Ask any social media marketer what their biggest commodity is, any the best of them will tell you: attention.
Attention, not time is what is most valuable to a person wanting to stop the endless scrolling on the feeds constantly in our hands.
One of the most important considerations, then, is to determine where your business has the best opportunity to do so. Outlined below are the 3 questions you need to ask yourself in order to make the best choice for your audience, your offerings, and the sustainability of your brand.
Who are my target customers?
The first step to creating a great social media presence is finding out who your existing customers are, who your ideal customers are, and on which platforms do those demographics of people spend their time.
For example, if you’re looking to launch a new skincare line to women 18-25, you might not want to spend most of your time (if any) on LinkedIn.
Try to determine as much detail as you can about your audience from age, location, likes, dislikes, and web traffic patterns. The more you know, the better job you can do in presenting your offerings.
TIP: If you’re a bigger company, try doing a survey of existing clients through channels that are already open. No one is going to do a better job telling you what you do best than an existing customer.
Which channels align with my brand or mission?
Looking to sell B2B? You’re going to want to try LinkedIn. Want to try influencer branding for your custom printed clothing? Instagram product tags are incredibly valuable for a business like yours.
It’s important to keep in mind the types of content the audiences on each channel are most interested in AND which types of content are given priority by the algorithms on each platform. For example, if you have a lot of photos with prominent faces, Facebook and Instagram are a good bet.
Try to do a survey of other competitors and big names in your industry to see what the standards are, then build. Remember, there is no wrong way to do this, as long as you keep in mind the circumstance of algorithms and meet the parameters.
What are my marketing goals for social media?
Not all social media channels are created equally, and some are going to be better for achieving some goals than others. You may get great engagement on Facebook, but make most of your sales on Instagram, for example. Make sure you focus your efforts not only on the vanity metrics, but the ones that directly impact your ability to meet your marketing goals.
Try working your way through these steps to get an idea of how you can streamline your social media marketing plan. Social media doesn’t have to be painful, but it can be all too easily. If you find that you’re struggling to wrap your head around this, please reach out.
Digital doesn’t have to be difficult, and our mission is to make your business thrive with simple, easy to use tools, brought to you by folks who have your back.
