With 424 million new users in the past 12 months, 4.62 billion now use social media. That’s more than half of the total world population! Based on these numbers, if you have a target audience, it has to be on social media. If you haven’t made social media marketing part of your digital marketing strategy, you’re losing out on massive chunk of potential customers. On top of that, social media provides you with incredible targeting options that enable you to reach users who’ll be genuinely interested in buying what you sell.

But are your social media marketing efforts driving results? This guide to improving your social media marketing strategy will make your advertising steps result- and conversion-oriented. To improve the effectiveness of your campaigns on social media, follow these valuable tips:

Tailor Your Content to Specific Social Media Channels

If your business has a presence on multiple social media networks, it’s important to understand that there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for all platforms. Different types of content works for different social media platforms, which is why your content should be tailored to the specific platform you’re advertising on.

For instance, LinkedIn serves as a platform for professionals looking for new job opportunities, build their professional networks, and connect with businesses. Instagram, on the other hand, is a visual social media channel with a fun element. Hence, the type of content, the tone you use, etc. on LinkedIn will likely be different from what you share on Instagram. You’ll also need to optimize your posts such as images, videos, and other elements for the platform you’re using.

Stay Responsive to Engagements

Some businesses tend to adopt the “post and ghost” strategy, which means they’ll keep posting but fail to manage their content effectively or respond to comments and other forms of engagements. This makes the followers and other audiences feel ignored, and they may not interact with your subsequent posts. When they like a post, comment on it, or share it on their feed, they expect a response.

Also, you should stay highly responsive to any private message you receive from a social media user. If it’s a complaint, view it as an opportunity to delight the customer by resolving the issue quickly and compensating them for any loss. Show appreciation for any suggestions and “thank you” messages.

Post Consistently

To accomplish the desired results from your social media marketing efforts, it’s important to stay consistent with your posting. An easy way to do that is to schedule your posts using a content calendar. This allows for automated posting, so you won’t have to post every day. There are various free and paid scheduling platforms that small businesses can use to schedule social media posts. We recommend trying a free version first to get a feel for them. Once you’ve got your hands dirty with a free platform and understand how they work, you can go for a paid version that will have more features to offer.

Conclusion

A lot of things go into improving your social media strategy, but remember, 20% of the efforts produce 80% of the desired results. Those 20% of the most effective efforts include, but are not limited to remaining consistent with posting, staying responsive to user engagements, and familiarizing yourself with the social networks you’re using so that you can tailor you content accordingly.

We hope that the aforementioned tips help you achieve your social media marketing goals.