Social marketing: what is it and how to convert more?

Social marketing is the bread and butter of many brands. By now, most businesses understand that having a social media presence is a must to connect with their audience through marketing. But it can always be improved and optimized to achieve better and better results.

Instead of falling into social media marketing routines that no longer contribute, we have to always be willing to adapt to the preferences and changing habits of users and not stop asking ourselves why our online presence on social media. Let’s see what social marketing is, the basics of setting up a social media plan, and a lot of tips to convert more.

What is social marketing?

We can define social media marketing as the different strategies we use to spread the word about a company or a brand on blogs and other online media, forums, content aggregators, social networks such as Facebook or Instagram, and any other similar channel that may arise in the future.

More than in specific channels or media, I like to define social marketing in terms of direct interaction with the consumer. It is about abandoning the vertical communication of the brand to users and establishing a one-on-one dialogue with them, through the platforms that they use to communicate with their contacts.

The basics of a social media marketing plan

For our social marketing to make sense, it must be part of a coherent digital strategy, which responds to the situation and the company’s objectives. Therefore, the first step should always be to sit down and draw up this plan.

We like to organize the process of creating a social media marketing plan into these ten elements:

1. The environment. Before starting the strategy, we must thoroughly analyze what the market is like and the characteristics of the competition.
2. The audience. Segmentation is the fundamental principle of any sales strategy, and social media marketing allows us to fine-tune the target we are targeting. Creating a buyer persona is essential to avoid missing the mark.
3. The objectives. What do we want to achieve? The objectives of the digital marketing plan should always respond to the overall needs of the business.
4. The strategy. The strategy provides us with a foundation on which to base our plan, since it is the global vision of the actions. But we will always have to clothe it with a creativity that can take our message far.
5. Sales. Converting more is one of the star challenges of social marketing plans. To do this, you will have to define the steps for the visitor to become a customer (and make it as easy as possible, of course).
6. Loyalty. Whoever has a loyal customer has a treasure. That’s why your social media marketing plan should not only include strategies to get customers, but also to make them stay with you for a long time.
7. The budget. One of the issues that gives the most headaches and to which we must pay close attention. It must be distributed judiciously among different channels, always thinking about where we are going to achieve the most impact among our audience.
8. Technology. Today, we have endless social marketing tools that make our lives easier and help us stretch our budget. Don’t forget to take advantage of them!
9. KPIs. KPIs or key indicators of the result are like the compass that guides all our social media marketing. If they are well defined, they will help us to know at all times the success of our actions and to correct the course if necessary.
10. The conclusions. Finally, we have to establish regular controls in which we will compare the KPIs we have defined with the results we are obtaining to reach conclusions about the progress of the plan.

Tips to optimize your social media marketing

Tips for social marketing on Facebook

1. Fill in every detail of your page. It seems very obvious, but not all companies dedicate the care it deserves. In particular, pay attention to the “Story” section (within “Information”) and take advantage of it to convey your brand values.
2. Keep posting consistently. Find out the times and days of greatest audience and schedule your calendar.
3. Use videos. Facebook’s algorithm encourages videos to appear higher in the News Feed. And of course, don’t forget that you can also create your live videos.
4. Launch ads and promoted posts. Facebook has what is probably the most complete advertising interface in the world of social media marketing, so don’t miss the opportunity to make your content more visible.
5. Target your advertising correctly. Don’t just focus on demographics: there are plenty of options to discover!

Social media marketing tips on Instagram

1. Move to a company page. If you don’t already use Instagram business pages for your brand, you’re missing out on a lot of features and data about your audience.
2. Create a coherent aesthetic. Brands that use a particular color palette and filters make their posts more easily recognizable, and their feed has a much more defined and attractive image.
3. Include the correct number of hashtags. Instagram users often go crazy putting hashtags, but that doesn’t mean you have to follow the same technique in your social marketing. According to the latest studies, about 11 hashtags per post are optimal.
4. Experiment with posting times. Rivers of ink have been written about the best time to post on each social network, and no one seems to agree, but there’s some consensus around 2 am, 8-9 am, and after 5 pm. Either way, try until you find what works best for your brand.
5. Switch to Stories. This new format has been a hit with Spanish users, so be sure to take advantage of it.

Tips for social marketing on Twitter

1. Use hashtags wisely. In general, we can distinguish three main types: branded hashtags, those of your sector, and popular or current ones. Mix different types, but one or two per tweet is enough.
2. The good, if brief… Although Twitter allows twice as many characters as in the past, it is not always necessary to extend it.
3. Don’t automate direct messages. Yes, it is very convenient, but this type of canned response usually generates rejection among users.
4. Use GIFs (but don’t abuse). Think about whether they fit the tone of your social marketing. If so, go ahead, but don’t forget to agree with your team on which ones and how many to use.
5. Use images. Adding images to a tweet increases clicks by 18%. The ideal size for them to stand out in the chronology is 400 by 220 pixels.

Tips for social media marketing on LinkedIn

1. Complete your profile. Your company profile is the first impression that professionals get of you, so it is worth taking care of it as much as possible.
2. Create your own LinkedIn group to establish yourself as an industry leader and drive traffic to your page.
3. Share quality content. A good content marketing strategy on LinkedIn increases user trust.
4. Don’t be afraid to use images. Although LinkedIn is perceived as the most serious channel within social marketing, it is still important to create engaging content.
5. Publish content on Pulse to attract more audiences. Keep in mind that you can repost content posted on other sites, as long as you have the relevant rights.