Social media platforms are continuously growing in importance for brands and their overall marketing strategy. There are many aspects of social media marketing (SMM) that should be focused on when it comes to effective social media use for your business or brand. For this blog, we will look at one of our regional automotive accounts. We will discuss how we formulate an overall strategy before the launch of campaigns, the importance of engagement with the community, and dive into key performance indicators (KPIs).
Creating, Implementing, and Measuring an SMM Strategy
The first step to improving your brand or organization's social media presence is implementing a social media strategy. A lot goes into crafting a social media strategy but don't worry. We're here to help. Having an intended goal in mind is necessary, so you are focusing on the proper KPIs, creating the most effective strategy possible, and focusing on areas in your social media that need the most improvement.
Ask yourself these questions:
1) Is your goal to increase sales?
2) Is your goal to increase engagement?
3) Is your goal to increase brand awareness?
4) Is your goal to grow your page?
Once you have your intended goal(s) in mind, you can begin brainstorming the most effective approach for your SMM strategy. For this blog, we will focus on two primary goals a regional automotive account outlined: increasing engagement and growing its social media audience.
How to Increase Engagement in Social Media in 2023
When speaking with our regional automotive client, they expressed the importance of growing their Facebook and Instagram accounts' overall engagement and their pages as a whole. With these two goals in mind, we set out to define their pages' primary audience. How did we do that? We can determine their audience's demographics using tools like Meta Business Suite or social media management tools like Sprout Social. As management tools like Sprout Social are paid platforms, we will explain how to define your page’s demographics in Meta Business Suite. Login to Meta Business Suite and click on your account page. On the left-hand side, you will find a section labeled audience. Click on that! In this section, Meta provides demographics and geographics such as age and gender and your current audience's top cities.
Knowing your page audience and narrowing down the demographics is excellent, but how can we use this information to increase engagement and implement it into an effective SMM strategy? Take a moment to think about the content you publish on your account. Does this content resonate with your audience's demographics? Or their geographical location? For example, the automotive account we worked on had yet to see the growth we wanted over the past few months. We examined the recent months and noticed a trend that newer generation vehicle models weren't performing well in terms of engagements and KPIs stated by our client. The average age of the audience's Facebook page was 55+ males. The content that was being published didn't resonate with the demographics of the audience on the Facebook page.
We noticed this trend and revamped our SMM strategy and the content we were posting. We switched from newer model vehicles to older models. We're talking about 1967 Mustang old. Immediately, we saw a spike in engagements such as reactions, comments, shares, and post link clicks. Engagement metrics have substantially increased since defining our target audience. There was a 67% increase in reactions (5,736 prior month, 9,552 current month), 74% increase in comments (185 prior month, 321 current month), 113% increase in shares (197 prior month, 419 current month), and a 27% increase in total engagements (34,423 prior month, 43,718 current month).
It's important to note that regularly measuring the performance of your content plays an essential role in the effectiveness of your SMM strategy month-to-month. At the end of each month, make it a priority to look over how your content performed and determine how you can further improve your strategy for the next month. Your audience, social media trends, and strategy are dynamic and need continuous improvement and assessment.
Importance of Engagement with the Community
Posting the right content that resonates with your audience is essential to increasing engagement for your social media pages. However, it's important to note that engaging as the page — or moderator — also plays a critical role in your page's growth. Think about it. If you, as a consumer, are commenting, liking, and sharing content, wouldn't you be more intrigued to do so with a brand that communicates back and forth? When people engage with a brand on social media, they are more likely to engage with an account where communication is a two-way street. When someone comments on your post, make it a priority to reply to them and let them know that someone is on the other side, so it doesn't appear as if a robot is running the page.
Furthermore, being proactive rather than reactive is important. Social media is an extremely powerful tool that can be used in various ways to your advantage. Search hashtags utilizing the platform's search engine and engage with posted content. The more you comment, engage, like, and share, the more your page will be seen by others, and this will increase brand awareness as well as traffic to your page. It's important to show interest and engagement in other users' content. Support others, and they will support you!
KPIs, What is Measured, and How Do We Measure Them?
In terms of engagement, there are a few KPIs to measure when determining if your social media marketing strategy is effective. Your goals and personal measurements for success determine KPIs. When measuring engagement, it's important to look at metrics like reactions, comments, shares, link clicks, and impressions. We can measure these KPIs using Facebook's Meta Business Suite or your preferred social media management platform. Understanding KPIs is essential in crafting and reassessing your social media marketing strategy if necessary.
Looking to bring your social media marketing strategy to life? Contact us today or email us for a consultation at sales@ifrog.com.
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