Social media marketing: Six tips to get your voice heard
By Marcus Logan, Jan 18 2021
It’s no secret that social media has irreversibly changed the way that the world interacts and shares information.
We’ve all seen it happening in our personal lives, whether it’s your aunty using her Facebook page for politically minded tirades, or your young niece frantically TikToking the latest hit pop song.
What had surprised me – working in social media marketing for an agency in Hamilton, New Zealand – is how many local businesses are yet to capitalise on the digital revolution.
Many businesses are stalled by a scepticism about new platforms, concerns around ROI, or a reluctance to move away from more traditional marketing avenues. Unfortunately, this hesitancy to adapt to the changing times is leading to a significant amount of missed opportunities.
To help you and your business’ social media marketing, here are five tips and industry insights that can help get your voice heard in the new, digital world.
Focus on people first
One of the major issues that people run into when thinking about social media marketing, is the simple question: “What do I talk about?”.
The answer to this question is a simple one – people. Social media is built to connect people, our ideas, stories, and dreams.
What does this mean for your business? Your content should be people-centric.
Understand the kind of people you want to reach and create content that they’ll get value from – whether it’s information or entertainment, you want to focus on adding value to their daily life.
The people and values behind your business can also be a source of content. People love looking behind the scenes and learning about the human beings that bring brands and companies to life.
Create conversations: It’s not a one-way street
One of the best ways to boost your engagement and reception on social media, is by making sure you reply to people who message you or leave comments on your content.
This may sound simple, but it’s surprising how many companies fail to do this well.
More and more customers expect authentic interactions with brands on social media in 2020 – the businesses that fail to hit the mark become a one-way street, and miss out on the opportunity to create valuable connections with their customers.
In recent years, there’s been a huge growth in the use of private messaging marketing – through channels like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, chat bots, or live streaming video.
These tools give brands the opportunity to connect with people on a more human, less corporate level, which in 2020, is even more important to social media users.
Optimise your reach – organic and paid
If you know anything about social media, then you know that algorithms dictate how widely your content is seen and distributed.
These algorithms are constantly changing, and to make sure your strategy is truly effective, you need to take notice of the latest trends – the most important of which have impacted Facebook and LinkedIn’s effectiveness.
Facebook’s organic reach has rapidly declined, in most part, due to tightening restrictions around privacy laws.. To cultivate a strong following and get eyeballs on your content, paid advertising is the best, and at times the only way to reach people.
On the other hand, LinkedIn’s organic reach is fantastic – it’s far easier to attract attention, new followers, and engagement through consistent, valuable organic content.
You can use websites like Social Media Today to keep updated about changes to the social media algorithms.
Know what your competitors are up to
Working in social media marketing, one of my favourite tools to use is the Facebook Ad Library, which lets you see what advertisements are running on any company’s Facebook page.
This can help you get an idea of what your competitors are saying, what messages your customers are seeing, and help you come up with a combat strategy for your own advertising.
Utilising social listening tools like Sprout Social, or Falcon.io, can also help you pick up on what your competitors are talking about, as well as what’s happening in your industry in general. This will help you create content and add value into different conversations.
Don’t shy away from trying new things
Emerging platforms like TikTok, and competitor Instagram Reels, are giving companies new ways to create content and connect with their audiences.
Although the reluctance to dip your toes can be understandable, there’s enough evidence that companies who are embracing these trends are gaining new customers, enhancing brand perception and winning the social game.
With little to no barriers to entry and no start up costs there’s no need to get hung up on ROI – the risks are low, and the payoff great, give it a go and see what can happen!
Get help from the professionals
If you’re a bit of a technophobe or are just generally time-poor and unsure about how to go about social media marketing, it may be a good time to get some professional help.
HGB Strategic Marketing is Hamilton’s social media marketing experts, and we help companies across the country to manage their organic social media schedules, and run paid advertising campaigns.
Our experience, and that of our clients, tells us that investing into social media marketing can have exponential results. What’s more, the availability of detailed analytics to prove ROI, will likely put a smile on the faces of the finance department.
If you’d like help reaching your untapped audience online, please feel free to reach out for a no-obligations chat, by emailing hello@hgb.co.nz.