People used to see social media like a wild child for marketing departments, that is, a venue where brands could say random things and interns started their careers without repercussions. However, times have changed, and the industry is continuously maturing. Social media is still a place where brands can have fun and a measurable impact on the bottom line of each business. For this reason, social media can no longer live in a silo and must work in tandem with the whole business strategy. If you want to ensure that your social campaigns contribute towards attaining the objectives of your brand, you can use the steps below to make sure that your objectives become a reality.

10 Social Media Marketing Strategies for Companies (Info-graphic)

1. Begin with the chatbots

You may have heard about chatbots. They do not come as a surprise because they are digital tools that communicate and resolve customer problems without requiring human interruption. Additionally, chatbots integrate with platforms that are comfortable for consumers like social media. Platforms like Chattypeople make integration with chatbots that are AI powered into your social strategy seamless. They help you to create chatbots which do not require coding knowledge, can give answers to customer questions, can integrate with all payment methods, and can take orders directly from Facebook comments and messenger.

2. Create a content marketing strategy that is efficient

Quality is vital, and content is not an exception. Marketing with content has been prominent as a form of marketing for long, and it is not going to change anytime soon. A lot of brands are not linking quality content with the right posting schedule and frequency of posting. SEO content that is of high quality coupled with the right posting schedule will help to convert the right customers on time. Apart from it having the ability to attract an audience that is organic, you can implement the right content marketing strategy for free. You need to create a relevant strategy for hashtags alongside your thorough and optimized content.

3. Give your customers a personalized experience

Chatbots are not just a massive way of automating particular daily tasks, and if you implement it in the right way, they will help you to create a personalized experience for your clients. If you want to achieve this, you need to stop linking your adverts to your landing pages only and generate ads that will redirect your audience to the messenger window with the chatbot. Establishing a link with your chatbot will boost your sales, create a fan base of loyal customers, give customers a personalized experience, and break the personal views customers have of purchasing from you.

4. Create a social media budget

Social media platforms are among the most important forms of marketing. Putting in place the right budget for your social media activities is crucial for your success. Leveraging on that budget with the right strategy will prove to be very effective when choosing your audience. Since you can use social media to a personal level, you will come to realize it is a place for making a deep connection with your customers.

5. Create an audience community

Even though followers and other metrics are crucial, they are not the sole requirements that will help you succeed in your social media campaign. Your audience needs to know that you are not a robot. You have to interact with emotions and humor in your posts for the audience to relate to the brand. Social media is being social, and if your audience sees similar posts at all times, they will tend to lose interest, making your marketing strategy impossible. You can make your strategy interactive by asking your customers questions, sharing information that is newsworthy rather than sharing information about your services and products, gathering opinions on particular matters, asking your audience to interact directly with posts through shares and likes, and sharing and liking their posts and not just the other way round.

6. Use a distinct content strategy on your profiles

The audience responds to interesting podcasts once in a while, fun videos, and good imagery. You need to jazz your content by use of this media type on a regular basis. Your social pages will start looking bland if the things you share through posts is text. If you want to capture the eye of your audience, it is important to use different media types. This strategy is great for giving your brand a personality.

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7. Using brand advocates

The best promotional tool at your disposal is the people that love your brand. Instead of putting all your efforts on getting new customers, it is vital to leverage on existent ones. Above your current customers, it is also vital to use your employees. If you want to use your employees in the right manner, you need to create social guidelines that are brand specific. You also need to tell your advocates about the best practices on social media, add leaders to all sections of the social media advocacy plan, and tracking the correct data to point out areas that require improvements and those that are working well.

8. Creating profiles on the right channels

People are nowadays creating profiles on all social channels with the sole aim of reaching many people. It is unfortunate because when you have this mindset, reaching the target audience will be hard. Due to this, it is vital to look at the persona of your buyers when choosing the right social media channels. For instance, you do not need a LinkedIn profile when launching a gothic clothing brand. You do not need to be on Pinterest when you are promoting surveillance services.

9. Go live to tell a story

It is definite that your content will tell a story about your brand, but it is vital to share with your audience about the happenings of your company at all times. Instagram and Facebook, among other social platforms, have their streaming features, something that top brands are not using to the fullest. If you desire to compete with big brands, you need to start using the live features before they start using them. You can use live stories to tell your audience that you are not just a money making machine. You can also use it to inspire and engage them by creating a memorable and shareable content.

10. Run campaigns across distinct channels

When you want to engage your customers further, you need to run cross-channel campaigns on the relevant social platforms. You need to remember that these campaigns are done by all companies, and you need to have an edge so that you stand out from the rest of the crowd. Adding an emotional component to the social campaign will help your audience to relate to the cause. A cross-channel campaign that is effective will tell a story that is engaging, will have a memorable and unique name alongside relevant hashtags, and link back to a particular landing page that will provide your audience with the right info about your campaign.

Conclusion

Many businesses in the whole world are becoming serious with getting customers through social media. When you use the right social strategies, you will become competitive with established brands and your social media plan will stand a test of time. You need to assign roles to the people who are handling social media marketing to avoid confusion and overlapping efforts and increase productivity. Things might look messy when beginning, but as time moves, they will start flowing seamlessly. You need to put in place an execution procedure so that you do not end up wasting time.

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