5 ways businesses can continue being effective with social media marketing

If businesses know anything about social media marketing by now, they know that it is in constant evolution. It is no longer only about a consistent presence and strategy, but it requires much more.

What businesses should already be doing if they have taken on social media marketing:

1. Know and be where the target audience is, which doesn’t mean having an account on every social media channel. It’s finding out what channels potential clients are spending most time on and putting the effort into those platforms.
2. Develop communication based on your buyer persons. Knowing who the buyer personas are for a company is of the essence if a business is going to effectively tailor all their social media content to attract those potential customers. If a brand doesn’t know who their speaking to, the likelihood of reaching the right audience is null and void.
3. Consistent presence. Whether a business posts once a day, three times a week or once a month, the importance is that one’s presence is consistent. A lack in consistency not only hurts a brand’s visibility, but it also throws off the audience. One’s target audience will lose interest and most likely find a business that offers the same services, but is sharing value on a regular basis that will attract and keep their attention.
4. Engagement is a must. To build relationships takes time and effort, but above all it takes interaction. People today have the chance to interact on the existing online platforms they visit (websites, forums, social media sites, communities, etc.) and they want to interact. Give them a reason to come back, give them a reason to share socially and interact. Communicate with them and those visitors will return to ask questions, subscribe to newsletters, engage with content and be interested in what’s being shared.
5. Analyze the data collected and make modifications where necessary. The same way a business needs to know their buyer personas, they also need to analyze the data that comes in through the different platforms their on. The data is the only way a business can know what’s working and what’s not. If it gets totally ignored there’s no way to tweak one’s social media marketing efforts accordingly.

With the above being said, what needs to be added to a business’ social media marketing efforts, as the online world evolves and gets noisier and noisier are the following:

1. Produce more content to offer more value.
2. Listening even more to what is being said online by the community and one’s industry.
3. Being more creative in the ways one shares content and what is produced, as well as diversifying methods to engage the social media communities.
4. Emotional connection is at the start of any business endeavor to developing a strong bond with customers. If clients don’t feel emotionally connected to the brand, the relationship can’t grow.
5. Sharing more value through what is being sent out across social media channels. The amount of information people can find online is only increasing and without value one’s target audience will find themselves visiting those sites and social media channels that do offer value.

If businesses wishes to continue being effective in their social media marketing approach they must evolve along with the social media world.