With a variety of different messages competing for customers’ attention, a strong social media strategy is an important part of any business’s marketing mix. Social media marketing can pay dividends if done correctly, but few dedicate the resources to truly leverage it to its full advantage.
During a recent CO— Roadmap to Rebuilding event, Jeanette Mulvey, editor-in-chief of CO—, led an in-depth discussion about social media strategies with expert panelists who shared how to use different social media platforms to connect with your audience and tips and strategies for tracking metrics and data to perfect your social strategy.
Small businesses should identify the best platforms for their brand
Libby Rasmussen, social media director of Living Colorfully Media, advised small businesses that don’t have a social media presence to stick to one or two platforms instead of attempting to have a thin presence on every platform under the sun.
When choosing social media platforms for your business, Rasmussen said it’s important to understand the different groups each platform caters to as well. For small business clients, she usually suggests Facebook and Instagram, because they go hand-in-hand and are two of the most popular platforms.
“Instagram makes it pretty easy to post on multiple platforms,” Rasmussen said. “When you publish a post on Instagram, you can also post on Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook, and you can auto-populate and post whatever content you're putting out on Instagram to those platforms. It kind of tackles … four birds [with] one stone.”
[Read more: How to Use Instagram Stories to Promote Your Business]
Angelina Darrisaw, founder and CEO of C-Suite Coach, said before small businesses look at metrics, they need to answer the questions “What is my business?” and “Where is the audience I'm trying to reach?” to ensure that their online strategy reflects what they’re seeking to achieve offline.
Creating a goal and audience for social media will drive your strategy and results
Picking an audience to target on social media is essential, as social platforms often have divisions of age groups among their user bases. According to Kevin Hubbard, co-founder of Rhoback Activewear, users between the ages of 21 to 40 usually congregate on Instagram, older than 40 are most likely on Facebook and younger than 21 are active on Snapchat and TikTok.
Understanding who your target audience is — not just their age range, but interests, other accounts they follow and more — can inform the type of content you create and serve to relate to their interests. Goals will look different for every business on every platform, but for Megan Cain and her business The ZEN Succulent, it’s all about building a community.
“When it comes to our social media strategy, using Instagram is so essential,” said Cain. “We found our niche [is] working with people that are wanting to learn how to take care of their plants, building that knowledge, building that trust, [which] then turns into sales for us.”
[Read more: How Brands Are Using Customer Social Content to Drive Sales]
Social media metrics small business owners should pay attention to
Angelina Darrisaw, founder and CEO of C-Suite Coach, said before small businesses look at metrics, they need to answer the questions “What is my business?” and “Where is the audience I'm trying to reach?” to ensure that their online strategy reflects what they’re seeking to achieve offline.
From there, identifying the correct metrics to track for a business should depend on how that business makes money and what tools are being used. If the tool is a newsletter with the goal of having a conversation, the most important metrics are the number of subscribers opening the newsletter and the elements they’re clicking on within it. In that scenario, it’s important to choose conversion-driving, clickable elements to put in the newsletter.
Beyond the numbers, insights matter, too, Darrisaw said. While many small businesses might not have a dedicated team member to measure all the data from social and digital media tools being used, they can analyze Google Analytics or a Facebook Pixel and find patterns of behavior that can translate into actionable tasks for the business.
“For instance, I might look at the analytics on my website and see that a lot of people from Raleigh, North Carolina, are suddenly coming to my website,” said Darrisaw. “What does that mean? I can look at what I did and [see] what that shift was caused by, and … [now] I have a strategy where I can say, ‘I want to do more of that.’”
[Read more: The Best Metrics for Measuring Digital Marketing Success]
CO— aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.
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