More than 80% of developed economies adult population are active on social media. The number of users from developing nations, though lagged, is rising daily. Over 90% of millennials globally routinely use social media. You are most likely reading this article, not from the traditional newspaper but from a mobile device or a desktop. Therefore, businesses that ignore this easily accessible platform lack the strategic view needed to be relevant in today’s business world – not even tomorrow’s!
It takes less than 15 seconds for a user to decide to engage social media content. To get the best out of the opportunity described above, therefore, organisations should have a clear strategy before venturing into the world of social media. To improve your market share, your Social Media Strategy must not only appeal to existing customers & potential ones, but it must align with your business objectives. Developing a great social media strategy with a direct impact on profits is as simple as A, B, C &D:
“A clear social media objective gives businesses mileage as that drives performance indicators you focus on. Reviewing the nice (but wrong) ones is a complete waste of time; therefore, get the objective right before you venture into social media marketing.”
Accurate & relevant objective(s)
The reason your business is on social media should be clear. For example, Twitter may be used to build brand awareness. LinkedIn to grow a loyal & knowledgeable community. And Facebook to drive traffic to your business’ website. How you define our goals will drive the type of content you put out there and reduce distractions once you start.
Be explicit on your target audience
It is more effective with billions of users to be clear on who you will be speaking to while sharing quality content. Otherwise, venturing into social media marketing will be an absolute waste of resources with little or no impact on sales revenue or profits. The best practice is to have a pseudo name for your business’ typical target and pen down details such as age, socio-economic status, profession, location, hobbies, know when they come online, and which platforms and so on. That image will help you to be very sharp in your campaigns.
Clear performance indicators
Beyond the Likes, Shares & Comments, there are many other metrics that you should keep an eye on to get the best of your social media marketing for your organisation. According to Sprout Social, a leading Social Media Management company, to have a sustainable impact on your market share, the most important metrics for businesses are Impressions, Reach, Engagement, Share of Voice, Conversions, and Referrals. These give companies a complete view of how their social media marketing is performing.
The recommendation is, of course, not cast in stone. Based on your specific social media objectives, you may be more focused on other indicators over others. If the goal is to build a brand, you may pay attention to the Impressions. If you want to drive sales, you may focus on Conversion Rate or Sign-Up Rate, and so on.
Develop a content calendar
The highway of social media is synonymous with distractions. One way to stay focused on agreed social media objectives is to have a content calendar. A content calendar is simply a plan over some time, say a month, where you connect the business activities to the content shared. The timing is considered as well for an aligned corporate message. Well planned calendars enable you to approach your target audience in a coordinated manner, thereby improving the likelihood of a sale. The calendar is usually a live document, and updates should be made based on current events within or outside the business or industry. Doing so keeps the content fresh and enables engagement, improving the likelihood of a sale.
Being crystal clear on your strategy enables social media marketing to impact your business’ market share positively.
Businesses are encouraged to use available research on the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) to drive incremental sales revenue. Research shows that over half of social media users afraid of losing out on some offers, news, or trends.
With that knowledge, Businesses adopting FOMO Marketing can increase sales revenue by:
Releasing time-bound offers – Amazon uses “Deal of the Day” to create FOMO.
Sharing testimonials – this is impactful if you have good followership as it further boosts Social Proof. Customers usually would want to experience such satisfaction themselves.
Creating a sense of shortage – Hotel booking sites use this frequently by showing inventory and highlighting messages such as “2 rooms left” to encourage action.
Showing how popular a product is – SeedProd profiles you and shows you the names (& pictures) of people like you who made similar purchases recently. That immediately appeals to you, as you (usually) immediately conclude that the product is ‘popular’.
Having used the A, B, C & D of social media strategy many times over, I am confident that a well-crafted strategy using the same principles will deliver improved sales revenue for your business.
