A great social media marketing approach involves nine steps. Everything you need to know about social media marketing tactics in 2023.

Summary/Overview

Why is a social media marketing strategy important?
How has social media changed marketing strategies that we use?
1. Set realistic social goals and KPIs
2. Choose the right social network channels
3. Check your competitors social media content and engagement
4. Keep it real (your content, that is)
5. Be consistent, but switch it up
6. Engage with your audience
7. Create a community
8. Embrace paid social in your plan
9. Track your results and keep adapting

Since its inception, social media has become an important part of marketing strategies across all industries. With millions of people using social platforms each day, it’s essential to have a multichannel social media marketing strategy in order to grow your brand, generate leads, retain customers, and develop your brand persona.

Why is a Social Media Marketing Strategy Important?

Many companies in recent years have adopted a passive strategy for social media marketing, figuring that they can easily delegate it to anyone on the marketing team who has spare time to handle it post hoc. Another misconception is that becoming viral automatically happens without any effort on your part.

These actions make us squirm since, when done right, social media can be a really effective marketing tool. It takes a lot of work, strategic thinking, competitive research, examining and evaluating analytics, creative ideation, and many other things to carry out an effective social media marketing campaign. Simply put, social media cannot be implemented haphazardly or as a last-minute idea. Rather, social media strategy should be viewed as a massive potential for increased brand exposure, lead creation,

Adults spend an all-time high of 95 minutes a day on social media on average, switching between seven different social networks on a monthly basis.

Social media is one of the best ways to expose your brand to your target audience. Only by incorporating social media into your marketing strategy can you be certain that your business will have a shot at long-term success.

Utilizing social media for customer care is another crucial consideration because it’s frequently where your clients or even potential customers can approach you with queries or complaints. Twitter in particular is a prime example of this. This is an important factor to take into account when developing a social media marketing plan for your company, especially if you’re a B2C company.

While having a specialized social media marketing strategy can help with lead generation, brand exposure, and making your business more likable, having a social media presence will enable you to have a more engaged relationship with your target market and foster brand loyalty.

How Has Social Media Changed Marketing Strategies That We Use?

The advent of social media marketing fundamentally altered the nature of marketing. Brands now have the chance to develop interactive relationships with members of their target audience thanks to social networks. Brands can utilize paid advertising to make pertinent product and service recommendations to consumers who are most likely to make a purchase. Finally, businesses now have a much bigger chance to exhibit more character and empathy.

People spend a lot of their free time on social media, as the statistics we gave previously indicate. Social media is a clear way to reach your target audience at a time when they aren’t expecting to see marketing and may be more open to your message.

Social media marketing has many advantages over conventional types of marketing. After all, you’ll still need to pull out your smartphone and conduct a manual search for the information you require if you pass a billboard and want more details. Comparatively, the process of finding content and then acting on it is made simple by social media marketing.

On the negative side, social networking has also produced a highly competitive and saturated marketing environment. However, there shouldn’t be any reason why you still can’t obtain strong results from your social media efforts as long as you are consistent with your management of social media, aware of new trends and network updates, and have a solid grasp of your audience.

Getting Started: How to Implement a Social Media Marketing Strategy

1. Define concrete social objectives and KPIs

Without having a clear idea of their goals or why they are using social media, many businesses set out to create a splash. Having clear goals and KPIs (key performance indicators) will help you stay focused when it comes to developing your plan in more depth and will ensure that you are carefully examining what you want to achieve out of using social media. Any social media marketing campaign must begin with identifying goals.

You should start by considering your overall business plan and how your social media objectives can support it when developing a social media strategy for your company. Everyone wants to have millions of followers within the first month, but it’s critical to set goals that are both feasible and practical. By doing this, you’ll increase your chances of achieving your objectives and feeling encouraged to continue doing so in the future.

The saying “slow and steady wins the race” is true. Social media marketing is a great example of this.

Goals for social media marketing, for instance:
amplify brand awareness
Reach a predetermined amount of sales using social media traffic
expand your clientele
Every goal should be measurable; otherwise, it would be difficult to determine whether you have succeeded or failed. Consider how the reach of your articles might be used to gauge the growth of your brand awareness.

2. Choose the Right Social Network Channels

Throwing all of your resources into every social media platform might seem like a good idea, but this approach can be a waste of time and resources. Recognizing where your brand is best suited and the types of content that work well for you is one is the smartest ways to build your social media following.

For example, most businesses can benefit from existing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but not all will have content suited to Pinterest or YouTube. LinkedIn will absolutely be a useful tool to ensure your business is looked upon by current and potential employees, plus investors and potential partners, but it might not be where you’ll find your customers. If you’re not sure where might be the best channels to get started, considering surveying your existing customer base to discover where most of them are spending their online time.

As you’re researching channels, you should also take the time to craft a social media toolkit to share amongst your team.

3. Check Your Competitors Social Media Content and Engagement

An easy way to get inspired is to look into what your competitors are doing and see what content is performing well. It’s important to be unique to your brand and offer valuable content, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take some pointers from companies in your field that are handling digital marketing well. You can also look at the engagement received by competitors who are a similar size to you for guidance when setting your social media targets.

4. Keep It Real Your Content, That

Authenticity plays a huge part in social media (especially if you’re a b2c business). Don’t be afraid to deliver something that isn’t totally polished. Showcasing behind-the-scenes content, letting the audience get to know your team, and providing your take on social media trends helps to show off the humans behind the brand, encouraging an emotional connection.

People are looking for an emotional connection when they visit their favorite social media sites, so make sure you’re creating content that your followers want to see. If you don’t have something engaging to say, maybe say nothing at all.

One of the easiest ways to have a presence on social media platforms is to repost relevant articles from your industry. While this approach might be quick, relying too much on reposting will lose your audience’s attention. Mix up your content by adding original copy to your retweet or repost so that your audience is still hearing your brand’s voice and message.

Need help brainstorming authentic content? Read our long list of social media post ideas that’ll help boost your business.

5. Be Consistent, but Switch It Up

Consistency is key to all great social media marketing strategies, so you should post regularly to stay at front-of-mind with your customers. Episodic content is a great way to keep people engaged and wanting more and it’s worth taking time to think about unique content series’ that your customers will love.

However, being consistent doesn’t mean being complacent, so you shouldn’t be afraid to try new things. One of our top marketing tactics is to split your content 80/20–80 percent tried and tested, and 20 percent new. This allows you to find out what does and doesn’t work for your brand while keeping your content relevant and fresh.

Uncertain of how frequently you should distribute content? See our advice on how frequently to post on social media. The optimum times to post on social media, including breakdowns for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to boost interaction, are also covered in our recommendations, which you may consult.

Running a constant social media channel is completely automated with the use of social media calendaring solutions. You will learn about content calendars in this tutorial as a crucial component of your marketing technology stack. As soon as you’ve digested that knowledge, test out Express Content Scheduler.

6. Engage With Your Audience

It’s not enough to simply churn out content and wait for people to notice you. You need to go out there and get involved with online conversations that are relevant to your audience. Moreover, you need to be responding to comments and direct messages on your own content in order to build more of a relationship with your audience as well as provide customer service.

It’s also a good idea to share your followers’ content if you think the rest of your audience will enjoy their posts. Here’s everything you need to know about how to repost user-generated content on Instagram.

Be patient; if you are continuing to seek out conversations and form connections, over time the conversations will begin to find you. This step is often neglected when it comes to social media marketing strategies; don’t make this mistake.

7. Create a Community

Influencers aren’t the only people who can advocate for your brand. In fact, a comment section full of happy customers who vouch for your company is just as, if not more, compelling than an endorsement from a paid influencer.

Be sure to engage with your customers, answering each comment or query, and provide stellar customer service each time. Don’t be afraid of negative comments; see them as an opportunity to convert a customer into a loyal subscriber. Encourage engagement with a clear call to action (cta), questions and polls to show that you care about your customers’ opinions.

8. Embrace Paid Social in Your Plan

While organic social media should be a large focus of your strategy, don’t forget about paid social media. Consumers are familiar with sponsored content and aren’t put off by seeing it on their feeds. If they already have an intent to purchase, a well-placed and engaging ad can make all the difference between a sale and a scroll. The best B2C marketing strategies will feature a mixture of both.

Paid social can help get your brand name in front of the right people and doesn’t have to cost the Earth. Even a small monthly budget can specifically target your ideal prospects and lead to a new customer or opportunity.

9. Track Your Results and Keep Adapting

Your First Attempt at a Social Media Marketing Strategy Might Not Be All That Successful, and That’s Okay. What’s Not Okay is Burying Your Head in the Sand and Expecting Your Results to Change Without Taking Any Action. Your Social Media Analytics Will Provide You With Some of the Most Precious and Valuable Information You Can Have When It Comes to Social Media Marketing.

Check on Your Analytics at Least Once a Month to Assess Which of Your Content is Performing Best and What Isn’t Doing as Well as Expected. You Can Also Use Your Analytics to Find Out More About Your Audience Demographics So You Can Make Even More Specific and Tailored Content Over Time.

What’s Considered a Good Engagement Rate Varies by Social Media Channel, Business Type, and Industry. We’ve Researched Some Good Social Media Engagement Benchmarks to Include in Your Analysis.

Although developing a social media marketing strategy is challenging, the effort is worthwhile and will benefit your marketing results. Having learned how to create a social media marketing plan, you can now improve it over time in addition to knowing how and where to start.