Social media marketing is a trend that took many digital marketing professionals completely by surprise not too long ago. When businesses first began using social media, it seemed too difficult to measure conversions and too difficult to create strategies to be worth the time and energy. Now that 2016 is rolling, however, it’s a different story.
Considering that there are 27 million pieces of content shared every day and 89% of Millennials are active on at least one social media platform, it’s not surprising that social media marketing actually became a pretty big business during 2015. In fact, it’s estimated that marketers spent about $8.3 billion in 2015 just for social media marketing.
But if you’re new to the world of internet marketing, or if your small business doesn’t have thousands of dollars to spend just on social media campaigns, how can you make social media marketing work to your advantage during 2016? Here are just a few tips to get you started:
- Amp up the visuals Internet users are naturally attracted to visual content more so than written content, and this became very apparent when Pinterest released its visual search tool which lets users search for information about an item simply by using a picture of that item. Your business can take advantage of this (free) social media site by creating a profile page with different boards that display pictures of your items.
- SEO isn’t just for Google anymore
Search engine optimization typically refers to optimizing your website for searches on Google, but it’s becoming more common for people to search for businesses or products right inside the social media site. Optimizing your business for Facebook searches, for example, might mean that you fill out a business page and begin sharing links to your blog posts in order to get more followers.
- Quality definitely trumps quantity
Back in the good ol’ days, “spammy” content was only blocked out by Google. Now that any internet user can easily block or unfollow another social media user, it’s very important to make sure you aren’t flooding newsfeeds with low-quality content. Putting more effort into a click-worthy article, even if it means producing fewer articles, is going to be a huge trend for content marketing during 2016.
- Start using real-time marketing
Do you remember that tweet from Oreo during the 2013 Super Bowl blackout, “You can still dunk in the dark”? Of course you do — it was a legendary use of real-time marketing and it was about two years ahead of everyone else. Small businesses can use real-time marketing in simple ways, like sending out a tweet or a Facebook post, that relates to an issue which their target audience is already interested in.
- Don’t forget about B2B. Social media media isn’t just about connecting with young consumers on Instagram; paid advertising spots on LinkedIn, for example, could be a great way to reach a niche B2B market on social media.
If you’re planning on using social media marketing, or if you’ve already begun, what tips would you add to this list? Be sure to share your insider knowledge with us!