Is your social media marketing strategy future proof?

During this whole operation, a good social media marketer will track the results of their strategies to make sure everything is working well. And if it isn’t, then they have the numbers to tell them what to change in the future. Tracking is a key component to every social media marketing strategy that your company starts. The biggest reason is that it makes their next job possible.

This course looks at the channels of marketing, advertising, and communication that make up social media and the web, exploring how these tools fit into a company's traditional integrated marketing strategy. Using case studies and real-world examples from large corporations and small businesses, students explore current examples and future opportunities of how marketing professionals embrace online social networks, user-generated content, and content sharing to create brand awareness and buzz. Learn practical tips and techniques, as well as see the bigger picture to help successfully leverage social media marketing for your own environment and purpose.

Developing a social media presence is only part of an effective social media strategy. To see lasting benefits, brands need to find ways to continuously grow and engage their audiences. In the final unit of this social media management course, you’ll learn about influencer marketing, community management, and customer service in social media. Build awareness around changes to social platforms, new technologies, and regulations to inform strategic efforts and growth into the future.

Your social media marketing strategy book should be a living document. You have to keep improving it. But for you to do this, you must be in a position to see the impact of your past actions. The actionable insights will provide what you have done in the past and the results you got out of it will help you plan for the future. Find a good tracking analytics tool to understand key marketing insights and assess your social media performance. By tracking your analytics, you will be better placed to create targeted marketing strategies that will improve the quality of your brand following.

Build and grow stronger relationships on social

Social networking websites allow individuals, businesses and other organizations to interact with one another and build relationships and communities online . When companies join these social channels, consumers can interact with them directly. That interaction can be more personal to users than traditional methods of outbound marketing and advertising. Social networking sites act as word of mouth or more precisely, e-word of mouth. The internet's ability to reach billions across the globe has given online word of mouth a powerful voice and far reach. The ability to rapidly change buying patterns and product or service acquisition and activity to a growing number of consumers is defined as an influence network.

Live video increased in popularity in 2016 with the creation of facebook live , youtube live , tiktok live , and instagram live. Shortly after, facebook announced that it would launch its 360-degree video for facebook live users by early 2017. Mobile devices allow us to capture raw, live footage. And live videos allow marketers to share immediate, exciting updates, record ongoing events, and even make announcements. The potential of live video for marketing doesn’t stop there, though. Live shopping is also growing in popularity, in which companies can direct users to purchase their products during live streams. This trend allows marketers to build stronger relationships with their customers while also allowing online shoppers to see their products in real time.

Besides reaching larger audiences, organizations have the opportunity to form stronger relationships and boost brand loyalty. Social media and online networks have created unprecedented paths to forming connections between companies and customers. Businesses can build rapport with social media users by sharing deals on products, responding to comments, discussing company operations, and most important ly, sharing the brand’s unique voice. In fact, giving a behind-the-scenes perspective solidifies trust and transparency , winning over more followers in the process. Social media platforms have also become valuable resources for organizations due to their cost-effectiveness. When companies engage with their followers, people start to associate an identity with the company.

Example social media goals for 2023 and beyond

Communities are social units that create a feeling of fellowship with others as a result of sharing common interests, goals, and attitudes. Social media marketers are responsible for fostering thriving communities. It's not enough just to have a huge social following. You must also have an engaged community.

Before you dive right in and publish something on social media, let’s take a step back and look at the bigger picture. The first step is to think about your social media strategy. What are your goals? how can social media help you achieve your business goals ? some businesses use social media for increasing their brand awareness , others use it for driving website traffic and sales. Social media can also help you generate engagement around your brand, create a community, and serve as a customer support channel for your customers. Which social media platforms do you want to focus on? the major social media platforms, mentioned above, are facebook, instagram, twitter, linkedin, pinterest, youtube, and snapchat.

Having a solid plan, objectives, and goals are imperative if you want to jumpstart your social media strategy. If you don’t know what you want, how are you supposed to achieve it? not to mention, you can’t measure or evolve your strategies over time if you don’t have strong goals to begin with. Your social media goals should align with your overall marketing efforts. Writing down your goals is paramount if you want to reach them. According to a study, you’re 30% more likely to be successful if you write your goals down. In some studies that number is as high as 40%.

Start by researching your competition on all the major social media platforms. Look for what they're doing, how often they post and what their posts look like. By reviewing their work, you'll be able to determine if you want to emulate them or branch out on your own. Once you've found a strategy that works for you, create an editorial calendar with specific day-to-day tasks and goals outlined. You should be updating your social channels throughout the week rather than just once per week. Posting more often keeps people interested and leads them back to your site.

To excel in social media marketing , it’s important to create goals that guide your efforts. The smart goal strategy provides a helpful framework to create foundational goals and meet your overall objectives. Smart stands for: specific: in order to measure and meet goals, it’s important to be clear about precisely what you hope to achieve. This is especially important for getting your team onboard as you work collectively towards the goal. A specific social media goal, for example, might be to increase your twitter followers by 20% this quarter. Measurable: you need to know definitively whether you’ve reached your goal or not.

Picking networks for your social media marketing strategy

With all business profiles on all social media networks accessible to the public, this could be your chance as an entrepreneur to know your competitor better and understand the strategies that they are implementing to attract their audiences. You would be able to see the content that they are posting on their social media profiles and judge which posts are doing better. After carrying out this analysis of your competitor’s profile and looking into all the queries asked by their audience, you will be able to incorporate those questions into your digital marketing strategy. Go through their posts, their comments, and how they are engaging with their audience.

Week 1: a strategic perspective on social media marketing introduction to social media and how it has altered the consumer decision-making process and communications paradigm. Describe the role of social media in marketing strategy and assess the tradeoffs in using social media relative to traditional communication methods. Learn how to set social media marketing objectives that are linked to business objectives. Week 2: leveraging networks understand the role of networks in the distribution of content, including network structure and how it affects the flow of information. Learn how to leverage online networks and communities to engage consumers in brand-related conversations. Discuss how to identify influencers and their role in distributing content.

We think the cipr social media panel defines social media marketing well: social media is the term commonly given to internet and mobile-based channels and tools that allow users to interact with each other and share opinions and content. As the name implies, social media involves the building of communities or networks and encouraging participation and engagement. Their definition emphasises that we need to use different digital media channels to encourage our prospects and customers to interact to form communities. It also hints at the challenges of encouraging engagement. To help you develop a strategy for social media we've identified these key types of platforms in our social media marketing radar.

Imagine spending as little as 6 hours a week in order to increase your business's recognition, traffic, and sales with little to no cost. That's right! about 90% of marketers claimed that social media generated immense exposure for their company, and that's only one of its many advantages. Social networks are now a substantial part of every marketing strategy, and the benefits of using social media are so great that anyone not implementing this cost-effective resource is missing out on a phenomenal marketing opportunity. It's easy to see that social media marketing is a key element for success in marketing and many marketers realize the potential for business growth using the platform.

Find your brand voice

Customers aren’t interested in businesses that publish dry, corporate-style social media posts. Instead, let your brand’s personality shine through in everything you share on social media. What does your brand voice sound like? how does it represent who you are? while brands need to be polite and empathetic to their audiences, it is more important to find a voice and take a stand. Practice getting your tone just right, whether it’s casual and funny or formal and friendly. Be true to who you are, not who you think you should be. Followers want to see real people behind your social profiles.