Do you try to predict the success of your post before you publish?
I do.
For example, when I wrote Are You Wasting Your Time Promoting at Social Media Sites? I thought it was an important topic considering all the recent algorithm changes at social media sites. However, I wasn’t sure if anyone else would consider those changes important to be informed about.
Imagine my shock to find four months later that the post is one of my most shared of all time and has received more social shares on Twitter than any other post I’ve written.
Clearly, social media is important for a blogger. Based on the number of social shares on my post, bloggers realize that.
Although today’s guest author connects social media with your potential to make money online, her tips are valuable for anyone looking to boost their blog traffic from social media.
By Anna Rodriguez
Social media marketing has undoubtedly redefined the way brands connect with customers. It’s a proven method to get more engagements and results. In fact, 93% of marketers today use social media as a platform to promote their businesses because they recognize its importance in brand awareness and growth. And this trend is unlikely to go away soon. According to Statista, the number of social media users worldwide is expected to reach a whopping 2.5 billion by 2018. That’s like one-third of the entire world population—a remarkable fact that is astounding until you knew that the average social media user maintains at least five accounts.
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The point is, social media is a staple in the marketing world today. If you’re not already using it to give your brand a stronger digital presence, here are eight tips for improving your strategies to help you get started.
Treat each channel uniquely
A lot of social media channels out there stand out because of their uniqueness. Facebook, for instance, engages users who like interesting content, regardless of the length or form. Twitter’s nature, on the other hand, makes it ideal for posting short and sometimes provocative chunks of thought. Instagram is for the visual readers who like attention-grabbing photos and videos. LinkedIn and Google+, conversely, are rather business-focused so they’re perfect for educational content. Snapchat’s sense of urgency lets brands create exciting discussions. YouTube as a video platform makes it a great site for discovery and engagement. And so on, and so forth. You get the picture.
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If you’re looking for a one-size-fits-all solution to the diversity of social media, just stop; you won’t find one. Unlike in the famous sci-fi trilogy, there’s “no one ring to rule them all,” as iterated in an article by Propelrr, a digital marketing agency in the Philippines that goes all-around in online advertising. Because every channel is unique, it’s important that you analyze what strategies work for each one so you can create a marketing plan that gets results.
Give your content a bit of a zing
Although the various social media channels require different approaches when it comes to promotions, there’s still this one common element that they share—the need for original, shareable content. No matter how zealous you are in promoting, your efforts will all be for nothing if the content itself is bland, useless, or just plain ordinary. For your website, blog, and social media to attract more attention, your content should offer something new.
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Content doesn’t stop in the text; it goes on to include everything that your audience can see and experience within your site. That counts in the images, videos, and even the angle from which you tell your story. So, for a better social media strategy, spice up your content.
Use powerful visuals to fire up your platforms
One of the proven ways to improve social media marketing is to employ powerful visuals. You can pump your channels with photos, videos, and infographics to engage a wider audience. Since 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is in visual form, images can really help to tell your story better. Just remember to always include your brand name and link to the visuals so that you can still get credit when they’re circulating all over the Web. More credit means more backlinks, and more backlinks mean more traffic.
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Also, you might want to make room for a podcast in here. It may not be a visual element, but it’s just as interesting as the others. Plus, it adds diversity to your content.
Offer additional values to your audience
Marketing works because someone somewhere needs something that another person offers. Traditional marketers cashed in on this idea, and they gained much from it. But now that most businesses are migrating to the online platform, digital marketers are taking their own share of the pie. The result? A noisy digital marketing environment.
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This is where added value plays an important role. Because of the crowded social media atmosphere, any brand that offers something extra—an incentive, if you will—stands out. The incentive may come in the form of an e-book, a webinar, a free consultation, or a discount. As long as it’s free and useful, it’s attractive. As Entrepreneur puts it, “By giving customers something that they deem to have worth, you are building trust from the beginning and positioning yourself as an authority figure.”
Check your timing
With the rise of social media came the upsurge of social media management platforms that help marketers do their job easily. One feature that these management platforms offer is automation, which allows digital marketers to schedule their posts on social media. As you know, timing is key to effective promotions. There’s an ideal time for tweeting and pinning. Study them and automate your posts accordingly.
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Remember, you can only learn so many hands-on ways to improve social media marketing. Sometimes, you have to let technology help you out. With automation, you don’t have to scramble anymore to publish a post in your brand’s many social media accounts.
Touch base with your customers often
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Because what’s the point of social media if you don’t? More than to promote your brand, the main reason why you’re in social media is to connect with your customers. Listen to them to find out exactly what they are saying about you, and use that information to give them a better brand experience. By listening to conversations surrounding your brand, you can hop in any time when there is a problem that needs an immediate response. This will not only give your customers a more personalized experience, it will also make them trust you more. Keep in mind that it is only by foraging in social media that you’ll get to look at your brand from a customer’s perspective. You’ll be able to empathize with them, understand their needs, and connect with them better.
Invest in a responsive web design
A “responsive web design” or RWD is rather a technical term for web design and digital marketing. If you’ve encountered it before, you know that it simply means that a site is designed to behave optimally across a wide range of devices—from desktop computers to smartphones.
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So why invest in RWD? In a statistical compilation by Fast Company, 189 million of Facebook users are “mobile-only.” If your website is not responsive, just imagine how much you’d be missing. If that’s not enough to convince you, the same compilation reveals that 25% of smartphone owners between the ages of 18 and 44 said that they can’t recall the last time their smartphone wasn’t next to them. That presents a wide window of opportunity for your brand to be discovered or explored if your website or blog is mobile-friendly.
Sort out your strategies
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Plan, analyze, then plan again. That is the ideal way of doing it. Using the tips you’ve learned so far, make a social media strategy that you would carry across your media platforms. Execute the plan for a considerable amount of time, then analyze the data you have afterwards. You might want to look at the number of posts you’ve published, your follower growth, page views, post likes, shares, site clicks, product clicks, and impressions. This will help you gauge what strategies work out best for you, and what platforms your brand is getting the most engagement from. If this is too much of a tedious task for you, you can always invest in data tracking software. You’ll find many that give significant insights.
Feeling overwhelmed with all these information? You’ll get the drift eventually. With ample time, effort, and resources, you are bound to reap the rewards of well-planned and well-carried-out social media marketing techniques.
Author Bio: Anna Rodriguez is a manager and a passionate writer. She writes about investment, home improvement, green sustainability, business and tech innovations. She owns Homey Guide Blog. You can follow her at @annrodriguez021
Host Blogger’s Comments:
In Tip #5 of her post, Anna discusses the need for tools such as automation tools and podcasts.
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Readers, please share, so both bloggers and marketers can get the benefit of Anna’s tips.
What social media tips can you recommend? Which strategies been the most effective for you? Have you been able to use social media to make money online? I look forward to your answer in the comments section.
