The social media strategy has become a key element in the company, and Spaniards dedicate an average of almost three hours a day to social media, it is not something new since it was something that was reflected in the annual study of Social Networks 2016 carried out by IAB (association of advertising and digital communication in Spain) buy facebook comments.
This trend is encouraging brands to be present on social networks, knowing that potential customers spend a large part of their time browsing them.
However, it is not enough to simply be there , nor to implement a social media strategy, if you are not going to subsequently follow up to see if your social media marketing strategy is working or not.
Keep in mind that, sometimes, its fruits may not be seen immediately, sometimes they do not appear until six months after the implementation of the strategy. Which could even be considered normal, but…
Business figures on social networks
When we talk about developing a social media strategy, one may still think that it is necessary to be in them, but one is not very aware of the importance for a company to develop this point within the company’s digital marketing strategy .
For this reason, we are going to comment below on some of the business figures that social networks are capable of generating today and that demonstrate the need and importance for a company to have a presence on them.
-According to Adweek, we already have 88% of companies using social networks , so being outside of them means being at a disadvantage with our competitors, it is a tool that must be used properly to compete.
- Pay attention to this figure that is fundamental for a company in its social media strategy , and according to a study by Social Media Today , we have that clients who find that companies that have commitment and interaction with them on social networks They spend between 20% and 40% more in these companies.
-Another interesting fact that will encourage you to have a social media strategy , this one about advertising, according to a marketingsherpa report , 50% of users considered millennials use the internet to search for products. And focusing only on Facebook, Sparkcentral reveals that 26% of users of this social network who clicked on an ad ended up purchasing.
-71% of consumers who find a good response and customer service on social networks recommend the company to others according to Ambassador . Which reflects the importance of providing good social media support to have satisfied customers, being a source of obtaining potential customers .
-Advertisers on Instagram are growing, specifically we have that in the second half of 2017 they have increased by 28% according to emarketer , which shows the commitment of businesses to attract customers on this social network.
-Within the strategies of B2B companies we find an important fact, and that is that according to eMarketer , 94% of this type of companies use LinkedIn among their content marketing tools .
-From a survey carried out by Sproutsocial we found significant data for a company, and that is that for 48% of users, the fact that a company is receptive on social networks encourages them to buy its products, and 46% are interested in promotions through social media .
What happens if, after a reasonable amount of time, the results of your social media strategy do not evolve favorably?
Since your company most likely already has a presence on social networks, we are going to give you some clues that will help you find the right answer.
9 recommendations for social media strategy
These are the 9 key elements that you have to pay attention to if you want your social media strategy to work and be a success integrated into your company’s digital marketing.
1 – Move where your audience is
The importance of having a presence on social networks is something that brands have learned very well, nowadays very few are outside of them.
However, as we mentioned before, it is not just about being there , but about moving where your ideal client is present , which is who, ultimately, you intend to reach.
It is, for this reason, essential to focus your efforts only on those sites where your audience is located .
Therefore, when asked: do you have to be present on all social networks? The answer is no. You have to be and actively participate where your audience is , that is, on those social networks and platforms in which your potential clients participate.
There is no point in being on all social networks, since you will waste a lot of effort and time if your audience is not there, since you will not be able to create your community .
It is best to focus your efforts on the two or three social networks that you consider most suitable for your business.
2 – Meet the objectives of your digital marketing plan
The first step to developing a strategy on social networks is to establish objectives .
Sounds obvious, right?
To find out if the results obtained are aligned with the objectives you have set, you must identify what the “ Key Performance Indicators ” or KPIs of your business are.
Measurement is as fundamental as having objectives, as it serves to check whether the path taken is getting closer or further away from your goals.
KPIs are metrics designed to quantify progress towards objectives in a simple and understandable way, and are always accompanied by a context, for example a result that can be compared with another obtained in the previous month …
Thus, metrics become the way to quantify the results that are being obtained, they allow you to verify the success of your strategy and the fulfillment of the objectives set out in the plan.
3 – See if your number of followers grows
This may not be the most relevant indicator, but it is important to have growth in the number of followers of your business’s social profiles.
There is no stipulated amount to determine success on social networks, but it is a good sign if the number of followers experiences progressive growth .
Staying stagnant in the number of followers means that the activity and involvement of your business is poor, however, if the number of fans does not stop growing, it means that the work you do on your social profiles is a success.
4 – Generate interactions and conversations
Having many followers is a good sign, but it does not mean that they are interacting with your brand. After all, an online community is made up of people and, therefore, generating conversations around your brand is a priority.
It is true that interaction on social networks, especially at the beginning, can be difficult, but something is wrong if you have already gone a certain distance and you notice that no one is listening to you.
If you raise a question in your posts and no one responds, it is because you are not knowing how to generate conversation with your community.
On the contrary, an unequivocal indicator of success of the social media strategy is that your followers comment on the publications, “like” them, retweet them , that is, interact with your content. This will be the sign that the content you offer really interests them.
5 – Analyze your engagement
Generating engagement or a high degree of commitment to the community is one of the biggest challenges of your social media strategy.
Knowing the level of engagement you have with your community is important, so it is a metric that should be obtained regularly.
One of the ways to calculate engagement is to divide the number of interactions with the content by the number of followers or fans.
Where the number of interactions would be:
– On Facebook : “like” + comment + share
– On Twitter : “like” + RT + link clicks + other tweet clicks
– On Google+ : +1 + share + comment
An optimal engagement value for a publication is 2% in general terms, although 1% or more could be considered acceptable.
6 – Awaken interest with your content
Previously we have seen that, if you barely have interactions on your posts, the cause could be that the content you are disseminating is not interesting or useful to your audience.
If most of your posts are informative or promotional in nature, you are probably not managing to attract users. Therefore, a change must be made in the social media strategy.
The ideal is to combine this type of content with other content that is more relevant and interesting to your audience , and that truly offers answers to their needs.
To find out what type of content your users want, analyze the queries or questions they ask you, or ask them directly through surveys…
7 – See if you receive inquiries through social networks
Social networks are another way of customer service and are another channel of communication with your audience , so all the queries you receive through them contain useful information for you.
Brands that transmit trust to their audiences are because they clear up users’ doubts and respond quickly and appropriately to the questions asked.
The fact that a customer asks on social networks about the price or other aspect of a product denotes that they are interested in it.
Likewise, if users present problems or issues for help to solve, it also indicates that they are moving in the right direction.
Therefore, receiving inquiries through social networks is a sign that your strategy is working well.
8 – Publish content that represents you
In such a competitive market, brands struggle to differentiate themselves from each other.
This idea also applies to social networks, so you have to be able to create your own content that identifies and represents you, both in terms of its theme, design, tone of writing…
9.- Analyze if your website has more traffic
A tool like Google Analytics will allow you to check if the strategy developed on social networks is generating more traffic to your website, since it quantifies the visits and users who come to your website from social traffic .
If the answer is yes, the effort is paying off, since your site will be increasing visits and, therefore, the possibility of these visits becoming customers.
Otherwise, it will be necessary to review that strategy, since the right audience is not being reached.
CONCLUSION
Now that you know, review, analyze and measure the key elements that we have told you about previously, since from their analysis you will be able to deduce if your social media strategy is a success or if you have to take some type of corrective measure.
The important thing is to be aware of the changes that occur and take the corresponding measurements to be able to identify possible failures in time and correct them.
If you want to know more about social networks and their ability to attract new potential clients, download the guide that you will find in the attached link, and turn your social media strategy into a lead generation machine.
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