Let’s talk about social media marketing strategies— strategies you can use on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and the rest.
Before we jump into some strategies you can start using, one word of advice….
Even if you already have your Facebooks, Twitters, and YouTubes all set up, don’t try them to use these strategies on all of them at the same time. Pick the ONE social network you are most comfortable with, and apply these strategies there first. Then move on to the other platforms.
Sound good? Great!
Here’s some social media strategies to get you started…
A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words
Images are the fastest way to catch people’s attention and get your point across on social media. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube allows you to change images, to make whatever it is your sharing more attractive to your audience.
In fact, statistics show that adding an image to your posts increases retweets by 150%–so make the most out of it.
Using Opengraph plugin can help you control images on your social networks. Without it, Facebook, Twitter and all other social media platforms will choose your images at random and using Opengraph means you can choose which images you can show and therefore, control how your blog posts are being shown.
Two (or three, or four!) Birds, One Stone
You spend hours creating the perfect blog post, why just share it on one social network?
The easiest way to do this is to post what you have to say multiple times, sharing it at different times and on different social media platforms.
This is also great in terms of reaching your audience at different times. That’s the great thing about marketing on the Internet, you have the opportunity to reach out to more users; especially when you’re tapping on the potential of social media.
WARNING: This isn’t to suggest you share the same post 14 times in the same day, but rather you share the same post on different social networks on the same day and THEN come back a week or two later and do it again. (This way you won’t look like a spammer!)
Something Old, Something New
At some point while running your content strategy, you’ll realize that you suddenly have run out of things to say. That’s normal, and definitely not a reason to panic.
According to a new study, the average Facebook post only has engagement for only about 3 hours after you share it.
This means sharing content that you shared previously is a good idea. Like mentioned earlier, this means you can share something that you’ve previously posted every couple of weeks or so. You can also switch up the formats when you do–a previous blogpost may be useful as an infographic, an infographic may be repurposed into a slideshare or a slideshare may be converted into video format. Mix things up so that your content doesn’t seem to repetitive.
You Get By With A Little Help
If you’re running a business by yourself, it can get pretty hard to find the time to even post a status update as often as you want to. For this, I go for apps to help me out.
One in particular, is Buffer.
It’s best known for automating the tedium of scheduling and sending out posts on Facebook and Twitter, but it also has this cool feature where it offers curated suggestions based on what you have previously shared. This means you now have access to a list of new topic ideas based on interests and relevant topics.
No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
Gone are the days when social media offered you the chance to organically grow your business for free. Now, you’ve got to pay to play.
Figure out what platform is best for your business and learn what it takes to start advertising there.
To learn the basics, you can visit our blog to find posts on the subject or you can check out Traffic Genesis. (It’s a great training program if you want to generate more traffic for yourself!)
A Journey Of A Thousand “Likes” Begins With A Single Step
There are so many social media platforms you can tap into today that it’s tempting to try them all–at the risk of getting overwhelmed at trying to maintain engagement on all fronts.
Focus on one thing at a time and get really good at it. It doesn’t mean you can’t have presence on other platforms, but really concentrate on learning the ins and out of a particular platform before you move on to the next. Stick to one for at least 90 days–during that time you will see spikes in activity and engagement followed by plateaus, but it should eventually even out if you are consistent with your strategy.
In Conclusion….
Speaking of getting overwhelmed, here’s a tip I always like to share for those starting out with social media and various marketing strategies–choose one thing from this list of social media marketing strategies and act on it. Apply it, familiarize yourself with the process and once you’ve learned it, come back to this post and pick out something new to try.
You’ll be an expert on the subject before you know it!
If you have any questions or have a social media marketing strategy of you own that you want to share, leave a comment below. As always, if you found this post helpful in any way, please let us know by sharing it on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+.
– Mercer
