The power of social media; what is it?
Remember when it was all about uploading quirky pictures and tagging memes? No more, friends. There is a whole sphere people know nothing about- the sphere where marketers design and promote businesses on social media platforms.
Over the years, brands have taken notice of the growing popularity of social media and increasingly want to be part of the conversation across multiple social media platforms. So how can your brand go about establishing their social media presence where it matters the most?
Understanding popular social media platforms
Although there are plenty of platforms to choose from, some rule the world of social media because of the diverse options they offer to the users. Let’s take a look at these popular platforms.
Facebook: whoever says that Facebook is over, this is for you. With nearly 2.45b monthly active users, Facebook continues to dominate over other apps. However, the demographics of this platform have shifted recently. If you are a business looking to sell to boomers, Facebook is the right platform. In fact, nowadays users over the age of 65 years are increasingly growing!
Instagram: from pictures of your food to pictures of yourself, Instagram is as relevant today as any app could possibly be. Second position holder for the most downloaded app in the world, it comes toe to toe with Facebook for the popularity crown. 1 billion monthly users, Instagram’s largest user group consists of 18-24-year-olds. It is the best platform to reach out to millennials and offers brands multiple formats for content creation and promotion.
YouTube: what do you do when you want to watch your favorite music video? Or, better yet, want to learn how to knit or fix a tyre or even make a salad? You guessed it: YouTube. The video-sharing platform has 1.9b users globally, more than 81% of the users are between 18 to 25 of age.
Twitter: remember the times we tweeted to celebrities hoping for a response? Well, Twitter is much more than that. The platform hosts 330m monthly users with millennials forming the largest user group. Seen as more of a conversational app, it may not be in league with Instagram but Twitter has its own charms. It’s especially popular for brands with a strong personality or for customer relationship management.
Other apps: last but certainly not the least (just ask the teens of today), TikTok, Snapchat, and Pinterest make an entrance.
How to choose the right platform?
Unless you have an unlimited marketing budget, every brand marketer must answer the biggest question: which one?
You can’t be on every platform at once, you have to select the ones most relevant to your business. No need to feel overwhelmed, we are here for you! The formula is really simple. Do you know your business? Do you know your customers? That’s all you really need to know, to be honest.
- What is your brand’s personality? Yes, you read it correctly. Just like people, companies have personalities of their own. The personality of a brand is not only defined by the products or services it offers but also, by the brand image, values, and ethos.
- Simply: who buys from you? Who uses your products/services? Does your audience consist of Gen Zs? Millennials or boomers? Is your brand selling to consumers or to other businesses? Each social media channel has a specific demographic of users. Once you identify your customers, you can choose your platforms accordingly.
How to develop an effective Social Media Strategy
If you’ve defined your objectives to be on social media, mapped out your target audience, and selected the social media platforms you want your brand to be on – you’re already half-way at creating your social media strategy. The next important thing is to create a content strategy and execution strategy.
Unlike personal Instagram accounts, you can’t post memes on your business’ Instagram story at 2 in the morning unless you’re a nightclub! For your brand to have a successful social media presence, there needs to be a content strategy in place. To put it simply, it is a detailed plan of what to and what not to post. You don’t want your customers to go to your page to find some information and be greeted with selfies. Want to stay at the top of your social media game? Follow these three steps.
- Create a social media content strategy with key content pillars and categories within each that are relevant to your brand, the region you sell in, and to your audience
- Next, design a social media calendar: just like we make a mental note of what to post today and tomorrow, you can take it one step further and make a content calendar. It’s how you’ll know what to upload and when. A visual reminder helps a lot! Why may you ask?
Having an up-to-date content calendar will help you stay on a schedule of your posts. It will quite literally save you from missing your posting date or having to post alternative (and possibly inappropriate) content at the last minute.
Remember, always keep your calendar flexible to include last-minute updates like that award your team won!
- Finally, Community (Not the TV show!) management: we’ve heard of social media management but what does this term really mean? It’s maintaining two-way communication with your audience. This way, your brand can get valuable feedback from your users which is, really, invaluable. There are many ways you can do this
- Post quizzes and hold polls on your Instagram stories! People scroll through stories and love to react to stories. For example, you could ask “do you love our color combination or want to see something new?” and let your audience guide you.
- Ask a lot of fun and interesting questions in your posts – even if people don’t comment at first, eventually you’ll build traction.
The power of social media has pulled the business world in and there is no going back. Just joining the social media apps isn’t enough- you need to plan and market your brand effectively. After all, your posts are what’s going to attract users to follow you.
We, at Home of Performance, are here to do all of this and more for you. HOP is a digital marketing agency offering a range of services, including social media management. We ensure that your business’ social media pages are informative, engaging, and designed to fit your objectives and goals. We do this through creative, out-of-the-box ideas that will elevate your brand to a whole new level. So what are you waiting for? Visit https://hop.rocks/ for more information.
Got questions? Reach out to us.
