Fresh Social Media Marketing Strategies for Businesses for 2021
Social media marketing isn’t the new kid on the block anymore. Things that felt trendy and new just a few years ago are now old hat and that means we’ve all go to look for new ideas to take our social media marketing to the next level.
Fortunately, there are still lots of things you can do to “level up” social media marketing for your business. Here are some tips to help you stay ahead of the curve in 2021.
Poll Your Followers
Social media networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter all allow users to create polls for the followers. In most cases, marketers create simple polls with just two or three potential responses.
That means even a simple poll can be effective in collecting information from your followers. Because polls are interactive, they encourage more engagement. In most polls, respondents won’t even need to write their opinion. They can respond by clicking their choice.
You can also use polls for other information such as for a quick split testing. Include links to two different versions of your landing page or home page and ask people to vote on their favorite.
Engage in Social Listening
You’ve probably noticed at least one brand make a critical mistake on social media by responding in a tone-deaf way to something in the news. Does that mean you should never respond to anything in the news? No – but it does mean you need to be careful.
The best way to avoid mistakes is to engage in social listening. Before you post, browse through relevant hashtags, and get a feeling for what people are saying and how it might relate to your brand, products, or services. Then, you’ll be able to craft a response that is equal to the moment and will speak to the concerns and needs of the people who follow your business on social media.
Fine-Tune Your Twitter Voice
On Twitter, you just get 288 characters to get your point across. There is no scope for missteps. Maintaining a clear and consistent brand voice is important on any social media platform especially Twitter. You can share your thought in two or more tweets (sometimes known as a Tweetstorm) but you still need to optimize your voice.
Your voice might be authoritative, funny, snarky, or highbrow. Whatever it is, you should learn how to get it across in a single Tweet. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of creativity and trying a couple of different options will help you to get it right.
Diversify Your Instagram Content
Because Instagram got its start as an app where people could share mobile photography, it’s common for business owners to get stuck in a rut, posting only high-quality photographs and never taking any chances.
Instagram’s features have increased and it’s time for you to get on board with the changes. You can try any of the following to vary your content.
- Create short videos to share with your followers
- Do an Instagram Live video
- Create one or more GIFs from your videos or other sources
- Get creative and make some memes that are relevant to your business
- Take advantage of micro-blogging and share your thoughts
There are many things you can do with Instagram and as users become more engaged, they expect more from the brands they follow.
Start an IGTV Show
Speaking of expanded features on Instagram, did you know you can create long-form television shows using IGTV? Content creators use IGTV to do Q & A sessions, live stream events, interview experts, share reviews and testimonials and much more.
The best thing about IGTV is that you can start small and grow your channel. You don’t need fancy video equipment or sound equipment. If you can produce quality video with clear sound, you have what you need to create your own IGTV show for better marketing.
Utilize Custom Retargeting to Boost Conversions
When you are marketing your products or services to a “cold” audience, it can be nearly impossible to make any conversions from your Facebook ads. That said, there’s a way you can increase your ROI without spending a lot more money: retargeting.
For example, you can create a video ad for people in your area featuring your product. You don’t need to run a campaign for long – just a few days or a week. Following that, you can have the data of the audience that watched at least half of your video ad and show them a new ad designed to pique their interest and encourage them to purchase your product or fill out your lead generation form.
You may also want to check out link retargeting, which allows you to add a Facebook pixel to any content you share, even if it’s curated from a third party site.
Partner with Micro-Influencers to Promote Your Content
A few local businesses have the money to hire nationally-recognizable influencers. For that reason, some business owners consider influencer marketing as something that’s a waste of time.
The correct response to the rise of influencer marketing is to focus on micro-influencers: people who have authority with the (relatively) small audience of people who are in the market for products like yours.
Micro-influencers may be industry superstars or popular local figures. Focusing on them means spending far less money than you would on a celebrity influencer for a higher rate of return. You can look for influencers by searching for related hashtags and recognizing people who are sharing content to your target audience.
Optimize for Mobile
Our final tip cuts across all formats and social media sites. At this point in our digital history, you should assume that everybody accessing your content is doing so via a mobile device. There’s no excuse for not optimizing your social media content for mobile users.
On Pinterest and Instagram, that means using vertically-oriented, rectangular pictures in a 2:3 aspect ratio to fill mobile screens. The easier it is for your followers to view your content on their device of choice, the more likely it is that they’ll take your services.
Social media marketing for business has gained a lot of popularity and it’s the right to get caught up and try some new strategies. As we head into the second quarter of 2021, take advantage of the updates to increase your ROI and profits.