11 Top Tips to Drive your Social Media Strategy

With over 57 MILLION users in the UK alone, social media has fast become the focal point of our lives, changing the way we socialise, keep up to date with world trends and, of course, how we market our businesses.

But the sheer volume of social media users alone doesn’t mean guaranteed success for brands looking to engage with their target audience.

Social media platforms and trends are constantly evolving and, while not every trend will suit your business, you can still ensure you stand out from your competitors with a crisp, clean social media presence using our 11 Top Tips to Drive your Social Media Strategy.

Tip 1: Get to Know Your Target Audience

Even the best social media strategy is destined to fail if it doesn’t resonate with your target audience. So, before you start posting, take the time to pinpoint their needs, wants and desires, find out where they hang out and obtain a tone of voice that resonates with them.

After all, your target audience are the key to your social media success.

Tip 2: Size Matters

Get your minds out of the gutter… We’re CLEARLY referring to image sizes! 😉

With studies suggesting that we remember only 20% of what we read compared to a huge 80% of what we see, it’s important that your social media images are optimised for each different network – no easy feat when optimum sizes are changing all the time!

Luckily for you, our Social Media Cheat Sheet has this step covered. Check it out here!

Tip 3: Be Consistent

When we refer to consistency on social media, we’re actually referring to two different things.

First of all, as with any form of marketing, it’s important to ensure that your branded images and videos stick to your brand colours and fonts to create a crisp and clean social media shopfront – especially if you’re posting on Instagram.

What’s more, it’s vital to ensure that you are equally as consistent with your posting schedule. Not only are customers less likely to use a business that hasn’t posted on social media in a number of months compared to one that is posting daily, but the page that is posting daily is also likely to receive more engagement as their content is staying at the front of their audience’s feed.

Tip 4: Dust off Those Cameras!

The popularity of social media videos SOARED in 2022 alone – and 2023 promises to see that trend grow even further!

From TikTok to Live Videos, Reels to User Generated Content, there are now a multitude of video options available for your business to take advantage of.

And with an increasing number of platforms now prioritising video content, it’s important that your business gets behind the trend.

Tip 5: Use Image & Video Editing Tools

You don’t have to be a seasoned graphic designer to make killer content for your social channels!

By utilising online tools like Canva and BeFunky, you can easily design graphics and short videos that in-keep with your brand and make your social media stand out from the crowd.

Tip 6: Embrace your Personality

While carefully curated graphics and videos will give your social media a crisp and clean look, they may not always be the most engaging content types.

Going “behind the scenes” in your office, introducing your employees and celebrating your successes are three simple ways to humanise your brand while helping to convey who you are and what you stand for.

And while this may seem like a simple step, it is one of the most important for building trust with your followers – nobody wants to engage with a robot after all!

Tip 7: Focus on the Why & How

In the age of social media, traditional and intrusive marketing techniques are no longer successful, with many consumers now put off by businesses that post too many promotions.

Instead of aggressively selling to your audience, focus your content on the features and benefits of your product/service and you will start to see it selling itself.

Tip 8: Build Relationships

Social media’s popularity is built around the ability to interact with friends, family, celebrities and brands in real time – and this is one key feature that shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to social media marketing for your business.

By simply finding out where your target audience hang out and joining in their conversations, you can easily put your brand at the forefront of their feeds.

What’s more, when users engage with your content, don’t forget to engage back. If a potential customer asks a question, it’s important to get back to them as soon as possible before the go to a competitor, further helping to build trust and create a loyal following.

Once your followers are engaged, they are much more likely to like and share your content, helping you rise in the social algorithms and gain new, free exposure.

Tip 9: Time to Get Trendy!

As mentioned at the beginning of this blog, it’s not always possible or effective to leap onto every trend that goes viral, but that doesn’t mean you should totally ignore them.

By keeping an eye on current social media trends, you can understand what users are looking for when they sign into their social channels, helping you create appropriate, eye-catching and engaging content.

Not only is this more likely to engage your audience, but it will also give your content a fresh new look and stop it from looking stale.

Tip 10: Don’t Undervalue Paid Advertising

Social media in getting more and more popular by the second. But, unfortunately for marketers, this means it is now getting harder than ever to reach your target audience, with even the most mind-blowing, high quality social media content not guaranteed success.

With this in mind, it’s now more important than ever that you budget for paid promotions as part of your social advertising.

From promoting your Facebook Page to boosting posts on Instagram or LinkedIn, there are now an incredible range of targeting options on all platforms that enable you to direct your ads to the relevant audience.

Tip 11: Measure, Measure, Measure!

As with any other form of marketing, your social media efforts can quickly become futile if you don’t keep track of their progress.

By regularly reviewing your analytics, including follower growth, likes, impressions and clicks, you can easily re-evaluate your strategy and make small changes that boost your success over time.

No matter what your business’ size or capabilities, our 11 Top Tips are guaranteed to help you connect with your audience, reach new customers and increase brand awareness.

Don’t have the time? Give us a buzz on Leeds: 0113 3206266 or Harrogate: 01423 297009 or click here to contact us and discuss how we can help.