Social is often more effective than other marketing channels.
Did you know the average cost to reach 1,000 people via broadcast television is $26 while the average for social media is only $2.50? Marketing with social media is cheaper and if you stick or organic content creation—completely free. However, advertising and marketing on social media is more than just posting updates occasionally. You need a comprehensive strategy. Social media includes EVERY social platform you can think of including TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Snapchat, and the list goes on and on.
Since this is an issue our clients always struggle with and something that our team specializes in we have put together a basic strategy checklist that you can use to help get ahold of your social media presence:
- Set Goals
- Specific: Set fixed figures (i.e., we will achieve a 5% increase in engagement this quarter).
- Measurable: Utilize metrics to track progress, almost every platform offers advanced metrics if you know where to look.
- Aspirational: Goals should stretch your abilities while being realistic.
- Relevant: Achieving this goal will help guarantee XYZ (a positive business outcome).
- Time-Based: What is the deadline to achieve these goals?
- Utilize a Social Media Calendar
- Plan strategic posting and optimal times your audience will see the content.
- Use this plan to push you to be regular in your content creation.
- Research Your Competitors
- Researching competitors will inspire the creation of content because you and your competitor are both fighting for the same desired audience.
- Draw from their successes and failures and get creative.
- Find an Effective Posting Frequency
- Posting too much accounts for 34.9% of all unfollows.
- The reverse is also true, 17.9% of your audience will unfollow if you are too quiet.
- Focus on quality over quantity.
- Have a Content Strategy for Each Social Network
- Plan your content around specific themes for each week or for each month.
- Your audience will begin to see the pattern (often subliminally) and will begin to react and respond to content that resonates closest to them.
- Define Your Social Media Voice and Tone
- What do you want your brand to sound like online?
- Who is your target audience and what vocabulary do they use?
- Based on the first two questions, what will your audience want to hear from you?
- Handle Negativity with Grace and Sincerity
- The best way to deal with negativity is with empathy.
- Example: “Hey____! We’re so sorry this happened to you. That is definitely not what we want our customers to experience. Can you reach out to _______ and we’ll get this straightened out for you.”
- Track Data and Implement Change
- Utilize statistics and be ready to change tactics or implement new strategies. A good marketing strategy is constantly changing and adjusting.
- Select the Best Channel for Your Business
- Not all channels are the same. For example, TikTok allows short videos only and has younger followers in general. Facebook allows text, videos, and photos and tends to have older followers. Find the channels that fit your business’s needs.
Once you have your strategy, implement it and be consistent. The constant content creation, scheduling, and data analysis can be time-consuming. If you don’t want to spend your time doing social media for your business, you can hire a digital marketing agency to do it for you. Most agencies will do it quicker, better, and cheaper than what the value of your time equivalates to. Our team, for instance, saves businesses between 10-20 hours per month when they outsource just their social media management to us.
Timothy A. Zercher is the CEO of A-Train Marketing. The A-Train team manages over $2.4 million in advertising and marketing every year and currently helps manage 60 companies’ online marketing, websites, and advertising efforts all over the US. A-Train is based in Colorado with offices ranging across the state and Denver-Metro area.