interaction with your friends and followers thereby allowing you to showcase the personality of your brand.
Video Marketing – Apart from live videos, videos are still the most popular form of content. Create a short video about your product, explaining its features, benefits or maybe simply an explainer video and post it on social sites like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube to boost your CTRs. These videos can then include a link to the related web page or blog.
Moreover studies show that around 80% of web traffic comes from video marketing. Therefore it can be safely assumed the video is popular content format and the concept of video marketing is here to stay.
Shoppable Icons on Social Profiles – Facebook, Instagram and now even Pinterest have made news with shoppable buttons. This simply means that buyers can check out the products on their social profile without the need to leave the app or go to the shopping website.
‘Shop Now’ button on Facebook or Pinterest’s product pins that take the user straight to the product page from where the user can check out the product detail or buy the product. This works wonders for ecommerce businesses by increasing their click-through rate and conversions.
Narrow down your focus to specific Social Channels – There are many social media channels and many new ones gain prominence every year as competition keeps increasing. However Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest rule the world when it comes to using social media for brand awareness. However you don’t have to be present on all of them.
It all depends on which platform works best for your business or where most of audience hang out. Gone are the days when you had to be present on a platform simply because everyone else was!
For instance if you are e-commerce business owner, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook would be more important to you than say Twitter or LinkedIn. On the other hand, if you are clothing brand, Instagram and Pinterest would be more important for you from visual point of view to showcase your products, similarly LinkedIn, Twitter can be useful for connecting with popular personalities in your niche to add value to your brand.
Stay on top of latest Trends – Staying ahead of the crowd is essential for success. With dynamic and ever-changing social media platforms, algorithms are being changed every year thereby making it crucial for business to stay abreast with latest changes and improve strategies in keeping with latest trends and techniques. Read up on social media changing statistics and data and scale your marketing strategy accordingly.
Social Media marketing is undoubtedly a lot of hard work. But the benefits it offers and the rewards it promises make it all worth it. Ignore this aspect of marketing and you lose out on leads, online visibility and eventually sales. These latest tips will help you craft a winning social media marketing strategy for your brand. Stay alert, stay active and make your audience your top priority.
