How to Master the Art of Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is now a top priority for any brand looking to reap a greater return on investment.

Our latest social media statistics show 94% of online adults have an account on at least one social platform and internet users are spending an average of two hours a day social networking.

Not only this, social media is now playing a pivotal role across every stage of the online purchase journey. Here, we outline what it really takes to master the art of social media marketing and reap the benefits.

Marketing with Social Media: Top 10 Tips

1. Validate your targeting.

Before getting started with social media, you need to know you’re targeting the right audience. Use in-depth audience profiling to be sure you’re looking at the personas that fit for your business. From here, you can shape your message around this group for maximum impact.

Tip: Start with GWIQ analytics to measure your reach with your intended audience and come up with some achievable targets from there.

2. Be specific about your goals.

Social media marketing can make a big difference when it comes to increasing brand awareness, improving SEO and boosting conversions, but being specific about your goals is key. Think about what your objectives are and how social media can help you achieve them. This will guide everything from your strategy and approach to your message and content.

Tip: Start analyzing the social media strategies of your competitors speaking to the same target audience and see what you can do to improve on them.

3. Find out which platforms are most important.

For your message to reach the right people, you need to know where to place it. Using data to analyze which channels and platforms are most popular among your target audience will ensure you’re focusing on the right ones. This will mean prioritizing your time and spend to focus on the platforms that give you the best return.

Tip: Explore the latest social media trends among your target audience to get a better understanding of what this group likes best.

4. Understand which devices you need to focus on.

Getting the right message to the right people doesn’t stop with platforms. Knowing which devices your audience prefers to use is another key consideration as this information will shape your design work, copy and overall approach.

Tip: If your target audience fits into the Generation Z category, explore the latest trends to find out which devices and platforms will work best for them.

5. Know what your consumers use these platforms for.

Making social media work for you means knowing what your consumers use it for. Do they use it to research products? To keep up with friends? To discover new brands? Finding the answers to these questions will help you tailor your communications to them, speaking directly to their goals.

Tip: Start by exploring the latest commerce trends to see how social media is impacting the different stages of the online purchase journey.

6. Analyze perceptions to shape the right message.

Shaping the right message and tone of voice is one of the most important considerations when it comes to social media. To find out what will work best for your intended audience, you need access to data that quantifies consumer perceptions. This can then be turned into actionable insight and act as a key driver to sell your idea.

Tip: Focus on perceptions first and foremost as this is the key to unlocking a message that resonates.

7. Tap into their interests and attitudes.

To make your message as compelling as possible, it’s important to tap into your target consumers’ interests, lifestyles and attitudes. This way, you can appeal to them in a more personalized way. Start by finding out what they like and who or what they follow to give you guidance on what could work.

Tip: Try plugging your audience into the GlobalWebIndex platform to generate insights that can drive interest-based marketing.

8. Leverage the right influencers.

A recent survey revealed 84% of marketers plan on executing at least one influencer marketing campaign over the next 12 months. Social media is a great way to put this into practice, giving you a direct channel to your audience. Based on their interests, find out which influencers and micro-influencers they follow and see how they can help you broaden your reach.

Tip: Once you have the data that shows their interests, tools like FollowerWonk and BuzzSumo can help you find the most relevant and impactful influencers to leverage.

9. Promote your posts to reach the right people.

Putting paid promotion behind your social media posts helps you get more targeted and reach the right people. By selecting and segmenting your audience based on the insights you’ve gathered, you can choose the most relevant posts to boost. This will mean optimizing your activity to be seen by the right people, giving you a greater return on investment.

Tip: Spend time setting your budget and goals before investing in paid promotion, carefully selecting the topics, tone and content that will appeal most to your target personas.

10. Track, measure and optimize.

Like everything, making social media marketing work for you means testing, testing and testing some more. But in order to test in the most effective way, you need ready access to data that tells you exactly what’s working and what isn’t. This means turning to robust analytics that tracks and measures your activity, telling you what to optimize and why.

Tip: Choose third party solutions that integrate with your current platforms to keep everything in one place for easy access.

Social Media Statistics

• 94% of online adults have an account on at least one social platform.
• 98% have visited/used one within the last month.
• Internet users are spending an average of 2 hours a day social networking.
• 8 in 10 internet users are using a mobile to use social platforms.
• The average internet user now has about 8 social accounts, up from only 3 in 2012.
• Outside of China, Facebook claims the largest membership base (84%).
• YouTube leads the way for the visitation/usage metric (88%).

Social media is an essential tool for any brand hoping to broaden their reach and speak directly to their audience. With the data and the tools to tailor your message to your audience and put your strategy to the test, it’s easier than ever to take out the guesswork and start making it work for you – so start meeting your consumers where they are.

Like what you’ve read? Download our latest social media report for a closer look at the trends that matter.