5 things brands must remember when doing social media marketing

Many companies have assumed that social networks are able to engage the user with the brand and build conversation with target audience. However, not all of them realize how to implement this social media marketing strategy for business in order to achieve maximum results. For example, content strategy is usually absent, and many time and efforts is spent on searching the type of posts which will encourage users to leave comments, likes and drive new fans.  

If you have decided to market on social channels by yourself, without agency help, then,  first of all,  you need to determine what value you can offer the audience in exchange for its loyalty.  It means you have to create brand marketing strategy of running your social media community and keep to it as closely as possible. Regardless of the strategy that has been chosen, there are 5 social media tips and tricks which any brand should stick to.

1. Consistency of social media activity: the most obvious rule, which is frequently overlooked by many. This is like morning exercises, it should be done regularly. A typical tactic in content marketing strategies is publishing  content every day, around three times per day with 4-hour interval. The proportion can vary depending on the purpose; for instance, entertaining content can be posted more frequently, however try not to exceed the limit of 10 posts per day. Usually, 3 times per day is an optimal ratio, as subscribers won’t be bored and will not be overloaded with the information.

The number of advertising posts should be also limited. The best option is to hide promotional text inside the entertaining content – it will be more efficient than direct ads.

The core factor of readers’ engagement is time when your target audience is online. The updated analytics in Facebook allows to see unique data about the time when subscribers of your page are online. Having studied this data you will be able to adjust posting schedule to the most comfortable time of your target audience. This way you will ensure that the maximum number of followers will see the post.

2. Content grouping: it is key to interesting and exiting community. Chaotic and spontaneous content-plan is wasting of time and resources. It is important to divide published content into groups according to the topic. For example, apart from deals Cheaflights publish a lot of inspirational and motivational posts on their Facebook page. Additionally, the regularly post polls and questions to better engage with the audience. Expedia’s Facebook page is filled with posts giving useful tips for the travelers; another type of content is exciting stories from real people.

 3. Quality of visual content. Text, accompanies by visuals, attracts much more attention. Positive emotions which user experiences during this moments are transferred to the brand.  That is why, the better the visual content on page is, the brighter emotions your audience will get, and thus,  more chances to win your fans loyalty. Some materials should feature branded elements to make the message more unique and easily recognizable.

4. Community should not be a one-person show. The purpose of content is to spur conversation with the audience. So avoid monolog in your social media activity: be friendly and open, take interest in your fans opinion, ask them, pay compliments, give advice, try to be helpful and solve your audience problems. Then your content marketing strategy will be a model for others, including your competitors.

5. There is always a place for humor. Even official pages of serious brand can joke sometimes. Brands usually benefit from ability to incorporate humor in marketing – smiling readers will remember you and probably share the post with the friends. Of course, be careful when applying this technique to make sure you are not hurting others’ feelings.

The author of the post is Stefani Sparysheva, social media marketing manager at Promodo.