Socially Savvy: Crafting a Winning Strategy with Social Media Marketing

A new social media app seems to be launched every couple of months.

Weirdly so, people find it amusing to rename existing ones (yup, we’re talking about Elon and Zuckerberg). Leaving all of this banter aside, having an online presence nowadays is super important.

Every single firm, be it small, medium or a conglomerate has a social media account nowadays. Some have an account because it increases credibility, while some truly understand its significance, and know a thing or two about social media marketing.

All that being said, the power of social media nowadays is unparalleled.

Read on to know how you can utilize it to its maximum!

Why social media marketing?

Instead of the good ‘ol billboard that burns a hole in your pocket and allows only passersby to view it, social media marketing is different.

It includes putting out content that you can alter, variate and change as you like. It only shows content to the people that actually want to view it.

For example, have you ever noticed how you search for a product on Google and coincidentally you have an ad on Instagram that shows you the exact same (or nearly the same) product?

That is the power of social media marketing. It goes across apps and platforms, using the power of algorithms and obviously, AI.

Crafting a winning social media marketing strategy

Navigating the turbulent and unpredictable social media ocean ain’t no piece of cake.

Let the following pointers provide you with directions like a compass!

List out your goals

Even before understanding your target audience, you should have an aim as to why you’re pursuing social media marketing.

Do you want to attract new customers? Engage previous customers? Use influencers to promote your products?

Knowing your goal is important in order to craft a winning social media marketing strategy.

Understand your target audience

These people will be the ones viewing your content, and whatever that you do on social media must revolve around them.

Everything from picking the platform that you choose to post on, to the type of content, to the frequency of posting is determined by your target audience.

Failure to connect with the target audience can lead to even the best of strategies failing.

Choosing social media channels

Yep, there are loads of apps besides Instagram that you can use for social media marketing.

We’ll admit though, that Instagram is one of the best places that you can choose for social media marketing, but Facebook is still the leader.

According to Statista, Facebook has over 3 billion active users, while Instagram trails a whole 1 billion users behind at 2 billion active users.

Now, choosing a social media channel shouldn’t be that hard for you if you’ve already researched your target audience.

Take a sneak peek at your competitor’s content

No, we’re not telling you to poach your competitor’s digital marketing team.

And no, we don’t need you to make a fake account and comment vile stuff on their posts.

We’re just telling you to take a peek at what your competitor is doing, and if it is bearing fruit.

Stuff like the choice of topics, type of posts, number of likes and comments, number of followers can give you a good idea about how you can structure your content strategy.

Planning-out your content

We’ve said this a bazillion times now, but content is the undisputed king of marketing.

This means that it is your responsibility to churn out 10/10 content.

But again, good content is not enough. You need to have a planned content schedule that is in-tune with your target audience. Think of topics that will invoke intrigue, engage and retain audiences.

You can also utilize the various tools that social media agencies provide.

For example, using polls on Instagram, utilizing the reach that YouTube shorts offer, personalizing your DMs (direct messages) on Instagram etc. can help your strategy by loads.

Tracking how well you’re faring

Once you’ve understood the who, where and how of social media marketing, the next step is to track your progress.

Tracking your progress is the same as getting your exam results – it shows how well you’ve performed.

Social media agencies offer a variety of tools where you can track how many people have been shown the post (impressions), how many visited your account through the post, how many people shared the post etc.

For example, Instagram offers the ‘Insights’ section on every post that allows you to see various statistics of a post at a glance.

Interacting with your followers

Often undervalued, interacting with your followers is a brilliant tactic in a winning social media marketing strategy.

Thinking of your followers just like a group of friends and interacting with them as such has proven to be effective in a winning social media marketing strategy.

Often, this leads to a couple of marketing campaigns going viral.

For example, look at how Zomato conducts marketing campaigns. They often leave witty replies in their comments section and love to post about the latest memes.

Conclusion

There you have it, a guide on how you can use the power of social media marketing to your advantage.

Once you set your mind on going viral, there’s no going back.

Using the steps listed above, you can aim to craft a winning social media marketing strategy that can help propel your business and build a robust online presence.

Having a hard time navigating the tough waters of social media?

Let Granth be your compass, directing the way!