Have you been wondering why your posts are not getting as many comments, likes, or shares as you hoped?

Out of the 4 billion social media users, you would think getting a following would be much easier, right? If you’re just starting out and your current performance is letting you down, then this article is for you.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to formulate the best social media marketing strategy. These tips will help you get more followers who will be interested in your brand. Followers who will engage, like, comment, and share your content. Potential customers who will eventually convert and become loyal to your brand.

Let’s dig deeper into this comprehensive guide and see what you can do to up your social media marketing game.

1. Set Social Media Marketing Goals That Align With Your Brand

The first step of the social media marketing campaign should start with formulating a social media marketing plan. The process involves setting goals that align with their brand and business objectives. For your goals to work effectively, they need to be SMART.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. The first thing you have to consider is why you are running this campaign. It’ll help you determine what your next steps should be.

In general, your social media marketing goals could include increasing brand awareness and acquiring customers. You could also increase engagement and leads. Once you set your goals, it’s vital for them to be specific.

What level of brand awareness are you looking to achieve? How many followers are you looking to attain, and by when? Are you looking for more website traffic?

Once you set your goals, set what metrics to use to measure your achievements so you can tell what tactics are working and which ones to abandon. Specific and attainable goals are fundamental to your marketing campaign. You see, marketers who set SMART goals or over 370% are more likely to report success.

2. Research Your Target Audience

Researching your target audience will help you understand what social media platforms to set your social media marketing campaign.

You see, not all social media platforms will get you the results you want. It’s essential for you to understand what your target market wants and what kind of content will attract and engage them.

To find your target market, start by creating an audience persona. Buyer personas will help you keep track of potential customers, followers, and fans as real customers with real needs. They’ll help you understand what to offer your customers, what they like, what they’ll share, and how they’ll convert.

Even with the best social media marketing campaign, you’ll not get effective results if you are marketing to the wrong audience. Your buyer personas should include extensive details of your ideal customers.

Some of these details should include their gender, age, and pain points. Research their hobbies, interests, income, and, most importantly, favorite social media channels.

3. Research Your Competition

One of the best ways to find what social media platforms work well for your niche is by researching your competitors.

In this day and age, you can be sure that all businesses are using social media for marketing, so learn from them and strive to beat them at their own game. Conduct a competitive analysis to understand what your competitors are doing to attract new audiences.

Check the number of followers your competitors have on various social media platforms.

If you find that they have more followers on Facebook than Twitter, it’s a sure sign that Facebook is more suited for your niche than Twitter. It’s a sign that you’re likely to have more success with Facebook and is the platform you should give more of your attention to.

4. Pick the Most Ideal Social Media Platforms

Before you create your ultimate social media marketing strategy, you need to pick the most ideal social media platforms. You’re going to get better results when you focus on several channels that are most likely to yield results instead of every channel.

There’s a wide array of social media platforms on the internet. From Facebook to Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube, TikTok, and many more.

The most ideal social media platforms will also depend on your products and services. For instance, if you’re running an e-commerce business, you need to make sure that you get your products out there. In this case, Instagram and Pinterest will serve you well because you can post high-quality images of your products.

5. Optimize Your Social Media Profiles

Once you decide which platforms to use, it’s vital that you optimize your profiles. This will increase the number of followers you get and boost your SEO efforts at the same time. One general rule that applies to all platforms includes using your real photos as your profile picture so you can connect to people on a personal level.

Write a good description about yourself or your business, indicating your background and expertise. Additionally, give a description of what kind of information your followers should expect from you, then include a link to your website.

6. Track Your Social Media Marketing Campaign Performance

Tracking the performance of your social media marketing campaign is essential because it will help you determine success or failure.

It will also provide you with insight to help you adjust your social media marketing strategies, even in the middle of a campaign. Tracking your metrics is beneficial in the sense that it will negotiate changes to your future social media marketing plan.

The metrics used to track will highly depend on your social media marketing goals. For instance, if your goal is to increase website traffic, you can use a tool such as Google Analytics to get details about website traffic from various sources.

You should also research some of the best social media marketing tools. They’ll help you track your social media campaigns and make the processes easier.

Social Media Marketing Tips for Beginners

If you’re looking to increase your followers and grow your business, having a solid social media marketing plan will go a long way. Set smart goals, understand your audience, research your competitors, and join the most ideal social media platforms for your audience.

With this information in hand, it’ll be easier to create a killer social media marketing campaign that will get you impeccable results. Now that you know where to start, please get in touch with us if you need killer website content, and we’ll grow your business together.