More often than not, it’s the social media management agencies that keep the most effective social media marketing strategies to themselves. Keeping these best kept secrets to themselves gives them an edge over others, that may not have the insider knowledge.
Social media marketing can be tricky, but there are 7 secrets that you were never told, that you should’ve known all along.
They’ll change the trajectory of your digital marketing strategy in the right direction. You’ll start seeing those results that you just couldn’t achieve before, and maximise your return on investment (ROI).
How is it that some businesses have consistent growth and success on social media, and others crash and burn so quickly? The answers are listed below, so keep reading until you get to the most effective way to maximise your ROI when it comes to social media advertising.
Here are 7 social media advertising secrets you were never told (but should’ve known):
7. Community Is Key
Social media was founded on the premise of creating an online network where people could be more connected than ever before. Unfortunately, that founding premise is often overlooked by organisations looking to make a quick buck, the social element of social media is plainly ignored.
It becomes impersonal and loses its socialness; it’s just seen as a way to sell, sell, sell rather than a way to engage with an audience.
Many brands make the mistake of forgetting that there are actual people behind the likes, shares and comments, and wonder why their social media advertising isn’t returning the expected results.
They forget that their social media success (or failure) is based on the loyalty (or disloyalty) of the people behind the screens.
Building a close community of engaged followers is the first step in generating sales from social media advertising.
Engaging with your audience is a way to build trust and develop personal relationships with your customer base. Directly connecting with those who comment on posts is a great way to build a loyal following who actively engage, rather than passively follow.
If an engager is taking action and actively participating, why not “reward” them with acknowledgement? It’s an easy way to build a loyal following that enjoys to communicate with you, and it only takes a few seconds of your time.
The goal is to establish an authentic connection with a customer who will likely have a higher lifetime value.
6. Share User-generated Content
Sharing user-generated content is a guaranteed way to develop a community that loves to interact with you. Using user-generated content works; most users think that user-generated content is much more influential than brand originated content.
It can net up to 30% higher online conversions than social media campaigns without it.
If you’re aiming for increased interactive social engagement, followers and ultimately sales, then you need to be using user-generated content to build a close-knit, interactive community.
One way to show that you truly value and appreciate your audience who takes the time out of their day to engage with your business, is by acknowledging (or sharing) their efforts with others.
It acts as an inclusive way to involve your audience in what your brand represents.
The people behind the screens are more than just a like or share, they have emotions, and there’s no better way to stir those emotions than showing them what your brand means.
Your audience doesn’t just want to see what you sell, they want to see what your brand means to your customers. Featuring real user experiences in your social media advertising campaigns is one way to win over your audience and build their loyalty.
Tell a story and get a reaction, it’s as simple or as complicated as you’d like it to be.
5. Keep An Eye On Trends
When you’re in business, you need to have your finger on the pulse when it comes to what’s happening in your industry, what your competition is up to and how current and future trends could affect your business.
Being conscious of what your competition is doing, as well as being aware of how your industry is evolving is crucial to commercial success.
While you don’t want to solely focus on external elements, having an awareness allows you to potentially use it to your advantage.
No matter the size of your business, keep an eye on what the big brands in your industry are doing.
These brands are most likely the social media trendsetters in your industry; they’ll have the resources and budgets to match, and have the ability to do incredible amounts of research and testing before funnelling their work into actual advertising campaigns.
You can take advantage of this by trying some of their strategies for yourself, or adapting them slightly in a way that aligns to your business. When it comes to social media marketing, there’s no harm in doing what’s working, even if it’s what others are doing.
You don’t always have to reinvent the wheel totally, learn from other’s successes and adapt them accordingly.
Another way to keep your finger on the pulse is by keeping up to date with the latest news from social media experts. They’ll point you to more effective methods or steer you away from making common mistakes.
4. Never Stop Experimenting
Following industry-wide trends and the advice of social media experts will only take you so far when it comes to digital marketing.
In the world of social media marketing, innovation is key and experimentation is essential. Take your existing knowledge and look for new approaches or ways of doing things.
Running regular A/B testing will help you determine what’s working and what’s not. Testing different types of adverts to see which gets the better response, will quickly give you the data you need to make informed choices.
Take the better performing ads and further enhance them. With some patience, perseverance and creativity, you’ll eventually create the winning formula.
However, you can’t sit back and relax once you’ve got that formula right; well-tested, high-performing ads can only perform for so long in an ever-changing industry. You need to constantly experiment to make sure that your once-innovative content and designs haven’t become outdated.
Complacency is a killer when it comes to digital marketing.
3. Design Your Ads With Mobile In Mind
Mobile is the future of social media. As of July 2019, there was an estimated 3.46 billion active mobile social media users worldwide.
That means that most social media ads are being viewed on mobile devices, so your ads should be specifically designed for the small screen. You need to consider your messaging with that in mind; incorporate images and text that are easy to view on pocket-sized devices, rather than large computer screens.
Your audience is constantly on- the-go, so their mobile is most likely their go-to device when it comes to accessing social media. However, there are stark regional differences in the use of mobile social networks. As of January 2019, 61% of users in the USA accessed social media via mobile, while the global mobile social penetration rate was only 42%.
If you have a business with a physical office location, you can use “geofencing” to target mobile users when they are in a specific area code. This means they only see your ads when they’re close enough to walk into your front door.
2. Collaboration
Although there’s nothing wrong with healthy competition, collaboration can have major benefits for your social media marketing presence.
Leveraging from others is a fantastic way to firstly, build relationships with other thought leaders, and secondly, build your social media presence and brand authority.
Influencers
If you’ve just begun your social media journey and have less than 1,000 followers, it can be hard to generate leads and sales from it. You’ll need to build an audience that’s large enough to leverage sales from.
One of the best ways to do this is by collaborating with influencers on social media. Cross-promotion is an extremely effective way to quickly grow your following on social media. When you get a mention from an authoritative influencer or brand, you can expect to get a lot of relevant traffic from it.
You can use social media influencers and connections to spread hype and viral buzz about your products or services. And it’s not something that only global brands can do; you just need to start creating some meaningful relationships with leading influencers in your industry.
The data tells the story; recommendations are becoming much more effective than traditional types of advertising.
A previous Google study found that more than half of YouTube subscribers and watchers say that they would make purchase decisions based on recommendations from their preferred content creators.
Most consumers trust product recommendations from personal connections as opposed to advertisements.
Collaborating with authoritative influencers that align with your company’s values is worth spending time on; it can increase your social media presence drastically.
Just like any type of relationship, you need to be genuine, upfront and provide value. It’s a two-way street, not just a one-way lane. As much as you’re asking them to do something for you, you need to be able to offer something in return.
Blasting out a generic message or email just won’t cut it when it comes to influencer collaborations; it’s about building genuine connections.
Head to your social network of choice or Google to find popular individuals within your industry, as well as experts and industry leaders.
Start by showing your support; interacting with their content on social media shows that you’re genuinely interested, rather than just being another freebie grabber.
1. Remarket Based On Engagement
The most important social media advertising secret you were never told, but should’ve known all along is remarketing, or more specifically remarketing ads.
Remarketing is marketing to the same prospect several times.
If you’ve spent time and money building your social audience, you need to leverage that audience for sales in order to maximise your ROI.
On most social platforms, you can easily remarket to people based on how they’ve previously engaged with your content or business. It’s a great way to drive sales with potential customers who’ve previously shown interest in your business.
The ultimate goal for your social media marketing is most likely turning engagement into action, whether it’s conversions or achieving some other sort of action from your following.
Most social platforms like Facebook give you the option to run remarketing ads based on previous page or post engagement by creating a custom audience.
You can create multiple audiences based on multiple engagements like video engagement, previous interest in an event, post engagement and so on.
They’re incredibly effective because you can specify in great detail when it comes to targeting.
You’re guaranteed to see success in driving sales by targeting; it helps lead someone who’s interested, down the buyer journey, and ultimately drives sales.
Conclusion
The joy of social media advertising is that it can work for any type of business, both large and small. You don’t have to be a global brand to see results, you just need to find smart ways to make it work for your business.
Use these 7 secrets to social media advertising in your next social media campaign and see the results that you’ve been hoping for. Convert those followers into customers and boost your social media ROI.
If you don’t have the resources, skills or time to fully utilise these tips, then reach out to a Social Media Management Agency; they’ll use these insider tips and more to maximise your social media marketing spend.