I read this article in the Financial Post with great interest today. As the article states, "Among 2,100 companies surveyed by Harvard Business Review, a meagre 12% of those using social media feel they use it effectively."
Why is that?
The world of social media is constantly changing, with new tools or strategies arriving on a regular basis. It's easy to feel overwhelmed, specially if you don't regularly use social media and aren't sure how it works. However, using social media effectively is just like any other form of marketing - if you keep these four things in mind.
1) Your Audience.
It's important to know your audience's demographics. Trying to promote a product targeted at 41 year old females when your social media page attracts 18 year-old men will prove to be difficult, if not impossible. Check out your page's demographics under "Insights" and people. Then, start recruiting more people to your page by posting offers or ads that give them an incentive for joining (maybe a giveaway, or a special discount?)
I did that. Why isn't it working? I only got two likes on my post.
Facebook uses algorithms to serve content from Business pages. That means your post only shows to a small portion of your overall audience, unless you "Boost" the post and pay for an ad. If you want to dramatically improve your engagement with your customers, through "Likes" and shares, try boosting your posts. You can advertise your products for as little as a couple of dollars, and it will really work to improve traffic to your content and your Facebook page.
2) Your Content
Lack of engagement with your customers may also mean that you're not posting the right content. Videos get the best engagement, then photos. Video content can range from quick, behind-the-scenes shots of manufacturing your product, or testimonials from customers who use your product or service. Overall, your content should reflect your company's branding, and really great content tells an overarching story.
Content creation and the strategies behind it is worth a million more blog posts; but, ultimately, the key to driving traffic to social media is to post content regularly and consistently to align with social media algorithms.
3) Post Frequency
Frequency has always been a part of advertising. Frequency refers to the amount of times a potential customer is exposed to your campaign - in broadcasting, it refers to how many times a day your ad runs, with the idea being that the more frequently your ad runs, the more likely a potential customer will retain your company's name and information.
The same goes for social media, however, social media exposure can be compounded by a few things. Straight exposure of a post or an ad on a social media feed walks a fine line: sometimes repeated exposure of content can backfire. However, using “remarketing campaigns” can almost magically provide frequency to potential customers when they least expect it.
Remarketing involves a search service, like Google Ads, and mapping what your customers are searching for, then serving an ad to them that delivers content related to their search term. Remarketing campaigns can also serve ads based on customer interaction with your brand, i.e. when a customer visits your website, social media page, clicks on an email link or watches some of your content.
Remarketing can be a powerful tool to increase your frequency without overexposure.
4) Marketing Mix
Back in the wild 90s, considering a broad Marketing Mix was a big part of large campaign creation. Typically, the strategy was to hit potential customers from all avenues. A billboard placed where they were driving to work, an ad in the local paper that they read every morning, a mailer sent to their home, and a TV spot when this potential customer was watching TV at night.
The landscape of media and communications has changed drastically since that time, but the strategy is still the same. Remembering that the average human (and the average young human today) has a nine-second attention span and that it will take at least 8 and maybe 9 exposures for a customer to remember your brand, you still have to hit 'em from all angles.
In this day and age, that means gathering their name for your email list, generating humorous or on-trend content that catches their attention, creating a short video (Reel, Tik Tok or YouTube), then remarketing your brand to this potential client across Google/search engines and Instagram. Billboards and print media can still factor in; but with more of the workforce working remotely and doing less driving to work, it may not be the most effective method for your brand.
In Conclusion
It's not rocket science to create an effective social media and content strategy, but it's also not something that everyone does well. In most small businesses, with every staff member wearing different hats, it's challenging for one person to focus on content creation and social media posting. It's also challenging to measure the results of content generation and branding unless it's directly tied to website purchases (i.e. a Google pixel) - which may not be the method that your business acquires customers.
If your pipes broke, you'd hire a plumber. If your marketing's broken, although you may be able to fix it yourself, why not hire a specialist? A marketing consultant can help you streamline your focus and develop content that generates results so you don't have to.