A digital presence for your business is important. But, social media, is an incredibly powerful marketing tool that’s vital for any business to leverage in a marketing plan. Did you know that as of 2020, there are 3.6 billion people who use social media worldwide? That’s A LOT of people for your business to reach out to. If your business is already using social media to promote your products and services, that’s great! If you aren’t…WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! There are so many great benefits of social media marketing for your business to take advantage of. However, running a successful marketing campaign on social media takes more than just setting up a business profile and calling it a day. Social media takes WORK. So, whether you already have a social media presence for your business or not, these are a few things you should know to up your social media game.
Know where your audience is.
There are TONS of social media platforms to choose from. From Facebook to YouTube to TikTok, your options are endless. It seems like every day there are more and more platforms to choose from. But to narrow down which platforms you should use for your business comes down to where your audience can be found. Below, we review a few big social media platforms and the kind of audience you can find within each one.
With its massive audience reach and targeted advertising options, it’s very easy for many businesses to find their audience on this platform. Not to mention it’s frequently updating to improve customer experience and brand interactions. The biggest age demographic that uses Facebook in 2020 was adults between the ages of 25-34 years old. Although there are still many people who use Facebook that is above and below that age range as well.
What once started as an app for wannabe photographers has turned into one of the biggest platforms for businesses to utilize. Now unlike Facebook, Instagram’s biggest demographic is between the ages of 18-34. So, if your business mostly caters to an audience of 45+ years, it may not be the greatest app for you to promote your business on.
This platform is built for networking and growing your business through lead generation. LinkedIn has an amazing reputation for building brand awareness and connecting with consumers. As of January 2021, just over 60% of LinkedIn users are between the ages of 25-34 years of age, and the demographic is more likely to be young executives working their way up in their careers.
Think Twitter is dead? Think again. Every day there are 192 million people who use Twitter. Of those users, 63% are between the ages of 35-65 though the platform does tend to skew more to a male audience.
TikTok
Although this app isn’t as appealing to audiences over the age of 30, TikTok has become one of the fastest-growing apps worldwide. As of 2021, there are roughly 52.2 million TikTok users in the US alone! That number is even predicted to rise to 60.3 million by the year 2024. Although it is still fairly young in terms of how long it has been around, TikTok is one platform to keep an eye on. We would be crazy to think or say that they won’t have more advertising opportunities rolling out in the near future.
YouTube
A critical marketing tool for practically every business that could create a video to promote a product or service. It’s not only a great app for most demographics, but it presents a more unique approach to your marketing – video content. YouTube is also the second most used search engine next to Google. Think how-to videos, product demonstrations, and a hub of webinars.
What are the benefits of social media for your business?
Social media presents many opportunities to expand your business’ marketing strategy. A few specific perks of having (and maintaining) a successful social media presence are…
It’s cost-effective promotion
Whether you opt to post organic content or pay for boosted posts or ads, social media is a very cost-effective marketing tool for your business. You can reach your marketing goals without having to break the bank or overspend on your marketing budget. When you think that the average cost of 1 x 30-second radio commercial in the Barrie area runs you about $55 per commercial, and anywhere from $150 – $300 per commercial in the Toronto area per commercial…it may even be more cost-effective than you’re giving it credit for — Even with paying your staff or a social media marketing agency to run your social channels for you.
Connect with customers more efficiently
One of the core purposes of having a social media account (whether you’re a business or not) is to connect with people. As a business, that’s one of the many reasons you would want to have a social media presence. Better than ever before, building relationships with your audience has never been easier. It’s also important to note that customers want to connect on their platform of choice, not yours.
Brand loyalty
Along with connecting with your audience, social media is also a great way to maintain those relationships by building brand loyalty. Social media is your opportunity to truly show what your business is all about and to give your followers a reason to connect with you. Be authentic, be open, and be true to your brand’s image through your content and reason for connecting. Although social media is a great tool for selling, selling shouldn’t be all you use it for.
Create Traffic and enhance your SEO ranking
Social media can help increase footfall in your store, but it’s also an excellent tool to use to post organic content that will help you increase your search engine rankings. To learn more about SEO, check out these 10 things you should know about SEO in 2021.
Understanding the purpose of social media
The biggest mistake we see with the content businesses post on their social media – is that everything reads like an advertisement. If you are a consumer, do you want to follow an account that pushes ads at you every single day? Probably not. There’s a big difference between writing copy for an advertisement versus writing content for social media posts or blogs for that matter.
To avoid making this mistake, remember these three words: educate, excite, and inform. If your social media content isn’t doing one of these three things, it’s probably better content for an advertisement.
What type of content should you post?
If you’re not sure what type of content you should post on your social media, you’re not alone. It can be tricky to come up with content that helps you reach your marketing goals while not becoming a broken record. To help you on your path to crafting a high converting social media strategy these are a few ideas that can help you take your marketing from ‘blah’ to ‘BAM’.
- Video content: Videos are the #1 way people consume content online. It’s fast, efficient, and convenient for your consumers. Video gets more exposure, higher engagement and is only becoming more and more popular across all social media channels. Not to mention it is a more personable way to connect with your audience and makes a powerful sales tool. There truly isn’t a bad thing to say about video content. And, you don’t need a fancy camera to take it. That phone in your hand is just fine.
At 3SIXTY Marketing Solutions, we’re strong believers in the power of imagery. If your content doesn’t have at least some sort of visual aspect, we know from experience it won’t perform as well.
- Written articles or blogs: If you’ve heard that writing blogs or articles aren’t helpful in relation to increasing your sales, you’ve been misled. Similar to videos, they are pieces of useful content that have a long shelf life. Meaning that it’s content you can have on your website and share through your social media channels for a long time if you need to.
- Remember the three words: Educate, excite, and inform. Always keep these in mind when writing content for your social media. Educate by providing infographics or sharing industry knowledge. Excite by sharing new product releases or promotions. Inform by keeping your audience up-to-date on any changes to your business such as store hours, locations, or product availability.
- Overall, make it YOUR OWN: Stealing or copying content from others is a big no-no. We’ve all been told that since elementary school. If there’s one important takeaway, it’s to always post original content. Avoid clichés, avoid stock imagery, and just be you.
The one potential downside of running social media as a business owner – you just don’t have the time!
There is a solution for that though. At 3SIXTY Marketing Solutions, we can run your social media for you with a strategic approach that will help increase your sales! From creating captivating content to handing all your post scheduling, you can now focus on running your business (and leave the marketing to the pros). To get started, all you have to do is give us a call at 705-252-4180 or sign up for a free consultation, and we’ll take it from there – no prob-llama!
