Are you looking to level up your social media game but are feeling overwhelmed? Don’t worry! You can manage your platforms, optimize your content strategies, and engage with your followers... without sacrificing precious time. These five tips will help you succeed, whether you are a seasoned marketer or just beginning.
Plan Marketing Content Ahead
Have you ever found yourself surrounded by a pile of unfinished work with quickly approaching deadlines? Are you struggling to stay organized and get content out on time? You can get organized and schedule your content ahead of time with a content calendar. Take the time to sit down once a week and plan your content in batches. Ask yourself these key questions:
What platforms will you post on?
What type of content does each platform require?
When does the content need to be published?
This calendar lets you hone in on what content will be posted and when; if you are working with a team, you can collaborate on the calendar with them. This keeps everyone in the loop and in one place. This is a great tool to use to stay consistent with content, which, as a marketer, can be vital to the success of your brand. When your audience can count on you to provide consistent content, this can build their trust in your brand.
This approach also benefits you and your team. Knowing what strategy is needed ahead of time allows more room for creativity to flow. The ideas and time spent on creating and curating that content can produce higher-level content that audiences are more likely to engage with.
Ultimately, having a content calendar helps your team, your brand, and your audience. Now that you know what and when you will be posting, it’s time to start creating that content.
Vamp up Visuals With Free Marketing Design Tools
If you’ve ever had to venture into the realm of design, you can understand how fun but also how difficult it can be to find a good tool that makes engaging content an easy process. However, free and helpful tools are designed for marketers who aren’t designers. They allow you to create engaging content without having to know the ins and outs of graphic design. These include software like Canva and Adobe Express.
Canva is a free tool that can help you create whatever you need as a marketer. From business cards to Instagram stories, Canva has you covered. With their free templates and editing tools, you can create content that molds to your brand with ease. The templates are just the beginning: you can use editing tools to change colors and fonts, add images, and so much more. You can also upload your brand’s specific colors, fonts, and pre-made graphics for seamless integration into your content.
Adobe Express is another great tool that is sure to help you keep up with creating fun content for your audience. It is similar to Canva, with its own set of templates, images, and editing tools, all of which are free. These tools allow social media marketers of all levels to design content that resonates with their audiences without all the complicated design functions in traditional design software.
Use Marketing Data Analytics
As a social media marketer, you are no stranger to data analytics, but are you using them the right way? Sure, you can tell who is being impacted by your posts and see a breakdown of your engagements, but what are you doing with this data? One of the most beneficial things you can do with data analytics is to develop your content strategy based on what is working. Even if you have already made a content calendar or developed your marketing strategy, you must be open to changing your content to what your audience wants to see.
For example, if you made two posts on the same day and one is clearly outperforming the other, take the time to determine the major differences in the posts. This could help you reach your audience more effectively and give them more of what they want to see in the future. Ultimately, learning and understanding more about your audience through data analytics will contribute to a successful social media marketing strategy.
Engage, Engage, Engage
While engagement is one of the most significant ways to tell how your community is interacting with your content, it is just as important for you to engage with your audience. This keeps your audience engaged always wanting more. Engaging with your audience can include comments, messages, and even negative feedback. It is valuable to respond to these engagements in a timely manner; many users expect a response from a brand within an hour of their interaction with them. If it is a negative comment or a heated conversation it could be valuable to respond quickly and move the conversation into a private message to maintain discretion.
When responding to comments, you want to remember the voice of your brand: This will make the prospects' interactions with your brand harmonious when engaging with your content. You also want to be consistent with your voice and your responses, cut out a certain time in your day to respond to comments, or respond as soon as possible. Lastly, always be looking for opportunities to engage in the conversation about your brand. This means looking for places where your brand is mentioned but might not tagged. This can go above and beyond in the eyes of your prospects and leave an impression that could lead to a new member of your community.
Know Your Audience's Schedule
Knowing when your audience is active and available to receive your content is an important part of making sure your target market is being hit. Depending on which platforms you post content, things such as the day of the week, time of day, and frequency in which you post will all vary. The importance of one of these factors can also vary from platform to platform.
For example, Facebook does not appear to have a better time of day or day of the week to post, but it is important to post frequently and to post quality content. Whereas on Instagram, all three factors are important. The best time of the day to post is around 9 a.m., 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. The best days of the week to post on Instagram are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It is encouraged to post on your feed a few times a week and post stories a few times a day. Optimizing the time of day, frequency, and day of the week will contribute to the overall success of your social media marketing strategy.
Don’t let the world of social media overwhelm you; there is much to learn. These five tips and tricks will help you achieve social media marketing success in 2024 by giving you more engagement, saving time, staying organized, and building a stronger social media community. Which tip will be your biggest asset?
Resources
Conley, M. (2022, September 23). How to Create an Editorial Calendar [Examples + Templates]. Blog.hubspot.com. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/business-blog-editorial-calendar-templates
Stec, C. (n.d.). 33 Free Online Design Tools for Creating Stunning Visual Content for the Web. Blog.hubspot.com. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/free-visual-content-tools-list
Baker, K. (2023, May 31). The Ultimate Guide to Social Media Analytics. Blog.hubspot.com. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-analytics
Engaging with Your Social Media Community. (n.d.). Hootsuite Academy. https://education.hootsuite.com/pages/engaging-your-community
Marmer, D. (2023, January 17). How Often to Publish on Social Media for Business? A HubSpot Experiment. Hubspot.com; HubSpot. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-frequently-should-i-publish-on-social-media?hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-calendar-tools&hubs_content-cta=the%20best%20times%20to%20post%20on%20each%20social%20media%20platform
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