Social media platforms prove, again and again, to be essential to all businesses, whether they are large corporations or small boutique shops. For example, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Tik Tok – all major social media platforms– are heavily used by businesses to promote their products and services and engage consumers. In addition, consumers value looking out for campaign initiatives and discounts, updated posts on new products, company engagement with its users, and even filing consumer complaints through these platforms.
Social media marketing is here to stay and will for a long time.
Company marketing teams are buying ads through social media platforms, using influencers to market their products, and creating social media personas of their company mascots. These social media personas are humorous and, at times, contentious with their conversations with competitors (like Duolingo on Tik Tok or Wendy’s on Twitter). While there are many ways to achieve engagement to grow a business, every decision and every post is calculated using a SMART Strategy. Without this, the effectiveness of social media content can be compromised, and no one wants to see their time and effort wasted on a post that turned out to be a dud.
Social Media Goals and SMART Campaigns
Even though initially it can be easily overwhelming, it is important to be headstrong and place a strategy with social media marketing goals of what you wish to accomplish during a specified time frame. Of course, the first question is always: where do I start? Hubspot.com analyzed what companies were doing and came up with recommended goals that are helpful for any business growth. Marketers can accomplish these goals by using a SMART Strategy. The SMART Strategy acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely.
It is more likely to see a successful social media campaign when goals are aimed to meet this criterion. Therefore, a social media SMART Strategy should be tailored to some of these goals, noting that only some plans will include a single SMART Strategy. Depending on the main objective, the timeframe and tasks can vary from one to the other.
Brand Awareness
First and foremost, and most common, is creating brand awareness. It is often said to “build one’s brand” and reach the target market with the platform they use most often. Once you identify what social media platforms your target audience uses, it is best to consistently post valuable social media content to grow your audience using hashtags and short-form video content (Reels on Instagram, for example).
However, even if the few best social media platforms are identified, it does not mean ignoring all the other platforms altogether. Social media content should be present across all platforms with a variety of appropriate content for each platform. Even if that social media platform does not bring in as much traction as the others or is relatively new to the social media world, things can quickly change, and so does how the target market consumes it. It is best to be there when a new platform becomes popular rather than being in a position where a company is catching up. Social media networks change in popularity quickly and do not remain stagnant.
Website Traffic and Leads
Social media engagement drives traffic to websites and online shops. For example, using a social media profile to advertise a new product or discount will encourage the target market to visit its website. Remember that while driving users to a website through a social media campaign, it is vital to track the change in the website’s metrics to see if the initiative was successful and make adjustments to the campaign as needed. There have been improvements seen in following with social media engagement, and this is why some businesses choose to focus on including Traffic Generation in their SMART strategy.
Businesses accomplish this by engaging the user directly through their social media accounts by placing a poll or going Live. Consumers love to feel heard, so providing content where they can engage with a brand is always a good idea. Often this can lead to clicks on the site, improve the website’s bounce rate, etc.
Engage Your Target Market and Provide Customer Care
Social media algorithms use user engagement to propel content to other users that might meet the target market profile but might not know about a business or service. Consumers termed this push of the algorithm as “going viral”. Updating relevant content often increases the likes and comments tied to an account.
Viral content and user complaints can gain traction quickly on apps like Tik Tok and Instagram. These negative posts can be detrimental to a company’s image and reputation. Therefore, social media marketers must handle complaints received through messages or comments as quickly as possible to prevent escalation and the potential loss of customers.
Customer care is critical. Not just because the consumer matters, but one viral post of a negative experience can ding the reputation of a company and the performance of a product. Unfortunately, people tend to remember what was wrong before recognizing what was right.
Create a Conversation and Get to Know Your Consumer
Consumers want to feel like they matter. It is essential to respond to messages appropriately and quickly. Quick responses encourage consumers to engage with the company more often and can smooth out misunderstandings and bad experiences. Influencers also come into play here as they have built trust within their following and are used to build the consumer’s trust to purchase products or services.
As a business, the first thing is to know your target audience. Who are you selling to? Usually, while a company prepares its marketing campaigns, they create a marketing persona to understand who would want to buy its products or services. Is this person male or female? What is their age? Education level? Household income? For each product, the marketing persona can be completely different.
What Are You Waiting For?
While these ideas are a great way to start, keep in mind that every business is different and has different needs. SMART strategies can narrow the possible goals to what works best for a company. It is in a company’s best interest to tailor its social media strategy to fit its allotted timeframe’s goals to improve sales, customer retention, growth, etc.
MRS Digital Media can help create engaging social media content to bring consumers back to websites and grow your business. Check out our page for more information.