As the digital landscape evolves, social media continues to be a dynamic and engaging element of our daily lives. Consequently, there is heightened interest about the keys to success associated with establishing a solid and dedicated base of followers on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.
To effectively leverage your social media presence as an element of your strategic marketing plan, there’s a lot more to the process than clicking “post.”
Here are six key things to keep in mind when creating, curating and scheduling your social media content:
- Content is king. The golden rule of social media: content is king. This means that it is necessary to have a lot of relevant, useful and engaging content circulating on your social media platforms to attract and hold the attention of your target audiences. This can include a mix of original content you create and content you share or repost from others in your industry or community.
- Understand your audience. To communicate your message effectively, you will need to conduct research to better understand your audience. Who is your target demographic? Where do they reside? What industry do they work in? What hobbies do they have? These, and more, are important questions to consider while developing a social media campaign to ensure that you’re reaching the right people.
- Your messaging should be strong and consistent. As a general rule of thumb, people need to see something seven times to remember it and potentially take action. As a result, clear and consistent messaging in your posts is extremely important. The first step is to identify the key information you want to convey to your audience, and then you must be sure you are communicating the details in a relevant and applicable manner.
- Timing is key. What you post is important, but so is when you post it. Planning and scheduling posts in advance can help you reach your followers more efficiently and boost engagement. Each platform is different; for example, Facebook posts perform the best when posted on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., while Instagram posts receive the highest engagement on Tuesdays between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Since every platform’s peak times are different, it’s important to keep an eye on the timing of your posts. We recommend creating a calendar to map out your posts monthly.
- Interaction breeds engagement. Relationships are two-sided, so when your audience interacts with your content, it’s important to respond back. Let your audience know you value their attention by responding to comments, even if it’s just with a “like.”
- Keep track of what’s working—and keep it up! Numbers don’t lie, and they can clearly illustrate what type of content is successful. To make these determinations, it’s extremely beneficial to keep an eye on your analytics. This means that periodically—ideally monthly or quarterly—you should be sitting down to review and analyze the engagement received on your posts. If something is performing particularly well, consider diving into “boosted” content.
Whether your goal is to establish awareness, grow your audience or generate leads, these tips can serve as a roadmap to help you utilize social media as a professional marketing tool.
TW2 is here to help! If you want to learn more about building an effective social media strategy, please contact us.