10 proven social media marketing tips that drive results
Success in business hinges on effective marketing, and for most small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), that increasingly translates to mastering social media management. Until they navigate this landscape with confidence, true success remains elusive.
Many small business owners focus on short-term results, leading them to heavily invest in paid advertising like ads and pay-per-click campaigns. While effective, these strategies don't build long-term sustainability. Businesses need a plan to cultivate their own organic audience, engaging and converting them without constant ad spend.
Paid ads work for short-term sales boosts, but investing in a solid social media marketing plan fosters an organic community, reaping long-term benefits without relying solely on ads. If your goal is immediate sales, ads can be helpful. But for building a strong social media presence, follow these 10 tips:
1. Focus
Social media mastery necessitates focus. While the urge to be on every platform to maximize reach is tempting, especially for beginners, it can breed confusion. Identifying your buyer persona (ideal customer) will reveal their preferred platforms. Once you know where they are, focus your efforts there, giving it your all until you establish a solid presence. Then, consider expanding.
I often cite Zimbabwean socialite and fashion designer Hatiperi as an example. During his Twitter peak, he was omnipresent, rarely found on other platforms. Only after building a sizeable following there did he move to Facebook, Instagram, and eventually TikTok. Brands should emulate this focused approach, growing platform by platform.
2. Quality over Quantity
Many believe social media success requires a barrage of daily posts. While this might inflate impressions, it rarely translates to the engaged following you desire. Consistency is crucial, yes, but avoid becoming a nuisance in your audience's feeds.
I always emphasize adding value to your customers, not just selling. Without this approach, engagement suffers, and organic growth without paid ads becomes arduous. Focus on high-quality content, remembering that quality always trumps quantity.
3. Unique Content
Visit any company's social media page, and it's often a bulletin board of self-promotion: hiring announcements, promotions, sales pitches, branch openings, new executives, company dinners, "join us" pleas, and the list goes on. But what does the audience gain from this constant "me, me, me"?
As a business owner, audit your content. Ask yourself: "If I were a cold prospect, would I be enticed to buy based on these posts?"
Remember, people follow brands that offer value, enriching their lives. Sprinkle in sales pitches here and there, but prioritize value. That's the core of influencer marketing: influencers offer value, attracting loyal followers. Businesses then leverage this established trust to promote products or services.
This is the essence of what businesses should strive for with their social media marketing: adding value, building trust, and fostering organic growth that leads to sustainable success.
4. Engagement
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This is the secret weapon for excelling on social media. Give and it shall be given back to you. Engage with your followers, like their posts, comment on their posts, and that will make them love you and once they love you, they can easily convert or refer. My definition of social media marketing is building relationships with your audience with the intent to convert them into buying customers. Relationships are not built with one-way communication; they are built with trust, and trust is built on communication that is two-way. A business should prioritize engagement over anything else.
5. Content Repurposing
Let's take this article for example. I post it on LinkedIn, then take a summary and post it on Facebook, take the key points and post them on Twitter, after that, I do a podcast about it, post on Spotify and YouTube, cut out the interesting parts and I have my TikTok and reels. All that is content repurposing. You don't post the same thing across all platforms, but you can push the same message across all platforms by packaging them differently, making them effective enough for each platform.
6. Storytelling & Personality
As humans, we are curious by nature. Take advantage of that. Tell us who you are, show us what you spend your day doing. We want to know the people behind the brand. Once we connect with the people behind the brand, we start feeling like family and it is easy to buy from the brand. Terrence Maphosa, a Zimbabwean entrepreneur, mastered that and he is reaping the benefits of that to this day.
7. Use Graphics
To be honest with each other, just text is not good enough. It makes your posts dry and boring. Graphics lighten up the mood. Make sure the graphics are relevant. If you are using images, make sure they are relatable to your audience as well. Use various graphics in your content, such as videos, fliers, infographics, and more.
8. The 3-Second Rule
Whatever graphic you post, you have 3 seconds to attract and persuade whoever is seeing it that you are worthy of their attention. If you have gotten this far reading this article, then it means I passed the 3-second rule. Whenever you are creating content, keep the 3-second rule in mind. In fliers and related graphics, this is about the font, what you want them to read first (make sure it persuades them to stay), and color combinations. They are critical because if they are off, one cannot even get to read whatever you wanted them to read first, and you'll have failed to attract them. This rule also applies to TikToks, reels, and YouTube videos, though in YouTube, it can be the 7-second rule at play.
9. Post, Track, Listen, and Adapt
Whatever you post, track its performance, listen to what the audience is saying, listen to your post analytics and what they are telling you, then adapt accordingly. Do not be afraid to experiment with content, but after experimenting, track, listen, and adapt accordingly. Don't dump content on your audience; track its performance and learn from it.
10. Consistency
Be consistent! If you are posting daily, keep that up. Be consistent with the quality of your content as well.
These 10 tips, or rather, 10 social media marketing commandments, will usher you into being great at social media marketing. Trust me, you will not go wrong with them.