Alright, you want to start, restart, or refine the social media campaign for your business. There is a lot of content out there from a lot of different people, but in the end, it boils down to this:
“It is better to be wrong than to be vague.” — George Bernard Shaw
Here are six points to consider, oh so deeply, when planning a solid and effective social media campaign. Follow these basic principles and you’ll find yourself in the right ballpark for creating tests and making adjustments to optimize your results for your business.
- Understand your target audience. Make sure that each post is written to appeal to at least one persona that would be an ideal customer. Overly-general posts won’t always resonate, so make sure you rotate through all of the personas so you’re reaching everyone regularly. Customize your content for each platform as the users and usage can be quite different.
- Establish a schedule to ensure a regular cadence on valuable topics. Use a content calendar to plan out not only the next couple of weeks but also the coming months, including holidays, company specials, market seasonality, and other marketing campaigns. Interweave concepts that span multiple weeks or months. This removes the stress of coming up with new ideas every couple of days.
- Use high-quality visuals from professional photography and videography. Focus on images of your services or products and the kind of people that need them. For an additional level of authenticity, use actual product, customer and employee photos as people resonate with that level of personal attention. Include a call to action! Marketing is a targeted effort to acquire new customers. Let them know what you do and what you want them to do, but remember to talk “with” them, not “at” them!
- Always expand your reach. Invite engagement by asking questions, running polls, contests and giveaways. Ask people to share your posts. Use trending hashtags and topics. Collaborate with partners to co-market your content to their audience (and vice-versa) and gauge interest. Respond to comments promptly and follow those profiles. Follow other profiles in your market and comment on their posts. Ask customers, partners and friends to follow you. Accelerate your reach with paid ads and boosting content.
- Work to build trust. You are the expert and want people to see your content as valuable. Provide insights and inspire them with the breadth of the market and your products and services. Underscore the problems they may be experiencing and how you work to meet them. Use customer reviews and case studies. Educate, impress, expose, and encourage—don’t force it. Treat your brand, employees, competitors, and public figures with respect.
- Try, watch, learn, adjust. Not all content is successful, so watch for patterns that reveal more effective content. Test long enough to be reasonably certain, then make calculated changes to keep it fresh and effective. Don’t be afraid to reuse content. Learn from what others in your market are doing. Use analytics to analyze engagement, but consider market seasonality and outside variables.
Is that it? Yes and no. Start here and then read up, talk to experts, hire talented staff, and continue to improve. The social media landscape will continue to evolve and that will require periodic changes. New platforms will arrive and others will fade but there is no time like the present to get started. Effort counts.