- Social media is one of the most important parts of your digital marketing strategy.
- Cater your social media content strategy to your business’ needs
- Balance posting meaningful content that will grow your customer relations and posts targeting community engagement.
In the world of marketing, there are two main realms: traditional and digital. Traditional marketing media typically consists of newspapers, magazines, telephone books, radio, and TV. On the other hand, digital marketing is through digital channels such as websites, search engines, and social media.
Social media marketing is especially important because it allows companies to connect with existing and potential customers directly. But with this great power comes great responsibility, which is why it’s super important to think things through when launching a social media content strategy.
What’s wrong with sticking to email newsletters?
Absolutely nothing! Email newsletters are a great way to reach existing customers, but as of May 2022, the industry average for people who actually open those emails is only 30.35%. If you want to reach more people, the best way is to get into their social media feeds when they’re scrolling on their phones. Social media posts are a great way to connect with existing and potential new customers as long as you have the technical know-how to navigate them.
That’s where we come in! Here at Redefine Marketing Group, we want to help give you all the resources you need to execute a successful social media content strategy and organically grow your social media presence.
Know your audience
Are you a coffee shop? Restaurant? Clothing store? Corporation? Gaming company? Regardless of what you do, there’s a social media platform for you! Every social media platform has different stats, so it’s best to figure out what works best for your specific target audience.
Factors to consider when picking a platform
Each and every platform has its own quirks and variations in what type of content can be posted as well as who uses their platforms, so it’s important to take a step back and think. Consider your brand/company as well as what each platform has to offer.
- What industry are you in, and which social media platforms do your competitors use?
- Who is your target audience? Your target demographic?
- What age group uses the social media platform the most? Does it align with your target age group?
- What type of content is primarily used on the platform? (Photos, temporary stories, videos, text, etc)
- What is your goal? Are you trying to increase brand awareness? Increase sales? Or to educate others?
- What resources will you need? Is the platform more text based or image/graphics based?
- When do people usually check their social media? What’s the best time to post?
- Anything else you find relevant to your company
For example, if you’re a B2B company aiming to grow your network, LinkedIn might be better than Instagram for you. On the other hand, if you’re a local coffee shop with a unique aesthetic, Instagram might be better for you. Aside from the main social media platforms used by businesses, there are also platforms for reaching very specific audiences like Reddit, which might be more difficult to tackle, but can benefit you well.
Knowing your target audience is a crucial part of developing a social media content strategy because it’ll help you figure out what type of content to post as well as when to post. It also helps to plan out your social media posts ahead of time to make sure that your posts are cohesive and go out during high traffic times. To ensure that posts go out on time, you can also schedule posts.
How often is too often for posting?
There’s nothing wrong with posting often, but make sure there’s a purpose to what you’re posting and remember, quality over quantity!
Here are some popular posting ratios that businesses use to balance out their content. Keep in mind, depending on your platform of choice, these ratios might need to be adjusted.
- 10:4:1 Ratio
- 10 reposts of third party, industry expert content to gain the trust of your audience
- 4 pieces of original content
- 1 Call to action post highlighting products to drive sales
- 4:1:1 Ratio
- 4 reposts of fun/educational content relevant to your brand
- 1 soft sell to build/maintain a relationship with your customers and to stay at the front of their minds
- 1 hard sell to push consumers to purchase something (flash sales, limited product drop, etc.)
- 5:3:2 Ratio
- 5 reposts of relevant content to your audience and brand
- 3 pieces of original content surrounding what your business does
- 2 personal and fun posts that show your brand’s personality
What’s brand personality? And why does it matter?
Brand personality is a way to show consumers what you value as a brand and creates a sense of individuality against all other brands. If a brand makes a conscious effort to care for the environment in all aspects of their business, consumers will notice, and it could even be the deciding factor between your brand and a competitor. Following that example and utilizing posting ratio recommendations, an eco-conscious brand might share posts about the environment. Brand personality creates a connection with consumers.
When crafting your posts, it’s important to also think about subliminal messaging. If you’re posting about fun Summer activities, you’ll want to use bright colors that match the messaging. For example, Jeep’s advertising revolves around the dark green color, which is often associated with nature and exploring the outdoors. Having the proper imagery to go along with the messaging of your post will help in the long run, as well as keep your brand personality consistent.
Time to get posting!
With everything that goes into curating the perfect social media content strategy, it’s no wonder why social media plays such an important role in digital marketing. Whether you’re just starting out or already have a social media presence, your business is unique and deserves a social media content strategy that’s just as unique as yours is. If you have any questions, the social media team at Redefine Marketing Group is more than happy to help!
