Social media marketing may seem like a big, scary investment, but the omnipresence of the platforms makes it quite approachable and low-risk. You’ll start seeing a return on your investment soon after you start, as long as you follow the right approach.
As with all new ventures, preparation is key. It’s important to set goals and research your audience so you know whether you’re starting in the right place. Many businesses use the one-year, five-year, ten-year format – where would you like to see your social media marketing efforts in one year, five years, and ten years? You can set some target follower and engagement numbers by researching your competitors. In addition, determine some key performance indicators that will be meaningful regardless of your audience size, such as click-through rate, which is a ratio that shows how many people have seen and clicked a link to your content, whether through and ad or another social media post.
Your audience will primarily determine which platform you use. Professionals and B2B businesses, for example, tend to use LinkedIn. The younger Gen Z audience spends the most time on TikTok and Snapchat, whereas Facebook leans towards Gen X and older, and Twitter is in-between. Second, different business types are better suited to different platforms. Instagram is a good choice for brick-and-mortar businesses who want to show off their products visually, whereas LinkedIn works best for promoting products whose merits are best expressed through articles and guides.
Of course, even with the best preparation, social media marketing all depends on content. Content strategy is a huge topic in itself, but an often overlooked element of it is audience inclusion. Social media is unique among marketing channels because your audience can interact with you and give you feedback on your services in real time. Posts that encourage your audience to leave comments, participate in polls, and post user-generated content (photos with your products or at your establishment, etc.) are all ways to take advantage of this feature.