Social media marketing can be a tricky minefield. If you take just one wrong step, you might find yourself in an explosive PR nightmare. There have been countless notable companies in the past that have made cringe-worthy mistakes in their social media campaigns and have had to work hard to fix their reputations after the fact. Unfortunately, as we all know, nothing truly disappears on the internet, so it’s important to take any and all steps to avoid problems before they arise.
Listen to Your Target Audience
Before starting your campaign, listen to your target audience and position yourself where they are. If your company sells beauty products, you can look to the large beauty community on Instagram to get a better grasp of what your audience spends their time talking about. Researching your target demographic beforehand can also give you a better idea as to what your customers are asking for straight off of their own personal platforms. This allows for your business to get ahead of the game by connecting directly with audiences via a social media outlet. If you are a B2B company, you should look more at interacting with people on more professional platforms like LinkedIn. Look at their content and note their opinions on business and non-business related subjects to stay informed about their ideals and interests. These methods help you to become familiar with your audiences and create content that directly appeals to them.
Make Sure Your Social Media Marketing Campaign is Focused
If you spread yourself thin, you’re more likely to make mistakes. That’s why it’s important to keep your social media campaigns as focused as possible. For example, if you’re a B2C company and your potential customers are teenagers and college students, you don’t need to focus on LinkedIn as much as you need to focus on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. This more narrow focus will help you stay connected with a specific set of consumers and ensure that you communicate effectively with them.
Quality over Quantity
It’s important to post content regularly. In fact, we believe you should establish a set schedule so your audience knows when to expect updates or new content. You can use Instagram and Twitter on a regular basis for quick updates. Heavier content, however, requires more detailed and specific planning in order to be executed successfully. Quantity never trumps quality in social media marketing. Always make sure your content is well-written and provides the most accurate information possible so that consumers look to your company as legitimate and credible.
Triple Check and Get Second Opinions
It can be tedious to double-check everything and get second opinions on every post, but it is a vital aspect of a solid social media marketing campaign. There are many companies that post comments and content they believe are funny or appropriate, but they entirely miss the mark. If you check what you’re about to post and get a second opinion from a trusted source, you will be able to avoid potentially huge marketing mistakes.
At the end of the day, it is important for businesses of all kind to understand that marketing through all of the various social media platforms can prove to be an extremely essential and valuable advertising tool. The key is to differentiate effective and powerful campaigns that will appeal to your consumers versus irrelevant, weak, and inappropriate ones.
If you have any questions about social media marketing or want to try our services at ESB Advertising, give us a call at 703-988-2307 or fill in a contact us form!
