Tips for Effective Social Media Marketing

"Social Media Marketing refers to the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites". (Mashable)

In our previous blog posts, we have talked about some forms of Social Media Marketing (SMM) and their importance. In this article, we’re highlighting some tips for SMM that we at WebServes use in our SMM and believe that they can be very effective if followed. 1. 3Cs Our 3Cs acronym of Context, Content and Clarity helps to identify relevant messages when deciding on what to post on social media platforms: a) Context. Who is your audience and how will your information be of interest to them? b) Content. Have a good mix of facts and stories to make your content attractive. c) Clarity. People have a short span of attention thanks to the vast amount of information being sent their way.Deliver a clear and captivating message to make people want to read it and get the most out of it in the least amount of time

2. Variety

Vary your content using different forms of media such as text, images and videos. It makes it easier on the eyes of your followers and also gives a touch of pleasant surprise to your social media engagement. Have your followers wondering what medium your next post will take instead of using the easily predictable all-text format!

3. Performance Analysis and Action

Since we invest so much time in creating and researching content, it makes sense to devote time to analyze the results of the content we’re posting. Analytics software such as Google Analytics is a great tool for studying what works, what doesn't and how to optimize your social media engagement to make sure you get the most out of your efforts. Analysis should be followed by action. It is not enough to take note of what is not working if we do not make an effort to fix it.

4. Frequency of posts

Do not use your social media platforms to post messages once a month or when you have a big event that you want to advertise. Frequent content sharing will help to build the number of followers and maintain interest in your organization. Infrequent posts are as good as not having any SMM at all.

5. Conversational approach

SMM is all about engagement and building relationships. Therefore, it is necessary to interact with your followers and get the conversation going. Respond to comments on your posts even if it is just a Thank You!

6. Giving credit where it is due

It is not easy to come up with new content all the time and it is not a crime to share someone else’s work if the proper credit is given where it is due.

7. Talking about your organization

What’s new, fun and exciting in what you’re doing?

8. Making use of technology

Use social listening tools and dashboards (e.g. Hootsuite) to monitor, manage and schedule your posts easily. At WebServes, we utilize Hootsuite as our primary dashboard. Hootsuite streamilnes our social media activity by coordinating and monitoring our Facebook and Twitter posts using one dashboard. This has saved us the time we spend in logging into each social media platform separately and creating content ideal for each platform. Now, it’s just log into one and done!

9. Differentiating SMM from traditional marketing.

Don’t treat social media marketing as a traditional form of marketing wherein the main purpose is to advertise products and services. In social media marketing, the main purpose is to share information, engage with people and create a brand that they can identify and relate to.

10. Balancing your social media activity.

Don’t bombard followers with posts to the extent that you push them away. Have a schedule that works for your organization e.g. 1 post a day each for Facebook and Twitter and a blog once a week so that while you are ensuring the frequency of your posts, you are not spamming your followers’ inboxes. This is not an exhaustive list of tips but it is one that has helped us to see positive results in our SMM. Do you have any tips to add onto this list? Share them with us in the ‘Leave a Reply’ section below! ~Ramya