If you want your business’s online presence to thrive, you need to be on social networking platforms and have a solid social media marketing strategy.
With 95% of 18 to 34-year-old internet users—a significant part of the purchasing population—following at least one brand on a social channel, it is logical for you to build a social media presence. Plus, 52% of the time, brand discovery happens on social sites.
Organized strategies for social media, implemented with the assistance of a social media marketing agency, boost your promotional initiatives. Every well-thought-out social media content strategy helps increase brand visibility and audience engagement. And expectantly, it will convert followers into paying customers.
Table of Contents
Strategies for Social Media Marketing
Here are the top platform-specific social media marketing strategies:
1. Facebook
Facebook is still the most widely used social platform via metrics, with 2.93 billion users across the globe.
Here are the best social media advertising methods to utilize on Facebook:
Run Paid Ads
Run paid ads redirecting straight to your product or service offers to make them stand out amid a user’s crowded News Feed.
These advertisements in the form of content will make them look and feel more “native” to the platform. Through this social media strategy, your page visitors will not even notice they are marketing ads, making them end up on your business landing page and expectantly, subscribe to your mailing list.
Hold Photo Contests
Running a contest is an excellent social media marketing strategy to create engagement and spread awareness about your Facebook page.
This helps with lead generation and user-generated content (UGC) collection you can leverage in your upcoming social media campaigns.
Maximize Use of Facebook Live
Interact with followers in real time. This social media marketing strategy on Facebook adds a dash of authenticity, honesty, transparency, and relatability to your marketing projects and consumer experience. It will drive more interest in your company.
These are some ideas for your Facebook Live:
- Fan interview
- Interview with an industry expert
- Sneak peek at a future product line launch
- Tutorial on product use
Respond to Client Concerns
You are responsible for creating and publishing valuable and courteous content. In an age where most people have a platform to speak their minds, it is impossible not to evoke reactions that may not be pleasant.
Additionally, product complaints can go straight to the comments section instead of your inbox.
To handle these cases graciously, you should:
- Acknowledge negative reactions and issues.
- Not be defensive.
- Redirect them to your email or chat box to listen and resolve the concern.
You will be more at peace and even turn a bad situation into a brand-building and learning opportunity.
2. Twitter
Twitter is another social media channel delivering value to any enterprise. Note these ideas to optimize your brand’s use of Twitter:
- Schedule Posts in Advance
- Collaborate With Other Accounts for Content Sharing
- Host a Twitter Round Table
- Start a Poll
Schedule Posts in Advance
The average lifespan of a tweet is 18 minutes. It can even be less.
That is why tweeting constantly ensures your posts stay relevant, as it increases the likelihood of showing up more on your followers’ feed. This will show Twitter users that you remain active on the platform.
You do not have to send tweets manually. The trick is to use Twitter-approved pre-scheduling third-party applications, such as Buffer and Hootsuite. You can also utilize Twitter’s own Tweet Later functionality.
However, ensure you spread out your content evenly within a specific time period so that you do not suffer from content overload.
Collaborate With Other Accounts for Content Sharing
Identify Twitter influencers that create content relevant to your business and have a large number of followers.
With high-value content pieces, it will be easier to reach out to other accounts and work with them to disseminate your content.
Host a Twitter Round Table
Twitter Circle is a great medium for social discussions. Find a topic related to your brand that can be a subject for a roundtable conversation or a live chat.
This is a genuine way to gather information from interested consumers:
- You can start with a question to build the discussion.
- Solicit questions from interested Twitter users.
- Come up with a catchy hashtag linked exclusively to that specific Twitter Circle chat, alongside your brand’s official hashtag.
Participants will find it more convenient to follow through with your roundtable talk.
Start a Poll
While Twitter Polls seem underrated, this less-used Twitter feature is a meaningful way to interact with followers.
When you run a poll, you encourage people to have a voice, speak up, and let you know their thoughts. This means your business values their opinion.
Besides driving engagement and impressions and igniting a discussion, Twitter Polls can help you collect information. It is a win-win social media marketing strategy:
- You can ask users what product line they wish you to launch next.
- Ask them which of your product offers they use the most.
- Ask about their least liked product and give them confidence to elaborate via Replies.
3. Instagram
Another popular social network medium, Instagram shows all signs of remaining influential in the subsequent years.
Here are pointers on how to get the most out of the channel:
- Tag Big Accounts in Your Images and Videos
- Use Monetization Methods
- Post Plenty of Reels
- Make the Most Out of Photo Carousels
Tag Big Accounts in Your Images and Videos
Tag influential accounts not only in the photos but also in the caption. This is an effective social media marketing strategy to get your page noticed by Instagram users—and potentially by the high-profile businesses tagged. In turn, you pave the way for potential collaboration with other thought leaders.
Moreover, this social media strategy will make you show up on the tagged account’s page itself as well as the Explore page of Instagram.
Users can even stumble upon your page when they search for the Instagram account handles you have previously tagged.
Use Monetization Methods
To effectively monetize on Instagram, you can do any of the following:
- Use Instagram’s Shop Now functionality.
- Link your posts to the landing or product pages on your official website.
- Have a single permanent web pages link on your Bio.
- Write a call-to-action (CTA) in the caption with a link clients can copy and paste.
- Put a CTA that points to the link on your Bio.
You can use the channel’s built-in analytics to get insights into which of the above is working most effectively.
Post Plenty of Reels
Instagram Reels have gained considerable popularity since its launch. People watch out for them more than static imagery because they are engaging and fun. And they open opportunities for virality.
Connect with your target audiences and widen your market reach by creating Reels with trending audio and voiceovers. This will help get you more views and shares, and find your place on the Explore page.
Make the Most Out of Photo Carousels
Carousel posts attract greater engagement than single-photo posts.
Get your followers to keep swiping and tapping your carousel content. These make an effective way to add value and share more elaborate information. You can combine still images with videos for better versatility.
4. TikTok
TikTok has made waves sensationally on the internet, changing the social media game drastically. With so much entertainment value, it is one of the most popular media among different crowds—especially the youth and the paying consumers.
Use these strategies for social media to guarantee success on TikTok:
- Create and Publish Videos Based on Trends
- Go Live
- Explore and Display Your Fun Side
- Run a Giveaway Content
Create and Publish Videos Based on Trends
It is crucial to join trends on TikTok. The platform is fast-paced so you have to jump into the latest trends. These include:
- Trending sounds and voiceovers
- Currently popular content ideas
- Widely utilized formats at present
- TikTok challenges
Your content pieces are more likely to land on the For You page by going with what is on trend.
Go Live
Connect with your views and go on TikTok live streams. You can perform a variety of promotions on TikTok live, such as:
- Previously posted content pieces
- Q&A sessions
- Live product demos and tutorials
- A casual chat with your followers
Explore and Display Your Fun Side
Show off your brand personality that exhibits genuineness and relatability. Make high-quality video production that resonates with your target market.
Ensure your format is specially designed and sized for TikTok so there are no parts of the clip or texts that lay outside the frame.
Run a Giveaway Content
TikTok is an efficient medium for offering giveaways. Try these content ideas:
- Dance challenges for a cause—join popular dance challenges or get participants to choreograph their own and start a trend.
- Give followers an opportunity to exhibit their uniqueness and creativity.
- Make them stitch a unique remix of your TikTok videos.
- Let them show how they use your product in new exciting ways.
- Encourage them to design customized merchandise.
Use these as freebies to distribute to your brand loyalists whenever they complete an order with you. This is an organic way to showcase your brand personality and gather UGC.
Top 10 Social Media Marketing Strategies for Brands
Social media marketing is an effective way to level up your brand, and this becomes possible when you apply the right strategies as explained here:
1. Using Chatbots
Chatbots are social media management tools that can communicate and resolve customer problems without human intervention.
Additionally, chatbots integrate with the social media platforms that consumers feel comfortable interacting with. An AI-powered chatbot makes your social media marketing easy and does not require coding knowledge.
2. Creating a Personalized Experience for Customers
You should create a more personalized experience for your customers by automating everyday tasks and implementing them appropriately.
The strategy is to create ads that redirect your audience to a messenger window with the chatbot. Linking the ads to the chatbot breaks the traditional views of the customers of your brand. It also helps boost your sales and create a loyal fan base.
In the mind of Avinash Chandra, Branding, Integrated & Digital Marketing consultant and Founder of BrandLoom Consulting, a conversation with your audience is essential.
"The essential ingredient to any successful social media marketing strategy isn't just content, it's conversation. Genuine, two-way conversations with your audience ignite engagement, foster trust, and create a community. Content may be the spark, but it's the dialogue that fuels the fire of meaningful connections and lasting brand impact. So, remember, it's not just what you say, but how you listen and respond that truly sets your strategy ablaze."
3. Crafting an Efficient Content Marketing Strategy
Content quality is of paramount importance in social media marketing. Content has been an effective form of marketing for a long. However, apart from creating quality content, it is essential to link them with an appropriate posting schedule and the correct frequency of posts.
Ensure creating relevant hashtags along with detailed and optimized content. With this, you can attract the right customers at the right time. The additional benefit is bringing in an organic audience free of cost.
A content marketing that is efficient is also consistent, in the mind of Mauricio Luiz Siriguti, Marketing Director and Managing Partner at Webegin.
"One of the biggest missing parts of social media strategies is consistency. Digging in on the high-performing or the accounts with the highest growth, you will see consistency. To ensure a successful social media marketing strategy, focus on posting consistently across the right platforms.
Regular posting keeps your brand in front of your audience and maintains their interest. Create a content calendar and set a posting schedule to ensure you stay on track. Hire someone if you need to and trust in the process."
4. Building an Audience Community
Social media followers and other metrics are undoubtedly influential, but they are not everything regarding social media success.
Social media engagement rates speak a lot. Your audience must understand that you are not just a robot. Integrating personality through emotions and humor into the posts is necessary. It helps the audience relate to your brand because social media, at the end of the day, is all about being social.
To make your communication interactive, you can ask questions, gather opinions, share newsworthy information, incorporate user-generated content, and so on.
"A successful social media marketing strategy hinges on engagement. It's about creating a two-way dialogue, where businesses not only share content but also interact and respond to their audience," says Garrett Olano, founder of Sugoi "The essential ingredient is authentic, valuable content that resonates with the audience, ignites conversations, and builds a community. In tandem, leveraging data analytics to glean insights into audience behavior and preferences is crucial. This enables a more tailored, effective strategy. Additionally, consistency in posting and a well-defined brand voice are key to fostering a loyal following. Adopting a multi-platform approach also broadens reach and opportunities for engagement."
5. Adopting a Diverse Content Strategy
Your content strategy should be diverse, including good imagery, fun TikTok videos, exciting podcasts, etc. This different type of media helps jazz up your social media content.
Using diverse content instead of posting and sharing only texts and infographics enables catching your audience's eye. It also adds a level of personality to your brand.
6. Leveraging Brand Advocates
In social media, the people who love your brand are your best promotional tools. Leveraging your current customers is as crucial as finding new ones. You can also use your employees as brand advocates by creating brand-specific social media guidelines.
As part of the strategy, you can inform your advocates about the social media best practices and track the correct data to point to improvement areas.
7. Creating Profiles on the Relevant Channels
You might prefer to create social media accounts on every available platform to reach the maximum target audience, but this mindset only sometimes helps.
On the other hand, it is critical to evaluate the buyer personas while choosing the relevant social media channels. For instance, you don't need a LinkedIn profile to launch a clothing brand, just as you can easily promote your security services without using Pinterest.
To find the most relevant channels, it's important to tap into historical data - as evidenced by Jana Devan, founder of Zettist.
"The greatest—and often most overlooked—asset any strategist has is historical data. In 2020, a client requested an Instagram strategy. After analyzing a decade's worth of data, we discovered it generated minimal website clicks and conversions. Surprisingly, Pinterest, which they weren’t using at the time, brought in 4x more traffic. After a dive into analytics at a macro level, we realized that Pinterest was less saturated and more ripe for conversions on their budget. We presented the data and created a strategy. Today, Pinterest is their second-highest traffic source, delivering thousands of web visits while boosting revenue."
8. Establishing a Social Media Budget
Social media marketing is essential for any business looking to reach its goals. With the right strategy and budget, you can get in front of your desired target audience and create a powerful connection with them. Social content allows companies to make an authentic bond with customers on a personal level that could be crucial for success down the road.
9. Running Cross-Channel Campaigns
To truly make an impact on your customers, try creating cross-channel campaigns to spark a connection. With so many companies utilizing social media for their marketing efforts today, it's essential to give yourself an edge – add something personal and dynamic that will resonate with your target audience.
Crafting memorable stories combined with unique titles and relevant hashtags is vital when putting together an effective multi-platform promotion that leads back each customer right where you want them - to a specific landing page full of extra information about what they care most about.
10. Going Live to Tell a Story
Live stories offer businesses an excellent opportunity to showcase more than just transactions – they can create shareable, memorable content. Companies across the globe are shifting their focus from websites to social media to engage better and inspire customers. With live-streaming features that big brands have yet to utilize fully, why not get ahead of the trend? Take your brand's story further by jumping into Facebook or Instagram's live realm before it catches on with everyone else.
Best 4 Inspirational Social Media Strategy Examples to Learn From
Here are a few examples of reputed brands using social media strategy in an inspirational way.
1. Aldi's #FreeCuthbert Twitter campaign
In 2021, UK supermarket chains Aldi and Marks & Spencer clashed in an epic legal battle that quickly went viral - but instead of playing it out in the courts, they took their fight to social media.
M&S felt Aldi's "Cuthbert the Caterpillar" cake infringed on its famous "Colin" creation. But with a hefty dose of British cheekiness, Aldi launched the #freecuthbert online campaign full of hilarious court puns and jokes.
People everywhere were tickled by this unexpected feud between grocery stores – prompting conversations far beyond gourmet cakes.
2. The UN’s Empower Moves TikTok campaign
@unwomenaust Empower Moves is the dance made of self defence moves. Have you shared your #EmpowerMoves yet? @karlamura_ ♬ Good Things (R3HAB Remix) - Wafia
The UN Women Council just rocked TikTok with their #EmpowerMoves dance routine, a sequence of four simple, easy-to-remember self-defense moves. What started as a clear trend soon became more meaningful when the marvelous layers behind it were revealed - empowering young women to feel safe again in such challenging times.
Through creative collaboration between a choreographer, self-defense expert, and the UN team, this inspiring campaign is taking over social media while teaching vital lessons on staying prepared at all costs.
3. HBO Max's #BadaBinge campaign
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To excite the release of The Many Saints of Newark, HBO and HBO Max launched a six-week-long initiative to get people rewatching all six seasons of the original Sopranos series. Across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and more, they sent out weekly check-ins with memes and photos that synced up on their suggested timeline for watching; plus, interactive quizzes on Insta Stories' Checklists on Twitter as well some TikToks recaps for first timers arcs sweeping Youtube's "Best Of" compilations from fans.
4. Havana Club Rum's Amparo Experience Instagram account
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In a revolutionary move, Havana Club Rum has brought to life the legacy of its founder Amparo Arechabala through an innovative and highly effective Instagram campaign. By adopting this fresh approach, HRC provides followers with an insight into their rich heritage in an engaging way - painting a vivid picture of what it was like sixty years ago when the esteemed distillery first began operating.
This unique strategy cleverly capitalizes on our attachment to social media by presenting unique yet captivating content, allowing fans worldwide to appreciate how much emotion can be injected even into something as traditional as rum-making.
Expert Insights on Social Media Marketing Strategy
We asked agency experts on social media marketing: "What is the essential ingredient to any successful social media marketing strategy?" Here are their answers.
1. Authenticity
Nick Fernandez, Founder of Upsway Marketing
"A successful social media strategy hinges on authenticity. It means being genuine, avoiding stock photos, and steering clear of generic templates. We tailor our client's plan to their unique brand identity and target audience, using actionable insights to fine-tune our approach. Remember, what truly engages your audience is a unique, specific message that captures your brand's essence."
2. Historical Data
Jana Devan - Zettist Founder
"The greatest—and often most overlooked—asset any strategist has is historical data. In 2020, a client requested an Instagram strategy. After analyzing a decade's worth of data, we discovered it generated minimal website clicks and conversions. Surprisingly, Pinterest, which they weren’t using at the time, brought in 4x more traffic. After a dive into analytics at a macro level, we realized that Pinterest was less saturated and more ripe for conversions on their budget. We presented the data and created a strategy. Today, Pinterest is their second-highest traffic source, delivering thousands of web visits while boosting revenue.
Strategies that use data to inform decisions and continue to test and iterate will win. Find a strategic team that can help you navigate the world of social and find the best platforms for your audience, goals, and brand personality."
3. Engagement
Garrett Olano, founder of Sugoi
"A successful social media marketing strategy hinges on engagement. It's about creating a two-way dialogue, where businesses not only share content but also interact and respond to their audience. The essential ingredient is authentic, valuable content that resonates with the audience, ignites conversations, and builds a community. In tandem, leveraging data analytics to glean insights into audience behavior and preferences is crucial. This enables a more tailored, effective strategy. Additionally, consistency in posting and a well-defined brand voice are key to fostering a loyal following. Adopting a multi-platform approach also broadens reach and opportunities for engagement."
4. Consistency
Mauricio Luiz Siriguti - Marketing Director and Managing Partner
"One of the biggest missing parts of social media strategies is consistency. Digging in on the high-performing or the accounts with the highest growth, you will see consistency. To ensure a successful social media marketing strategy, focus on posting consistently across the right platforms. Quality interactions are vital, but quantity matters. It's hard, but definitely easier than before to post once or 3 times a day. Regular posting keeps your brand in front of your audience and maintains their interest. Create a content calendar and set a posting schedule to ensure you stay on track. Hire someone if you need to and trust in the process. These apps want their audience to use them all day, so help them to help you grow."
5. Conversation
Avinash Chandra - Branding, Integrated & Digital Marketing Consultant and Founder of BrandLoom Consulting
"The essential ingredient to any successful social media marketing strategy isn't just content, it's conversation. Genuine, two-way conversations with your audience ignite engagement, foster trust, and create a community. Content may be the spark, but it's the dialogue that fuels the fire of meaningful connections and lasting brand impact. So, remember, it's not just what you say, but how you listen and respond that truly sets your strategy ablaze."
Key Takeaways on Social Media Marketing Strategy
In formulating a social media marketing strategy, you have to keep an open mind, stay up-to-date with digital trends, and be prepared to adapt to these rapidly changing trends.
These pointers are critical:
- Videos are some of the most consumed content, so make sure you get the most out of them.
- Embrace UGC.
- Understand data and insights in an in-depth manner.
- Human interaction is better than bots.
- Exploring fresh techniques and strategies for social media is a must.
Social Media Marketing Strategy FAQs
What Are the Five Most Effective Social Media Marketing Strategies?
The five most effective social media marketing strategies are:
- Creating personalized user experiences
- Building an audience community
- Telling a story by going live
- Using chatbots and brand advocates
- Creating personalized content
Why Is a Social Media Marketing Strategy Necessary?
A social media strategy is essential because it will help map out a plan to stand out from the crowd, build an audience of activated and informed followers, and create an environment where you can take leads and massage them through the buying cycle, from awareness to consideration to the purchase phase.
How Do You Create an Effective Social Media Strategy?
Creating an effective social media strategy requires taking the following steps:
- Auditing the current social media approach
- Researching the customer base
- Identifying the relevant platforms
- Setting measurable goals
- Promising customers what they want
- Using the right tools
- Monitoring and adjusting
