Your definitive guide to social media management for the coming year

In today’s highly digital world, if you are not on social media, your existence is virtually non-existent. Social media is one of the most powerful digital marketing tools to make your brand visible and increase awareness among your target audience. Social media is an agile being that almost has a mind of its own. Every brand should tie up with a professional social media management company for social media management services, as it will offer them a comprehensive strategy and assure successful outcomes.

It is good to have a social media management guide that can help you navigate the dynamic world of social media.

Social Media is the Place to be in 

Studies show that by 2023, over 40% of the world’s population will be using social media platforms. So, it is important to have a brand presence on the right social media platforms where your target audience is most likely to spend time.

What do we mean by “social media marketing”?

Social media marketing includes all business activities conducted on online platforms that help enhance brand awareness, increase website traffic, and contribute to leads and conversions. The content could be a mix of text posts, visuals, videos, audience engagement activities, and paid promotions. The idea is to get the audience to share content and spread awareness. You can think of it as digital/ virtual word-of-mouth advertising. Every time someone likes a post, retweets a tweet, or tags a friend on Instagram, they open it up to their followers, who may find it interesting. And soon, the content receives high engagement. Social media management services are provided by companies that specialize in digital marketing.

Does one social media platform score over another?

Each social media platform caters to a different target audience. You can choose the platform and tailor the content to meet the preferences of that audience. You can use a mix of platforms depending on the type of marketing campaign you wish to run. For instance, if you are going to run live shows on Instagram, you can use the social media handles on Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic there. 

Social media marketing – what’s in it for you?

Having a social media presence offers several benefits-

• Higher visibility – You stand the chance of being discovered by new prospective customers. 
• Direct engagement – You get the chance to engage with your target audience directly, resolve their issues and keep them updated about your latest offerings. 
• Recruit good candidates – Your social media presence can give you a good opportunity to meet brilliant talent who can make a difference to your brand. 
• Build networks –  You can build connections with the target audience as well as other industry members which can be beneficial. 

The more you learn, the more you gain from social media platforms. And the closer you get to successful business outcomes.

How do you create a successful social media management plan?

Here is a simple set of steps you need to follow to have an effective social media marketing plan in place.

Know your end purpose –

Unless you know your destination, you can’t plan the route, can you? It is imperative that you know what business problems you are trying to solve. Once you fix the goals that you wish to achieve through social media marketing, you can frame your campaign and move according to the plan.

This would be perfect to avoid wasting time and resources on producing irrelevant content that would not have any impact on the audience. This would also help you set up key metrics to measure the success of your campaign.

Establish your audience-

Social media is used by people of all ages. But depending on the age group, they tend to choose one platform over another. Given the age group and buyer persona of your target audience, you can select the appropriate platform to engage with them. For instance, the younger generation frequents Instagram, while Twitter’s user base is demographically older. Facebook is perfect for consumers, while LinkedIn is the place to be for B2B businesses. The closer you get to your audience, the more likely you are to successfully engage with them.

Do your homework –

We don’t live on an island, nor can you use the trial and error method for all insights. So it is always prudent to check out what others in the industry are doing to woo the same target audience.  This will give you valuable information about the platforms they use, the content they engage with, the audience’s response, their tone, hashtags, CTAs, and more. You will get a fair idea about what works, what doesn’t, and what can be tweaked to have a successful marketing campaign. All this without spending any money! Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Don’t spread yourself thin –

There is no need to have a presence on every social media platform unless you are sure that your target audience uses it regularly. You are better off narrowing down the platform that is the best fit for your business and audience and focusing on building an image there. If you are a B2C business, Instagram should be your platform of choice. For B2B businesses, LinkedIn and Twitter are a better fit. 

Have Brand guidelines-

Setting out the brand guidelines will help you manage your social media accounts better. It will help to have all the people with access to the account, on the same page. It is essential to have a consistent brand tone and uniformity across platforms to enhance brand visibility. Whether it is the brand voice, the emojis used, the use of hashtags, the protocol for responding to the audience, or even the taboo words or topics for the brand, they should all be laid out and adhered to. 

Mix up your content-

Depending on the tastes and preferences of your target audience, you can offer an assortment of content, including photos, videos, blogs, live streams, Instagram stories, and so on. Based on audience responses, you can tweak the same.

Always create a content calendar-

To ensure you don’t miss out on any important dates or events, it is best to maintain a monthly content calendar where you plan the content for the entire month. This will ensure that you have a proper mix of content with the right periodicity and you cover important days/ festivals etc.

Don’t miss out on Moment Marketing –

While you can plan your regular content, moment marketing has to be done on the go by seizing the moment and running with it. The weirdest of things can catch the attention of the audience and go viral in no time. If you spot such a trend, just jump in and leverage it to your advantage by posting something creative around it and using the same hashtag. 

Measure, measure, measure – 

You are only as good as the results show. Don’t be scared of measuring the performance of your campaign. Keep tracking the important metrics, and if you are not happy, see what can be done to fix the issue. Unless you measure the results, you won’t know what works and what doesn’t. This will make the campaign sub-optimal. 

Working with the best social media management is a full-time task and requires a dedicated team of professionals who can deliver the right services. If you are looking for a social media management company in Bangalore, take a look at Team Pumpkin. It is a fully integrated digital marketing company that provides social media management services across all social media platforms. It caters to both B2C and B2B clients with aplomb and has often delivered viral campaigns that have taken the internet by storm.