Getting the Most Out of Your Social Media Marketing Campaigns

If you hope to match the success of your competitors in 2023, social media absolutely must be a part of your marketing strategy. Many customers choose social media to make purchasing decisions, and you don’t want to miss out on that slice of the pie. With that said, there’s more to creating an effective social media campaign than just posting a link to your product here and there. You need to learn about your audience and tailor your posts to their likes, personalities, and needs.

Why You Need Social Media

As a business owner, you’re likely aware of the need for social media and you may even post a few times here and there. Still, if you don’t step up your efforts, you could be losing many potential customers. The proof is in the numbers. In a survey from 2021, people were asked about their social media usage. Of them, 78% of respondents aged 16 to 34 stated that social media was the reason they made at least one purchase. If your posts are engaging and informative, then that next purchase could be from your company. 

Of course, social media is more than just making direct purchases. It’s also about making your brand known to the masses so they recognize you going forward, since if they like what they see, they may buy from you in the future. Studies show that around 30% of internet users say they’re likely to purchase items after seeing them advertised on social media.

Using social media has a variety of benefits.  In addition to marketing and sales, it can also be used to:

• Build community;
• Educate customers on topics of interest;
• Respond to customer complaints;
• Handle customer service issues in real-time so you can turn a negative situation around on the spot.

Using social media effectively is essential to making sure your business isn’t falling behind.

Researching Your Audience

For your social media campaign to work, you need to have a strategy, and it can’t be blindly creating and posting ads at all hours of the day in the hopes of catching a few customers. Instead, you need to take a moment and research your audience. Research everything about them, including:

• The types of items they like to buy;
• What they like about the products they purchase;
• Their personality type, and more.

It’s important to learn what makes your customers tick, and you can do that with quantitative and qualitative research. Quantitative research is collecting numerical data, like how many people click on the link in your posts and how many comments and shares a particular type of post may get. This way you can determine what is popular with your audience, and keep producing that type of post to get the most potential customers possible.

The other part of the equation is qualitative research, which is a unique approach you would likely do on a post-by-post basis. Essentially, it’s collecting non-numerical data, like opinions and experiences. One way to gather qualitative information is to create some posts and then see how people are responding and what their comments look like. If you’re getting positive comments, you may want to continue with this post. You’re essentially diving deeper to understand what customers do and don’t like and why.

You’ll also need a plan for how you intend to gather that market research. While you can look at numbers on the backend of your social media profiles to determine quantitative factors, sometimes, you need to dive deeper to get qualitative data. Consider conducting interviews or posting online surveys. Then, use that data to create a road map to dictate your future posts.

Working With Influencers

While data will give you many amazing insights into how to boost your marketing,  sometimes, you may need a little help. Influencers can help give your products a boost. When researching potential influencers, you don’t want to simply pick a name out of a hat. It’s important to choose the right influencer partnership for your brand. This individual should have a high level of credibility for your chosen audience, and rely on authenticity more than reach. For example, Eva Longoria and L’oreal’s partnership works well because both are recognizable names and the actress has a high level of relevancy for L’oreal’s chosen audience.

You can find someone that matches your brand by creating a buyer persona, which is essentially creating a character that’s a representation of your company’s ideal customer. You can create this buyer persona by researching your target audience, and asking them directly what they look for in your type of product and what they dislike. Put it all together and share that info with your marketing team. Find an influencer that fits that mold and see if they can help to increase your reach.

A celebrity endorsement is another option. If they’re famous enough, then it may not matter if they’re not a perfect match with your brand because their audience will be large enough that you’re bound to bring in new customers. Of course, you want to find a celebrity with a large social media following.

Advertise Your Company

Yes, selling your products is the number one goal of your social media marketing. However, so is creating posts that will draw attention to your brand. The objective is to generate word-of-mouth. You can try many methods, including jumping on current trends by adding relevant hashtags and sharing positive customer reviews so everyone can see how great your brand can be.

Another idea is to create merchandise for your brand to distribute as part of your marketing campaign.  These products should feature your corporate logo and color scheme and be in line with your other branding efforts. You’ll want to do your research before you start producing merchandise, so you can produce products that your audience uses. So, if you sell coffee or office supplies, you could sell a coffee mug with your logo or give one away during a promotion. You could pick a random commenter and give them their prize to drum up excitement for your brand.

You don’t necessarily need to break the bank on your promotional materials, either. Customized stickers, car magnets, and tote bags are items everyone can enjoy, and when people bring them around town, you’ll get free advertising.

Conclusion

This is a solid plan for tackling your next social media marketing campaign. Take the time to research your costumes and tailor your efforts to them, and you’ll have a great chance of making sales and spreading positive word-of-mouth about your brand.