Information in this blog post was obtained from Hootsuite, HubSpot, Social Media Examiner, and Sprout Social.
As many of you know, the social media universe constantly changes, and marketers must keep up with it. New trends emerge, and the best companies take advantage while the others fall behind. If you want a successful career as a social media marketer, you will want to take advantage of using specific strategies. In this article, you can learn how to develop your own strategy, some of the best tools to use, and how to continue learning to succeed.
Develop a Strategy for Success
If you want to be successful in the social media marketing industry, it is essential to have a strategy for success. Formulating a strategy can be a long and daunting, as you probably just want to create some content and call it good. Although, without one, you likely aren't marketing to your full potential. An article from Hootsuite reported that a Digital Marketing Institute report showed that 63% of marketers struggle with the strategy and planning of social media. If you are among that 63% or just looking to improve your strategy, I have a few key checkpoints you need to ensure you are addressing.
The first and foremost point in any marketing strategy is to know your target market. If an organization tries to market to everyone instead of a specific market, it probably isn't reaching its best potential. By knowing your target market, your brand will have an easier time resonating with its audience by staying consistent. Make sure to research demographics such as age, gender, income, ethnicity, and location. Psychographics are equally important and should include interests, values, and attitudes. Once you have a good idea of this, begin creating a customer persona that represents these factors to a T. These steps allow you to find what platforms your audience uses and what content they interact with the best.
To continue creating a strategy, set goals. The most effective and widely used way of setting goals is to follow the SMART acronym. This means making goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Oriented. SMART goals give better insight into what your efforts are accomplishing while giving you direction and remaining organized. They are important to making good and high-quality goals.
Next, begin planning and creating content that will help meet your goals. A good way to do this is by creating content that takes customers through each stage of the buyer's journey. The steps of the buyer's journey are Attention, Interest, Desire, Action, and Advocacy. By delving into each stage, customers will be more likely to engage with the content as it isn't always meant to drive a purchase, which Sprout Social identified as the top reason consumers will unfollow a brand. There are a variety of tactics for each stage that you can work into your plan. The Sprout Social infographic below identifies the activities you can implement for each step of the buyer's journey.
After these steps, you can begin tracking the success of your content through analytics. Make sure you are addressing relevant KPIs and not just metrics. KPIs include metrics such as impressions, engagements, visits, mentions, followers, and more. Simple metrics can help measure performance, but KPIs help measure content toward goals. Both are important to see in-depth how content is doing and what the audience is resonating best to track goals and adjust the strategy as needed. However, using the right tools is the easiest way to track these.
Tools for Social Media Success
When you want to track KPIs on your content, you can do this for free using native websites you post with, such as Facebook Analytics, Twitter Analytics, Wix, and more. However, when you are managing several different platforms and putting out a lot of content, this can be difficult. I recommend using a specific content management platform so you may create, schedule, and track content all in one place. Several options are available, such as Hootsuite, Buffer, Sprout Social, and much more. These tools make marketing much simpler.
Another tool to consider implementing is Traackr. Traackr is a website that tracks influencers that businesses might consider working with. Social Media Examiner recommends this service because it can filter and sort potential influencers according to reach, resonance, and relevance. Implementing influencers in a social media strategy is a good way to grow a brand while still providing quality content to an audience.
If you are looking for a tool to utilize that helps you create unique posts for a campaign, you might consider using Canva. Canva is free and easy to use, with hundreds of free-to-use templates, pictures, and sounds. The paid version gives you even more options to pick from. If you want even more control over your visual content, consider using Adobe Illustrator. This tool is very effective in creating unique content and is used by many professionals. Adobe also offers Adobe Creative Cloud for video editing. Many professionals consider this one of the best tools for video creation.
Keyword tracking is another essential part of any digital marketing strategy. If a brand isn't using effective keywords, the content might not reach the target market effectively, if even at all. A great website for researching and tracking keywords is SEMrush. SEMrush can track keywords based on ranking difficulty and search volume. Google AdWords is another keyword-tracking tool that serves the same purpose and is another great option. You might even try combining both tools to be more effective. Finding the right keyword ensures sites get traffic from the right audiences.
Importance of Learning
Many full-time social media workers do not have much extra time to spend hours studying new trends and strategies daily. It's important to remember that social media is constantly changing, and a strategy that works once won't necessarily work the next. As a professional, it is important to take time at least once a week to learn more about the newest practices to ensure your content is up to par.
HubSpot outlined several good options to learn more about social media marketing. One of them is taking certification courses. Certification courses are a good way to learn more about social media marketing. Various websites, such as HubSpot, LinkedIn, and Hootsuite, offer certifications. Certifications are at your own pace, which is convenient for those who already have much time taken for other things. They also provide in-depth knowledge on specific elements of marketing as well as improve your reputation to look great on a resume or an online profile bio.
To learn a specific aspect of social media, you can also leverage YouTube. YouTube has all kinds of content about social media. It is a free-to-use platform that can give you valuable insights with long and short videos. Podcasts are another way of learning. Podcasts are great because you can play them while working or driving. Many even have series that you can follow and learn great up-to-date information.
You might even look at taking advantage of social media books. Many thought leaders release books revealing their strategies in the marketing world that people can implement in their businesses. If you want to go back to the basics, you might look at using a university textbook. These books teach the next generation, so they must be good, right? Some textbooks, such as ones from Stukent, offer lifetime access and can be looked back upon in the future. Books are from reputable and great sources, but they can become outdated over time.
Perhaps one of the best and easiest ways to learn more about social media is by using it and following others. One way to do this is by following thought leaders and businesses implementing successful and innovative campaigns. This option is easy to gain ideas and inspiration while scrolling. I highly recommend following industry leaders on LinkedIn, who often post articles and presentations to their followers. You could also read up on popular platforms' blogs. Many marketing businesses post blogs to establish thought leadership and reputation. They often share trends and insights that you can learn from.
The last way to continue learning is through relationships. Throughout your time marketing, it's important to establish good relationships with those in your industry. Maybe this is reaching out to another business to collaborate or a colleague with more insight. Everyone is different, and it can sometimes help to get a fresh opinion or inspiration.
Hootsuite projected brands to increase marketing budgets to increase spending on social media to 24.5% by 2026. This money is wasted if marketers don't have the required knowledge to succeed. Developing strategies, using quality tools, and utilizing learning resources are great to help to get better at social media. However, there is still a lot more to know to succeed. The post Advancing Your Social Media Marketing Skills is another helpful article that can teach you important skills to work on that will help you succeed in your social media efforts.
Do you have any tips or favorite resources you use for creating strategies, utilizing tools, or learning resources? If so, feel free to comment down below to share. If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more, keep following The SMMU for more great social media marketing knowledge!
Resources
Baker, K. (2022, October 13). Social Media Marketing: The ultimate guide. HubSpot Blog. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-marketing#create-a-social-media-marketing-strategy.
Fox, I. N. (2022, December 16). Is marketing education keeping up with social media? Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://blog.hootsuite.com/marketing-education-social-media/.
Patterson, M. (2022, June 9). The Complete Guide to Social Media for Small Business. Sprout Social. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://sproutsocial.com/social-media-for-small-business/#setting-social-goals-for-your-small-business.
Shkolnik, S. (2014, September 30). 14 tools to streamline your social media marketing. Social Media Examiner. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/14-tools-streamline-social-media-marketing/.
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