Your Social Marketing ROI

Social media is a platform to share ideas or industry knowledge, market your products or services, provide customer service, and establish brand trust. It is a tool to engage with current supporters and connect with potential customers. And rightly so!

As of 2022, nearly 4 billion users can be found across all social media channels. 

While most interactions range from a few seconds to minutes in length, social media is designed to be social. It is best used to start, continue, or move a conversation forward. 

Think of social media as a traditional relationship. The more engaging your brand, the deeper the relationship can develop. Therefore, it is essential to put consistent and strategic effort into your social media communication as a business. Doing so will establish your brand as a valued B2B or B2C connection, deepen your partnerships, and grow your network.

Social media marketing isn't just posting whatever is on your mind to your favorite social apps. Keep social media management best practices in mind as you develop your strategy:

Define objectives.
What is the goal of my company as we utilize this platform?

Know your buyer persona.
Who is my buyer? How can I communicate with them in an authentic and engaging way? How do buyers engage across each specific social media platform?

Utilize tools to develop engaging content.
What software is available to me to help reach buyers in my industry?

Assign a lead strategist to ensure brand consistency.
Brand consistency is key to relationship development and building trust with your audience.

Start With a Strategy

Before you post, be clear about your goals to make the effort meaningful to your business and worthwhile to your audience.

The first step in developing a consistent and effective social media marketing strategy requires you to address the following questions:

• Why should our company be on social media? Is it to establish ourselves as thought leaders, sell more products or services, provide customer service, or something else?
• What are our specific social media goals, and what would success look like for us?
• Which specific platform(s) can best engage our buyer persona?
• What actions do we want people to take?

As you develop a social media strategy for your company, it is essential to list and focus on your goals, whether it's to strengthen brand awareness, create consumer trust, gain referral traffic, generate leads, or provide customer service. Know your goals and let them drive your social media strategy and execution.

Right Audience, Right Message

An effective social media strategy is rooted in a sound understanding of the target audience(s). So, before you begin to post, be sure to fully understand who you are trying to reach and what resonates with that audience. Research to see how similar buyer personas react to different types of content and engage with competitors or similar-interest brands.

Then, map out a plan of what to post to reach your audience and goals. Create content pillars are relevant themes and topics that should be a cornerstone of your social media strategy. If that funny cat meme or inspirational quote doesn't move your brand forward, save it for your personal page instead. Make sure to track the performance of your posts to quickly learn about how your specific audience interacts on social media.

Finally, be consistent in your social media communication. Post regularly, respond promptly to comments and direct messages, and engage in related industry conversations outside the company. 

Tools of the Trade

With a clear plan, it is time to write and design the perfect posts and get your company's messages out in the social world to be seen! Social media-specific tools help deliver consistent and visually engaging content. 

Social Media Content Calendar
Manages a schedule of when and what to post on social media platforms. It keeps your social media organized, on task with your content pillars, and develops a cohesive strategy for your buyer personas across each social media channel. 

‍Visual Media Programs
Source high-quality, licensed images from sites like Adobe, iStock, and Unsplash. Use design programs such as Creative Cloud or Canva to develop graphic templates. Create or edit videos with tools like InVideo or Biteable.‍

Social Media Image + Video Sizes Chart
‍Every social media platform sizes its visual media a little differently. Design your graphics and format your photos and videos for the correct size. Use our quick, all-in-one cheat sheet chart to optimize your post visuals for LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok.

Social Content Management System (CMS)
A Social CMS is an effective way to schedule, move, and implement your content calendar. Many also offer standard and custom analytical reports, so tracking performance on a post or a select social platform is quick and easy.

Post Like a Pro

Now you're ready to manage your social media like a pro. Better yet, manage it with a pro! A Social Media Manager is someone dedicated to your social media strategy and execution and leads the effort to:

• plan and manage the content calendar
• write content and design posts
• oversee any related vendor support (e.g., design, video editing)
• post on multiple channels
• reply to comments or messages on behalf of the company or direct them internally
• monitor mentions of the brand
• engage in the online social community on behalf of the business
• research social media trends to propose new strategies or tools 
• analyze social media efforts and make adjustments to optimize engagement

A Social Media Manager plays a vital role in a robust and successful social media effort and can take your social marketing strategy to the next level.

Their subject matter expertise can leverage each platform's latest trends and insights and develop content specific to each social app. This type of advanced social media strategy creates a unique value to the persona on each social site and will gain the best response long-term for your brand.

Social Media Marketing, Managed

While social media marketing is a popular tool used among companies of all shapes and sizes, it requires heavy time commitments, strategic planning, content and graphic development, and consistency. For many businesses, the manpower to create a comprehensive social media strategy simply does not exist. 

Are you looking to begin, expand, or boost your social media efforts? Would you love to see improved social marketing ROI? Contact MatchPoint Partners today to learn how our team can help provide your company with proven social media marketing strategies that are effective for your buyer personas!