The world of business marketing has changed greatly over the last few years. If your business is ramping up its marketing strategy, you may realize the largest percentage of your target audience is on social media. As such, social media marketing has to be an integral part of your strategy but there is a catch: which channel do you focus on? There is Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube among other social networks. This is where a multi-channel social media strategy comes in handy.
Each social media network has its own advantages. Your marketing strategy must encompass all metrics and ensure each channel helps you achieve the brand’s objectives. Whether you are after higher SEO ranking, web traffic or lead generation, a multi-channel strategy can help you achieve them all. Here are some ideas on how to pull off a successful multi-channel social media strategy:
1. Know Your Target Audience
Who are you targeting? If you haven’t already asked yourself this question, then you are in for a hard time. Ask yourself who needs your products and services and research more about their personas. What do they love? What are their lifestyles? What about their purchasing power?
2. Identify the Channels
While Facebook might be the most popular social media platform, you may be surprised to note that young internet users are moving away. Why stay on the same platform as your parent, they ask? The older users are more comfortable on Facebook and if you are targeting the youth, Instagram is your platform.
3. Understand the Platform
Each social media network has its own nuances and your content has to adapt to these. Facebook posts accompanied by an image generate 120% more engagement than ordinary posts. Tweets with an image on the other hand enjoy 89% increase in Favorites. They are also retweeted more. In essence, you must understand how the platform operates to get the most out of it.
4. Get Creative
You must let your creative juices flow if you are to ace it in social media marketing. Go ahead and experiment with creative content on all channels. If for instance you provide limousines hire, go to Snapchat and post photos of your rides at different events.
5. Be Helpful
Your content must inspire and add value to the target audience. Be useful and provide timely content. Create entertaining and interesting content that can easily be shared.
6. Leverage Social Media Analytics Tools
Social bakers and Shoutlet enable you to leverage social media analytics to see how well you are doing. Make sure you extract as much information as you can as this will dictate your future marketing strategy.
A single social media dashboard is also crucial to allow you to engage with the audience from a single interface. Hootsuite and Sendible provide such a tool and it saves time and keeps things organized. Finally, make sure you stay consistent on all social channels you have chosen.
Social media marketing has become an essential part of every expanding business. These multi-channel social media strategies can help you to focus on multiple platforms. Keep these ideas in mind when planning and executing your social media plans, or when shopping for the services of a competent social media management company.