Social media is an incredible tool for marketing and brand building. It allows you to reach a large group of people in their own space, and it encourages engagement with your audience.
When done correctly, social media can help build trust among consumers and make them feel like they’re part of the brand experience.
In this post, I'll walk through how to use social media strategically so that you get the most bang for your buck out of these valuable marketing channels.
Take a look at your current marketing strategy.
You’ve already done some of the legwork here, so I’m going to focus on what you can do in the future.
For now, take a look at what is *currently* working for you and where you see it falling short.
You may need to do some digging into things like budgets, resources and competitors (more on this later).
Ask yourself what sets your brand apart from the rest?
What makes you stand out?
Why should someone choose to work with you over another company?
If there's one thing that makes your business different than others, it could be as simple as having an established reputation or a certain type of expertise.
Whatever it is, think hard about what makes you unique and how that can be used to attract new customers and build loyalty with existing ones.
There are several types of social networks, and you should decide which ones are best for your brand.
Many brands choose to focus on one particular platform, but it's important to note that the best strategy is often a combination of different social media channels.
For example, if you're marketing a product aimed at younger people then Snap Chat or Instagram might be a better choice than Facebook or Twitter. However, if your product appeals to older individuals then LinkedIn may prove more effective than any other network.
In order to decide which channels are best suited for your business needs, consider these points:
- What is the audience demographic? If there are specific characteristics about this group (i.e., age range and gender), what social media sites do they use most often?
- What does the brand stand for? How does its identity translate online - through specific content or by communicating directly with fans via comments sections on articles shared by influencers?
- What are the business goals? Without a clear strategy, it’s impossible to know which sites will help you achieve them. For example, if your goal is to increase awareness then LinkedIn might be more effective than Facebook because it allows users to engage with your brand more easily.
Build a social media content calendar and plan ahead.
Social media is an excellent way to communicate with customers. But, if you don't plan things out well in advance, it can be easy for your social media strategy to slip through the cracks and become more of an afterthought than a crucial part of your marketing strategy.
To avoid this trap, consider setting aside time every week or month to review what's currently happening on each platform and plan ahead for upcoming events or activities. You should have a content calendar for each social media platform that lists out upcoming posts and when they'll go live so nothing gets lost in the shuffle (or forgotten about altogether).
Posting at the right times is another important aspect of building brand awareness with social media: research shows that posting during peak hours—such as between 9am-5pm on business days—can help increase engagement with your audience while boosting clickthrough rates by up to 10%.
Another tip is adding hashtags; they're often used as search terms by users looking for specific information or causes related to their interests so including them makes it easier for people searching those terms on Google (or other search engines) find what they're looking for while also giving potential followers an idea where they can find more information about these topics too!
When you post at the right time, more people will see your posts.
Posting at the wrong time might be a waste of time and annoy your followers. It can also hurt your engagement numbers because it will look like no one is interested in what you’re sharing (even if they are)!
The key to getting more out of social media? Finding out what the best times are for each platform and using those tools to schedule posts accordingly.
The bad news: There isn’t a one-size-fits all solution because every audience has different preferences when it comes to timing their content consumption. And even within an audience there can be outliers who prefer different things.
Don’t be afraid to promote your event via paid advertising on social media platforms.
Don't be afraid to promote your event via paid advertising on social media platforms. Social media is free to use, so why not take advantage of it? You can pay to promote your posts, page, or even your events and videos.
The thing to keep in mind is that you should only do this if you have a budget. It can be tempting to use social media as an advertising platform, but it’s not always the best option. Especially if your goal is to build brand awareness rather than sell tickets.
The only way to know if it’s working is by tracking your results. Track everything from the number of clicks on each post, to how many people visit your social media pages, the number of impressions and interactions you get, as well as how many people buy tickets after seeing an ad.
If you can prove that your social media advertising is working, then by all means keep doing it! But if not, stop wasting your time and money.
Carrying out an influencer marketing campaign can do wonders for your event promotion.
In my experience, this is one of the fastest ways to grow an audience quickly. For example: I recently had a client who wanted me to build them a website where they could sell their products online (which I did). However, they didn't have much of an audience yet.
The client was doing some of the work themselves and they were also trying to grow their business organically. They had tried a few different things, but nothing was really working for them. I suggested that we start promoting their brand on social media because it seemed like the best way to quickly build an audience.
They were hesitant at first because they didn't know where to start. I explained that there are a few different methods we could try, but the best one is something called influencer marketing.
This strategy involves finding people with large followings (AKA “influencers”) and working with them to promote the brand in exchange for money or free products/services. In this case, we decided to hire an influencer who could help us promote our client's website on their social media accounts.
The influencer we hired had a large following on Instagram, where they posted photos of themselves wearing different outfits every day. They also had a YouTube channel where they would post makeup tutorials and vlogs about their daily life.
This person was perfect for our client because they were an excellent example of the target audience for this product (young women). Their followers were very interested in fashion and beauty products, so we knew that this influencer would be able to get their audience excited about our client’s website. By using this strategy, we were able to get our client’s website in front of millions of people who were interested in fashion and beauty products.
Conclusion
If you want to build your brand and engage with your target audience, the first step is to decide which social media platforms will be most effective for your business. You should also consider how much time and resources you can dedicate toward managing these accounts. Once that’s decided, you can start building your social media presence one post at a time!
Click here to learn more about attending our next Event Planner Expo where you will learn more about how to grow your brand on social media! We have marketing experts from all over the country come out to speak to you about how to improve your social media strategy.