In digital marketing strategies, SEO plays an important role that cannot be ignored. On average, 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine. Google holds the biggest chunk of the market share, followed by its subsidiary YouTube, Yahoo, and Bing.
With so many people using search engines to find what they’re looking for online, it makes sense that you would want your website to rank highly in search results.
That way, you can expand your reach and attract more customers searching for your product or service.
Brands use social media to connect with their customers and provide them with engaging, informative, and entertaining content. This can be a powerful platform when used correctly.
You can use it for brand awareness and promotion to sales and monitoring the industry trend and consumer sentiment.
Social media networks are divided into five basic categories:
-Social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
-Discussion forums such as Quora, Reddit and Digg
-Media sharing networks like Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat
-Bookmarking and content curation platforms such as Pinterest and Flipboard
-Consumer review sites such as Yelp, TripAdvisor and Zomato
You don’t have to use every social media platform out there to succeed. Doing so will only saturate your marketing efforts and resources. That’s why you should only use those aligned with your overall marketing goals, available resources, and targeted audience.
Below are the top social media platforms. We’ve also included reasons why you should consider using them as part of your holistic inbound marketing strategy.
With around 3 billion active monthly users, this social media giant primarily focuses on conversation. But brands can still succeed if they use engaging short videos, bold headlines, and interactive content.
Joining or creating Facebook groups is another way to make a genuine connection with your audience. That’s because it’s more focused on giving them interactive content like polls and live streams.
YouTube
This platform is primarily seen as the world’s largest video-sharing site. But it’s actually the second-largest search engine, right behind its parent company, Google.
Users generally have high intentions to make a purchase on YouTube. This is good news for you if you want to connect with your customers when they are looking for something to address their pain points.
With this highly visual social platform, you can connect with your audience using nice photos and selfie-style videos with this highly visual social platform. Just make sure that you post engaging content regularly and that each piece follows a cohesive theme.
Linkedin is a B2B-centric platform where professional relationships are forged, and business is done. You can also get clients using this channel through direct engagement, referrals from current customers, answering forum questions, and ads and retargeting.
TikTok
Tiktok is a platform for brand awareness because it relies on influencers and high-quality entertainment content. And if you’re a small- or medium-sized company, this app gives you a fair play advantage.
It levels the playing field when it comes to audience reach and engagement. Even if you have zero followers on Tiktok, you can get millions of views on your new video thanks to the viral nature of its algorithm.
Due to Pinterest’s feed layout, make sure you use vertically-formatted and polished images. Don’t forget to add clear and descriptive copy that includes popular keywords and search terms.
Also, opt for quotes and lists because they are shareable and “easy to digest."
At LOJO, we use a streamlined, easy-to-apply process when managing our clients’ social media campaigns.
Think of it as a flywheel that stores energy that keeps your marketing strategy’s engine at a constant speed throughout its cycle.
Here is a step-by-step guide we use when preparing your social media campaign.
Our social media team will ask you what you want to achieve with your campaign. Some of these questions i
Include:
-Are you focused on brand awareness and community creation?
-Do you want to increase your site traffic and generate more leads?
-Are you more concerned about getting customer feedback?
-Do you want to improve sales?
The right social media channels depend on your target audience and what content resonates with them. We will also take into account your marketing resources and goals.
This includes the types of content format (videos, polls, images, blogs, etc.) to use and the core message and CTA you want to incorporate. Make sure your messaging reflects what you want to achieve with your social media strategy.
The key performance indicators or KPIs we measure depend on your goals. For instance, you should focus more on the number of likes, comments, and followers if your main objective is brand awareness.
But if your goal is to increase the number of users going to your online store or landing page, we will closely monitor your conversion KPIs like conversion rate.
Social media campaigns have a start and end date and a list of content in between. It will also include where and when all the content will appear.
You don’t need to pay for fancy tools to have stunning visual content, such as logos, videos, images, and banners. You can access free templates to create compelling social media content with Canva, Adobe Express, Evernote, Vidyard, and other free video and image-editing apps.
To improve efficiency, we recommend the use of social media management tools (e.g., Hootsuite). That’s because they accomplish so many things and allow you to save time.
You can also use these tools to:
-Schedule and post at specific hours and dates
-Track user engagement (shares, retweets, etc.)
-Evaluate metrics during and after your campaign
At this stage, we monitor your social media campaign to determine which content format and topics generate the most engagement, allowing us to improve and tweak our strategy.
While the ideal content format depends on the social media platforms, the goals you want to achieve, and your target audience, all successful posts have one thing in common:
Headline
It usually consists of 5-6 descriptive words that “show” what the readers can expect from the content.
Trackable links
You can create and monitor them for your social media ads to analyze your campaign’s performance. Meta Business Manager and Google Analytics are the most popular tools for creating these links.
Stunning visuals
Whether you’re using videos, images, infographics, memes, slide decks, charts or diagrams, make sure you use the ideal image size, which depends on your social media channel.
Targeting
Whether you use visual or written content, it should always target your customers and reflect their core values.
Call-to-action
We recommend including CTA in almost all your social media posts, except when they involve a personal and casual post about your team. By adding “learn more,” “sign up,” “enjoy 50% discount,” “schedule your free consultation,” “buy now,” etc., you create a roadmap that your customers can follow
Before we begin your social media campaign, we’ll sit with you first to discuss your goals. For instance, do you want to drive more traffic to your website or online store? Or are you more focused on brand awareness and customer engagement?
By establishing your goals, we can help you create a social media strategy that reflects your broad business objectives.
As with any digital marketing campaign, you need to establish your goals in social media marketing and paid ads because they can help you with these things:
-Manage your budget
-Measure its ROI
-Designate the tasks to the right staff
-Align your social media activities with your core business objectives
Increase brand awareness.
We go beyond increasing the number of your followers or subscribers. We also focus on growing your post reach and your social share of voice (i.e., users mentioning your brand).
Generate more traffic to your website.
Your goals shouldn’t be limited to what’s happening on your social account. You can use your channels to increase the traffic going to your online store or landing page
Improve brand reputation.
You can create a more positive attitude towards your company through social monitoring and listening. Remember, consumers only deal with brands that they trust.
Boost conversion sales.
We measure your conversion, click-through, bounce, and social media conversion rates.
Improve customer service.
Social media channels can improve customers’ experience, reduce wait times, and increase satisfaction.
Promote community engagement.
Shares, comments, and likes are sometimes viewed as vanity metrics. But they remain a valuable signal that helps determine if you’re meeting your audience’s needs.
Gain market insight.
We look at relevant hashtags, your brand and competitors’ mentions, social sentiment, and industry trends.
Attract new employees and vendors
The encompassing benefits of social media allow you to reach out to talents, partners, and vendors. That means less work for your HR and vendor management staff.
At LOJO, we’ll help you take advantage of the unique opportunities offered by each social media marketing platform. Other benefits when you partner with LOJO Marketing include:
-Maximize your budget and enjoy high ROI.
-Access social media tools to improve your market reach and brand recognition.
-Create a genuine connection with your audience using people-centric social media strategies.
-Improve customer satisfaction, which is the key to brand loyalty.
-Avoid social media blunders that can hurt your brand.
Whether you need a single ad that will run for a few weeks or you want a long-term campaign, we have a social media plan just right for you. Our service packages are built to promote and anticipate your business growth.
But if you want to grow your sales quickly and aggressively, we recommend paid social media ads. With proper planning and strategy, these ads can generate impressive ROI.
But this involves having in-depth knowledge of the ever-changing algorithm, consumer sentiment, and business landscape. That’s why you need talented people (not just one person) who understand that a successful campaign is a perfect blend of art and science.
By working with the LOJO Marketing team, you don’t have to worry about the time-consuming and nitty-gritty details of social media marketing and paid ads. This way, you can focus on other important aspects of your business.
If you’re looking for a reliable digital marketing company that can help you with your social media advertising, we’re here to help. Call us today at (916) 303-4080 or drop us a message.