Stop Wasting Your Time: How To Get The Most Out Of Social Media Marketing

Online communication has revolutionized how the world does business. The functionality and convenience of the internet mean networking and marketing are available at your fingertips like never before.

Social media platforms continuously gain momentum and are steadily on the rise, creating countless marketing opportunities for businesses to propel their brand awareness and expand their audiences.

While there are a variety of ways to use social media to market your business, there are plenty of pitfalls that can result in you wasting your time with little to no results.

If you want to get into promoting your business and expanding the awareness of your brand through social media, try the following 5 ways to integrate social media marketing into your daily routine.

Look For Ways To Solve Problems

One of the best ways to market your business on social media platforms is to offer your services as a solution to someone’s problem.

Whether you’re using paid ads on social media or relying on organic traffic, the key to being effective is understanding the concerns your potential customer has. Once you can identify those concerns you can better position your business as the solution to their problems.

Not sure how to start identifying your potential customer’s problems so you can meet them? The best place to start is to take some time to create your Customer Avatar.

Digital Marketer has a fantastic blog post explaining exactly what an avatar is, why it’s important, and a free worksheet you can download to get started.

Create A Weekly Social Media Posting Schedule

We are creatures of habit, naturally searching for patterns and trends. A great way to keep your existing and potential customers interested is by creating a system in which they expect to receive consistent online updates. This keeps you fresh in their minds and helps make your brand recognizable.

Every business is unique, so take a look at what your company can offer to attract new business and share valuable resources and updates on your social media channels at least 3 times per week.

You can even automate your posts to make it even easier to stay on top of your company’s social media marketing efforts. Use a tool like Hootsuite or Buffer to get started!

Consider When You Post, Not Just The Content You Share

The date and time you choose to post on social media is an important consideration. Every social media platform’s peak activity time is slightly different.

The most effective day and/or time to share social media content depends on your target audience and where your Customer Avatar is likely to be spending time online.

At 1Eighty Digital, we recommend trying a variety of days and times when you’re first beginning social media marketing, and then gauge how effective certain days and times are for your company.

You can also conduct research to see which social media platforms share recommended posting times based on typical engagement. Sprout Social has a recent blog post that covers this information and can be helpful for a variety of businesses.

Use Compelling Headlines

People often scroll through their social media feeds when they’re taking a break from their day-to-day life want something fresh to look at. Most people aren’t going to read a dense paragraph’s worth of content and will scroll past wordy posts.

When you’re sharing content on your social media channels, focus on using a compelling headline and short introductory text designed to “hook” your target reader.

If you aren’t sure where to start, try asking a question or sharing a surprising fact related to the content you’re posting.

Always Use A Strong Call To Action

Don’t post anything on social media without including a call to action. You want to give the reader a clear direction you want them to take. Whether it’s to click on a link, comment below, sign up for your e-mail newsletter, or make a purchase, a strong call to action is essential.

If you’re running out of creative ways to prompt your potential customers to take the next step, look for examples you can imitate! AdEspresso (by Hootsuite) regularly shares this kind of helpful content, including 50 Call To Action Examples on their blog.

Social Media Marketing Help

Whether you’ve tried using social media marketing to promote your business or haven’t tried it yet, 1Eighty Digital is here to help!

If you need help creating a social media posting schedule or need someone to handle all of your social media marketing efforts from start to finish, we can create a customized marketing solution designed to fit your business.

This blog post has been written in collaboration with Grace College’s Writing for Publication Class (Spring Semester 2020). Students were assigned topics to cover. Their blog posts were then assessed for publication by their professor and 1Eighty Digital. This blog post was written by Samantha Shrock and has been updated to include the latest information and relevant links.