In the U.S., three out of every four people currently use some type of social media. 2018 statistics provided by Statista also indicate that, though that number has dropped slightly from the year before (from 80 percent to 77 percent) it is still expected to grow in the future, with approximately 610 million more people anticipated to create online profiles worldwide by the year 2020.
That makes this a perfect opportunity for businesses to brush up on their social media marketing skills, resulting in more effective campaigns. Where do you start? These three tips can help.
Learn About SEO
Although 61 percent of marketers agree that SEO (search engine optimization) is “a high inbound marketing priority” and 48 percent consider on-page SEO “the most effective SEO tactic,” more than half of small and medium businesses admit that they have a very basic understanding of what SEO is and how to use it according to digital marketing data compiled by Smart Insights.
If you fall into this category, SEO basically involves using the right keywords in your online content so your target market can find you quickly and easily. This includes paying attention to the words you use when you create your site’s title tags, meta descriptions, headers, anchor text, and more. But it also means using the right words in your social media posts.
If reading the last paragraph felt like you were reading another language, learning more about SEO can help you boost your social media marketing campaign because it will tell you what type of wording can help your business appear higher in your prospective client’s search results. Take a course or read blogs created by marketing companies. Learn what it takes to use SEO more effectively.
Know the Sites You’re On
When you put your business online, how did you decide which social media sites you’d create a profile on? If your answer is that you chose based on the sites you’re most familiar with, decreasing the amount of time you’d spend learning now platforms, that may be your first mistake.
Each social media site has a different feel, different appeal, and, thus, different users. This impacts who you’re able to reach on them, which may mean that, if you’re on the wrong sites, you may be missing your target market completely.
Know the sites you’re on. Research their demographics to see if they fit with who you’re trying to reach. For instance, if your products or services are designed for teens, it’s important to know that, according to Sprout Social, less than half use Facebook on a regular basis. Where can you find them instead? Likely Instagram.
Yes, this may mean that you have to learn a new platform, which can be somewhat time intensive in the beginning. But if it means that you’ll get better results, the return on investment (ROI) is there.
Spend a Little Cash
While social media platforms are free to use, if you’re willing to invest a little money on them, you can expand your reach exponentially. In other words, instead of just appearing in the news feeds of people who’ve liked your page or followed you, you can also appear in the news feed of countless others who could benefit from your products and services most.
This involves creating ads. Each platform is different, so you’ll want to look at the pages you’re on and see what information they request when posting your ad. In addition to choosing a dollar amount, it is going to want some idea of your target consumer’s demographics.
Armed with this information, you’re able to create an effective ad strategy for that particular site. And each site should have a different strategy because they all have their own unique quirks. For instance, Facebook’s algorithm works different than how Instagram does, hence, it requires different experience to run advertising campaigns. There are plenty of resources to learn Facebook advertising strategies, it is highly recommended to implement them to spend less cash in test and failure attempts.
Yes, learning about SEO and really digging more in-depth on the sites you use does take some time. And yes, if you use ads, you’re going to spend a little bit of money. But if both of these things help you increase your social media following—and your revenues—then wouldn’t you say it was all worth it? Probably so.
