It’s only natural that as time goes by, social media platforms will undergo some changes and will be functionally different, so they can be more useful to their audiences, and so they can generate better engagement. This can make it difficult for business personnel who are trying to make use of social media to get their message out to target audiences, because it means you have to keep shifting your marketing efforts to stay in sync with the various platforms. Here are some tips on how you can make the best use of social media marketing for the coming year, so you can reach more consumers with your message.
Hashtags strategy on Instagram
Some Instagram users adopt a strategy where they create a blitz of hashtags in a single post, but a more mindful approach is likely to produce better results. Trying to pursue too many audiences at one time will almost always dilute your content and generate less valuable return. A better approach would be to simply include five to seven relevant hashtags, and have two or three of those be unique to your personal brand.
Another good strategy is to invite users to submit their photos, so that you can post them on your account, because this will always generate greater engagement. It’s also very effective if you personally respond to comments by your followers, as opposed to using any kind of scheduling tool. Followers who get comments and responses from you quickly are much more likely to continue to pay attention to your posts, and to stay engaged with your future posts.
Organic traffic data drives paid social strategy
A huge majority of B2B marketers make use of social media advertising every year, and when you’re using a data-driven approach to advertising, your results are likely to be more favorable. First you need to evaluate the nature of the traffic visiting your website as a result of organic social media traffic. As an example, if a specific blog is generating a great deal of traffic from Twitter, it would be worth your while to produce a number of Twitter Ads which serve to boost that specific post even further. By using data from organic social posts to drive your paid post strategy, you will end up actually allocating more of your market spend on content pieces which are likeliest to produce desirable results.
Synchronize Facebook ad placement with campaign goals
There is a definite downward trend in the average organic reach of any given post, particularly on Facebook. For example, Facebook Pages which have at least 500,000 likes will typically only have an average organic reach of something less than 2%, according to research conducted by HubSpot. There are ways to fight against this kind of downward trend, and on Facebook it can be done by investing more money in Facebook advertising.
The best way to go about this is to run Facebook campaigns which select ad placements that are in sync with your campaign objective. In order to drive traffic to a particular blog post, it probably won’t be worth your while to pay for a News Feed ad. While these type of ads are definitely upfront where they can’t be missed, they’re not as effective for content promotion as they are for campaigns which are conversion-based. That means you’re basically over-paying for what you need, and your money could be better spent elsewhere.
Responding to the removal of likes
It might be somewhat gratifying to see a high number of like counts associated with one of your posts, but the plain truth is that clicking on the like button doesn’t really have much impact. This is especially true if it was a bot which liked your post, and since you don’t know why anyone actually liked your post, it can be pretty unclear what the user’s mindset was.
However, when someone actually comments about your post, that does give you a clear indication of what they’re thinking and what they felt about the content. If you really are seeking validation for any content which you posted, you can look to other things besides likes. For instance, you can publish testimonials written by users on your social media platforms, and you can encourage greater interaction on your blog in the comments area, by soliciting thoughts and opinions from your readers. You can also curate blog posts, based on whatever comments you received on your posts to social media.
Do split-testing on Facebook Ads
Since it is possible to run split tests directly through the Ads Manager in Facebook, you should take advantage of this capability and let the split-testing be handled for you. This doesn’t mean you should test everything at once though. Rather, you should make use of split-testing so that you can discover what the most favorable text is. Then you should also use split-testing to uncover your best creative, and combine that with your optimum text so that you have a powerful combination which appeals to good segment of your target audience.
One thing to keep in mind about the split-testing is that you should not terminate the test until you’ve had time to garner all the relevant results from it. On the other hand, you don’t want to continue it past the point where it is returning value, because that will end up being just a waste of money. In order to find just the right stopping point, you’ll have to rely on your business sense and your instincts, to cut off your split-testing at just the right point.
Use live videos
Some of the most effective ways to communicate announcements, product information, and glimpses of behind-the-scenes operations, is to use live videos. Prior to producing your live videos, make sure that you have your logistics right, and plan for the right kind of sound, lighting, and all the various technology you’ll need to pull it off.
You’ll also get better results if you promote your live broadcasts ahead of time, and pick the same time each week, so that users can come to expect a live video at a specific time. One of the best aspects of producing regular live videos is that it makes you more relatable to your target audience, and it helps you to stand out in a sea of content.
