Just when you think you’ve covered all the necessary social media marketing strategies, there’s more. Social media marketing isn’t complicated, but several effective strategies are often overlooked.
If you’re using social media to market your brand, product, or services, here are four lesser-used strategies to employ.
1. Utilize the ‘story’ features on social media platforms
One of the best-kept social media marketing secrets is to use the ‘story’ feature on your chosen social media platforms. Stories are the only way to tell a story and maintain the chronological order of each post. For instance, Facebook algorithms display posts out of order in people’s feeds. Using the story feature allows you to control the order in which content is seen.
Tell a compelling story on your social media pages. It doesn’t need to be directly advertorial; it just needs to be interesting and attention-grabbing. You can certainly advertise directly, but you don’t have to use stories in that way. You can use stories to capture attention, inspire people to build trust, or just share fun photos.
Social media marketing isn’t just for getting sales – it’s a great way to build your brand’s authority, reputation, and trust.
2. Focus on generating leads
Social media is the ultimate lead-generating tool. Some people even argue that social media isn’t really good for anything else. When you advertise with PPC ads on social media, you’re reaching users who are distracted and involved in other tasks while casually flipping through feeds, managing text messages, and answering emails. It’s tough to capture the kind of attention needed for closing a sale.
That shouldn’t be a problem if you need leads. You could focus nearly 100% of your social media efforts on lead generation and it will be worthwhile. Your email list is your most valuable asset. You’ll get more sales in the long run through an effective email marketing campaign. Also, check out this list for more lead generation tools and ideas.
3. Build your brand’s image and reputation
Your brand’s image and reputation matters. According to statistics, 71% of consumers will recommend a brand to friends and family after having a positive experience on social media. That positive experience could be anything from a pleasant interaction with customer service to a friendly reply to a comment.
Building a positive, trustworthy brand image is easy to do through social media. However, it requires being actively engaged with your fans and customers beyond what’s necessary to close a sale. For example, you’ll need to get involved in discussions and provide thoughtful replies to your fans. You can pay someone to handle this for you, but it must be done.
4. Use social media to build strong customer relationships
The conversations that take place on social media are a massive opportunity to engage with your customers and build strong relationships. Your interactions might be brief or short-lived, but that’s okay. Most customers don’t need to be in constant communication with their favorite brands – they just want some authentic interactions.
Building relationships with your customers through social media is easy, but requires time and energy. Here are some effective ways to connect with your customers:
- Respond to concerns and complaints. Be the brand that openly addresses and resolves customer concerns and complaints. While some brands want to sweep complaints under the carpet, that’s not realistic or effective. Be willing to openly acknowledge customers for sharing their concerns and then commit to resolving those issues.
Resolving customer complaints will help you long-term. It’s guaranteed that if one person is having a particular problem, others are having the same problem, but aren’t vocalizing their concerns. Once you resolve the issue, it won’t be a problem for people.
- Respond to praise and recommendations. Acknowledge those who recommend your brand on social media. Tag them in a post to say ‘thanks.’
- Respond to requests and suggestions. Your customers are a great source for ideas and improvements. Acknowledge their requests and suggestions and let them know you’ll take them into consideration. If you end up implementing some of those suggestions, openly announce it and credit the person who gave you the idea.
- Engage in casual conversation. Casual conversation might just be “chit-chat,” but it’s a great way to build rapport with your customers. Your customers want to interact with you in a friendly conversation. You don’t need to spend all day responding to everyone, but choose some comments and get involved in the conversation.
Social media marketing is about building connections
Social media marketing is more about building connections than marketing. Although, that’s still a form of marketing. Use social media to advertise your products and services, but don’t forget to engage with your fans and make them part of your brand.