Supercharge your social media strategy

Whether you are a start-up or an established business looking to use social media to drive your business forward, the hardest part is getting started. Before diving into the creative ideas, the first thing to consider is what you want to gain from your social media campaign. This can be one of many goals, including:

• Promoting page

• Increasing followers

• Growing customer base

• Getting more website visitors

• Increasing website sales and leads

• Getting more messages

• Increasing phone calls

Ideally you will be aiming for all of these objective but settling on one will make for clearer messaging and better conversions. The second thing to review is the target audience you are trying to reach. Understanding their behaviours, preferences and online behaviour will help you decide on the best platform to use. Here are a few social media platforms to consider (and why):

• Instagram: Instagram is popular among younger audiences and is ideal for sharing images, videos and stories.

• YouTube: The largest video-sharing platform, YouTube allows businesses to create and share video content, tutorials, and product demonstrations.

• Facebook: With over 2.8 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media platform, making it a go-to choice for businesses looking to reach a wide audience.

• X: X is a fast-paced platform focusing on real-time conversations and trending topics.

• TikTok: Focusing on short, creative videos, TikTok has become increasingly popular, particularly among Gen Z users.

• Pinterest: Pinterest is a visual discovery platform where users can search and save images or “pins” related to their interests. It’s ideal for fashion, home decor, food, and DIY businesses, as it can drive high-quality referral traffic to websites.

• LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a professional networking platform primarily used for B2B marketing, job searching, and industry networking.

Look at your competitors and the platforms they use. This will help you better understand which platforms are best for your industry and the type of messaging that works. Be mindful of resource levels as each platform will require its own content strategy and sometimes it is better to master one platform rather than trying to conquer all platforms and spreading your efforts too thin.

After selecting the right platforms, the next thing to consider is the content you share. Over the years Social Media platforms have become saturated with adverts and promotional content. Users spend time on Social Media to be distracted by entertaining content they can share with their friends. A good rule to follow is the traditional 80/20 rule. 80% of the content should provide value to your audience and 20% should be promotional like competitions, events, business updates etc.

Share content that entertains, informs, and inspires. Showing the human side to your business gets good engagement, for example sharing posts about your employees, customers or the community your serve showcases your culture as well as the success you have with customers.

Use images and videos to bring posts to life and make them more memorable. Users are more likely to share eye-catching graphics or short videos that complement the post.

Another excellent way to create engaging content is by encouraging your audience to share their experience with your brand, whether that is sharing images or product reviews. This portrays a trustworthy image of your brand. Encouraging feedback by asking questions and hosting polls fosters higher engagement than standard posts. This feedback can also be used to focus on future posts.

Another good way to create engaging content that reach new followers is by working with influencers. This is budget dependant, but these influencers have large engaged audiences that businesses can use to get credible product recommendations. Establish who the key influencers are in your industry and then agree mutually beneficial partnerships, whether that be product reviews, sponsored posts or giveaways.

After posting some content, the next thing to focus on is reviewing what engagement levels were reached. All Social Media platforms provide a good level of analytical data so you can review how many users your post reached, who liked the post, shared it etc. Use this data to decide on what future posts you should share and look at the time of the day that receives the best response. Every audience is different and it’s important to use this data to better understand your customers.

Finally, you can reach more users with paid Social Media advertising. Each platform allows you to build custom audiences using interests, demographics and online behaviour, that adverts can be served too. From boosting one off posts on Facebook, setting up ongoing campaigns on Instagram or using reengagement campaigns for users that have already interreacted with your brand, there are goals and budgets to suit every campaign. Everything can be tracked to provide key insights from the marketing spend.

At Amplified we can help with every aspect on your Social Media strategy. Contact us today to find out more.