Why Social Media Marketing Is Important
In 2022, social media marketing simply must be a part of your digital strategy. Business-to-business (B2B) marketing and business-to-consumer (B2C) will vary in the implementation and execution of their strategies but regardless of the field and niche, will need to incorporate social media into their marketing efforts.
Some estimates show that over 80 percent of the US population is currently using some form of social media. Over the next decade, this percentage will continue to grow rapidly, as overall total social media users will grow exponentially. The importance of quality social media marketing strategy and implementation in the modern business world cannot be overstated.
While channels such as paid advertising and search engine optimization are both excellent and consistent ways to ensure growth and success in digital marketing, social media has quickly proven its value and potential. In fact, recent reports have shown that Gen Z are using social media platforms, especially Instagram and Tiktok, as their primary discovery method in the marketing funnel, instead of search engines. While search engine marketing will likely continue to reign as king of organic and paid growth for some time, smart business owners know that the time to act on social media marketing exploration and advancement is now.
Even if these current trends were not forming and growing as they are, social media marketing would still be one of the most crucial and prolific channels in the digital space. As much as we’re all on social media, many business owners and digital marketers struggle with social media marketing strategies. For that reason, we have put together this list of “Dos and Don’ts” of social media in 2022.
What to Do to Succeed in Social Media Marketing (The “Dos”)
Social media marketing is a broad term that encompasses any form of content creation and distribution, customer outreach, or general marketing and promotion efforts through social media platforms. While there are many ways to achieve success in SMM, most successful campaigns follow similar patterns. As with any form of marketing- especially in digital marketing, finding a balance between originality and keeping up with popular industry trends is usually a great contributor to success. Find ways to incorporate your creativity and unique brand voice into your content but don’t feel you need to reinvent the wheel.
Social Media Dos:
- Have complete and active profiles
- As soon as your profiles are created, they should be completely filled out. Ensure all of your links, profile pictures, details, contact information, etc, are included in each of your profiles. Small details like these make your profiles look more legitimate, trustworthy, and compelling.
- Be engaging
- The main goal of all forms of marketing is to engage consumers and tell a story. Social media is no different. Communicate with your audience and inspire engagement.
- Maintain consistency and identity across platforms
- Each platform is conducive to a different audience and communication style. With that said, you still need to maintain a brand identity and voice. While your media and attitudes may be different across platforms, your messaging and identity should remain consistent.
- Utilize multiple content types
- Consumers are flooded with content all day, every day on social media. If you want to stand out and earn engagement, you have to be fresh and compelling. Achieve this by utilizing multiple content forms such as videos, images, infographics, and tutorials. Also, don’t forget to utilize each platform's unique features like stories and polls.
- Create a content calendar
- We’ve discussed this in other posts but cannot emphasize this enough. Creating a content calendar and sticking to it will put you leagues ahead of your less impressive competitors and will establish you as a legitimate player among more serious competition.
What Not to Do to Succeed in Social Media Marketing (The “Don’ts)
As we said, social media marketing is a broad field and there are many routes to find success. On the other hand, such a broad field means there is a lack of direction, and thus, many ways to fail. General marketing best practices are still valid in SMM, which can provide some guidance. But beyond things like audience and competitor research, how can you be sure you’re not making obvious mistakes? To help steer you in the right direction, we put together this list of what not to do in social media marketing.
Social Media Don’ts:
- Don’t neglect graphic design
- Quality graphic design is a huge factor in maintaining an appealing and noteworthy social media presence. If you want to be taken seriously, take yourself seriously and invest in top-tier graphic design. Sloppy posts will make your brand look less trustworthy and distinguished.
- Don’t underuse or overuse hashtags
- Hashtags are a great way to facilitate discovery and reach across social media. Conducting research to find out which hashtags in your niche are trending is a great way to gain reach, so don’t neglect this easy step. On the other hand, don’t overuse hashtags. Generally, 5-15 is sufficient and any more will be overkill. You want to use relevant hashtags in order to attract relevant consumers. If most of the traffic you receive is through hashtags unrelated to your content or business, none of that traffic will convert into followers or sales.
- Don’t post reactively or without considering all possible consequences
- With how hectic the world is today politically and socially, it’s never been more important to post thoughtful content, not reactive content. There’s a lot of misinformation in the media, so posting anything without considering all sides and all consequences could be detrimental to your brand if it proves untrue or inconsiderate. A content calendar usually solves this problem, but regardless, all of your posts should be cross-checked by a colleague to ensure their sensitivity and accuracy.
- Don’t forget to track KPIs
- How many times have we mentioned KPI tracking? Not enough. There is no way to know if you are achieving your goals if you do not set any or track them according to metrics. Key performance indicators (KPIs) vary between channels, niches, and companies, so there aren’t officially any that you “need” to track. Set your goals and decide which metrics will best measure your success against them. From there, it’s as simple as tracking them routinely and making strategy adjustments as necessary.
- Don’t be inauthentic
- Another major key to success across all marketing channels is authenticity. Be creative, be consistent, be fresh, be unique. Once you establish your brand’s voice and identity, stick to it. If your brand loses its authenticity, you will lose engagement and business. Consumers have too many options in today’s markets to settle for poor content or inauthentic content.
Contact Nxt Era Marketing for Social Media Marketing & Management
One last do and don’t for the road: Don’t waste time and money trying to figure out social media marketing on your own. Do contact an experienced social media marketing and management agency like Nxt Era Marketing. Reach out to us today to schedule your free social media consultation!
