Whether you love it or hate it, social media dominates modern society. Whatever captures the attention of the people, captures their wallets as well.
Since most people spend hours on social media every single day, it’s up to you to get your brand and your message in front of them on these platforms. There’s no use advertising in ways that won’t catch their attention.
But building a marketing strategy with Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, and other platforms is far easier said than done. It takes time and dedication to make it work.
Marketing with Instagram in particular can be extremely effective in almost any industry. The latest instagram engagement time features allow you to use one platform to reach different types of people with different types of content.
And all of it can build your audience and customer base, growing your business. Wondering how to set up your social media marketing strategy? Keep reading to find out how.
Understand Your Target Audience
Before you post anything on social media, you need to have a complete understanding of your target audience. Who is your perfect customer?
How old are they, where do they live, how much money do they make, and how do they spend their time? What is important to them when shopping around for new products or services?
Answers to these questions will dictate what type of content you create that will attract more of those people.
Choosing the Correct Type of Content
Depending on your company and your industry, you will likely find there is a perfect type of content to create, and everything else should be ignored. Your profile and posting strategy need to be coherent.
For example, if you build custom kayaks, all of your posts should probably be people out in the wild using these kayaks on rivers and lakes. You shouldn’t be posting photos of your office, of your family, or of what your employees ate for lunch. You can, however, share these types of “behind the scenes” pieces of content in other, less formal ways.
Engage and Encourage
One of the benefits of Instagram is the ability to create and share multiple types of content. Posts that stick to your profile, and Instagram Stories are the most popular forms of content on the platform.
You can opt to share one type of content on your profile while sharing another type of content in your Stories. One of the most effective strategies to use is to share user-generated content in your Stories.
Each time someone tags your brand in their Stories, you will have the option to also share it in your Stories. Not only does this make that individual feel seen and valued, encouraging them to do this again, but it encourages other people to also share their experience with your brand online.
Soon, you’ll have dozens, if not hundreds, of people tagging your brand in Stories every single day. Sure, they are doing it in the hopes of getting you to reshare their Stories, but they are also marketing your products to their friends and family.
It’s a win-win situation.
Leverage Other Audiences
Even if you are starting your social media campaign late in the game, you don’t have to build from scratch. Smart brands, and brand new companies, build by leveraging existing audiences.
One of the best ways to do this is by collaborating with other, non-competing brands to host a giveaway or contest. Each brand that participates contributes to the prize pool, making it so valuable that thousands of people sign up to win.
One of the requirements for entry can simply be to follow each brand in the contest, building your following fast without having to fork over tons of cash.
Maintaining Followers
Getting new followers is only part of the puzzle. The other piece is maintaining followers, as it’s actually very easy to lose followers.
Losing some followers on a regular basis is natural, but with some intentionality, you can minimize the loss and keep users engaged. Some of the main ways brands lose followers is by expressing opinions not shared by everyone, as well as losing followers during an Instagram cleanse.
The good news is, that many times, a sudden loss of tons of followers might actually be fake accounts anyways. While it’s a bummer to see your follower count drop, it’s nice to know that those following and supporting your brand are actually real people.
Thinking Through the End of the Funnel
So you have a stellar posting strategy. You have photographers on your team to create original, high-quality images to share. You have writers in place to type out engaging, thought-provoking captions.
But none of it matters if you don’t have an end goal. You can’t simply post for the sake of posting. You need to know exactly why you are marketing through social media.
This should honestly be the first thing you think about, rather than the last. What is the ideal action that you want users to take when they first discover your brand and social media profile?
Once they follow you, what is the ideal action you want them to take in order to become a customer? Once they have become a customer, what is the action you are hoping to take?
You need to be able to answer these questions, in detail, in order to move people from being unaware of your brand to become a follower, then to become a customer, and finally to become a raving fan and leading new customers to you.
Let’s dissect each micro journey that you hope your users will take.
Becoming a Follower
When it comes to social media marketing, your goal is to first build an effective funnel, then spend all of your efforts filling the funnel by growing your list of followers and fans.
As new people are exposed to your social media profile on a regular basis by following the strategies listed earlier, you need to get them to take action.
You want them to see your profile, read a sentence about your brand, and feel compelled enough to hit the follow button. By creating high-quality content that encourages engagement, getting new followers becomes much easier.
Once people begin to follow you, your next goal is to get them on your email list. After all, your social media following isn’t something you own. It’s the property of Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, and other popular social media platforms.
Building your email list gives you control over your audience, ensuring you can community with them at all times.
You should have an incentive to encourage new followers to sign up for your email list right away. This could be by creating a free digital resource, sending them a discount or a sticker, or some other gift.
Once on your email list, the next journey becomes much easier.
Becoming a Customer
Once a user follows your social media profile, and ideally signs up for your email list as well, they can start the journey to becoming a customer. It’s all about education, inspiration, and communication.
Over the next few days and weeks, your posts and emails should be tugging at the emotional heartstrings of your audience, speaking to their pain points, and highly fighting their hopes and dreams.
You want them to feel inspired every time they interact with your brand. Then you want to educate them on why your products and services are a good fit for them.
It’s also during this time that you want to open the lines of communication. Social media and email should be a two-way street, allowing feedback, questions, and concerns to be addressed by real people on your team.
Encourage users to respond to your email blasts. Give a CTA after each social media post encouraging questions and feedback from your audience. The more that people see your brand communicating with the community, the more likely they will become a customer, as you are building trust.
Becoming a Raving Fan
So you’ve gotten a member of your audience to pull out their wallet and become a customer. Congratulations. All of your efforts were worth it.
But your work isn’t done yet. There are two things left to do.
First, you want to offer this customer the best level of service possible, blowing their expectations away. When you do this, you will encourage repeat purchases.
After all, increasing your revenue from existing customers is far more cost-effective than trying to find new customers.
The second thing you want to do is create a raving fan. When you provide exceptional service, and when your products exceed their expectations, customers will tell their friends about your brand.
They will share their experience on social media, building up your brand and potentially leading new customers to you, without you having to do anything.
Imagine having an army of extremely satisfied customers going out and finding you new customers for free. Sounds like a dream come true, doesn’t it?
Make sure you use your social media platforms as a way to encourage customers to remain engaged with your brand so you can build raving fans, growing your customer base and revenue for years to come.
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Building Your Marketing Strategy With Instagram
For most companies, focusing on your marketing strategy with Instagram is going to be the most effective. Everyone is on the platform, and with so many different types of content to create and share, you have a chance at truly finding your tribe.
Just make sure to think through every piece of your campaign. Every action should have a result in mind, otherwise, you are wasting your time.
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