It is not enough to simply post on your business’s social media accounts when you remember or have the chance. Social media may be a valuable resource your company is overlooking. Social platforms allow you to directly engage with your customers, build strong relationships and brand recognition.
Social media platforms give companies the chance to interact with their potential customers and make noise about their products/ services. If you’re looking for an instant ROI, then you’re in the wrong place. SSM (Social Media Marketing) should be seen as a process that is built upon over time, there is a full strategy behind what to post and themes to increase engagement.
Globally social media users spend 2 hours and 15 minutes per day browsing all social sites (GlobalWebIndex). On platforms such as LinkedIn or Twitter, businesses now have the opportunity to advertise to a captive audience. People generally need around 11 nudges before they buy, this helps build both trust and brand recognition. Social works out to be the best platform to send out snackable content to potential customers. Whether you are posting organically, or your posts are backed by a paid campaign, supplying the audience with short snappy updates about who you are and what you do gives your brand credibility within the customer’s mind.
Never embark on a social media journey without a comprehensive strategy. You need to spend time researching your industry what content performs well, what are your clients posting about? Without a content calendar and daily/weekly plan your posts will very quickly appear disjointed. A content plan also allows you keep track of special dates in your industry calendar and national days you want to celebrate. The social content calendar should be updated monthly to ensure your content stays on theme with your brand focus or message.
GRO Marketing believe in posting on every social platform x2 per day. Posting x2 times per day might scare some people away from social media, but did you know the average tweet without hashtags or tags only lasts 18 minutes. That means if you post x3 times per week without hashtags etc your post content will be visible for an average of 54 minutes out of a potential 10,080 minutes in a 7-day timeframe.
Choosing the right social media platform can be a difficult task. Firstly, you must identify who your target audience would be and which social platforms they are most likely to use. Within the past 18 months, LinkedIn has evolved from a CV/Recruitment platform into a great place to target B2B posts. On LinkedIn you have a captive audience of other professionals in and around your industry who could potentially engage with your content. Twitter is still great for short snappy business updates. Facebook and Instagram have become the go to platform for consumer marketing with companies more likely to post informal video or image posts. To get the most out of social strategies you need to make sure your posting to a relevant audience.
Taking the time to plan a careful schedule for your social media platforms will pay off. They are a great way to drive traffic to your website. You should be sharing industry news, posting your own articles, products links and posting 3 times a day, when your customers are most likely to engage. If you feel like dipping your toe into the realms of social media or want to understand what would work for you, our GRO Social Media Gurus are on hand to help.
