Many businesses fail to see meaningful results from their social media simply because they’re lacking a clear and strategic approach which aligns with their goals.

But what does a successful social media strategy look like?

Well, social media marketing is more than just posting content, instead, a data-driven and audience-focused approach is required to deliver the engagement, leads, and conversions you were hoping for.

In this blog we’re going to delve deep into the essential steps to get your social media delivering real results to your business.

Step #1: Define clear goals for your business

Before we get into the content creation side of things, you need to understand why you’re using social media in the first place. What are your business goals? When you can clearly define these, you’ll be able to determine your entire strategy.

Some common objectives look like:

• Increasing brand awareness by getting more people to recognise your brand and actually remember it.
• Driving more traffic to your website via social media.
• Generating leads by capturing email subscribers or enquiries from interested customers.
• Boosting sales by converting social media followers into paying customers.
• Building a community where you’re able to engage with your audience directly and create loyalty.

The key is to choose 1-2 primary goals to avoid spreading yourself too thin.

Step #2: Identify and research who your target audience is

An easy mistake to make when you’re first getting started with social media marketing is trying to target anyone and everyone, but this never works in the long-run and delivers very very little results.

To make your social media marketing a success, you need to truly understand who you’re trying to target out of it.

To define your ideal audience, you first need to consider:

1. Who’s your demographic? (Age, gender, location, occupation, etc).
2. What’s your audience’s interests, values, and behaviours?
3. Where would your ideal customer spend their time online and what type of content would they engage with?

You don’t need to figure these out by yourself, using tools like Meta Audience Insights, Google Analytics, or Instagram Analytics are powerful tools to gather audience data.

Step #3: Choose the right social media platform

You need to understand that there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to social media marketing, which equally means that not ALL platforms are going to work for every business. So, instead of trying to create content to cover every platform going, focus on the ones where you know your audience will be most active.

For example:

• Instagram and TikTok are great for lifestyle brands, beauty, fashion, and visually-driven businesses.
• LinkedIn is a powerful platform for B2B companies, professionals, and high-end service providers.
• Facebook is best for local businesses, community engagement, and lead generation.
• Pinterest is great for home decor, beauty, fashion, and e-commerce.
• YouTube is best for long-form content, tutorials, and thought-leadership.

Make sure you’re prioritising at least 2-3 platforms to maximise your impact instead of spreading your efforts too thin.

Step #4: Develop a content strategy that actually converts

A lot of people and businesses will post for the sake of it because they assume it’s best to just ‘get something out there’, but this way of thinking won’t take your brand far. Instead, focus on what we like to call, The 3 Content Pillars:

1. Educational content to teach your audience something valuable such as industry insights, tutorials, tips, etc.
2. Engaging content to encourage interaction such as polls, questions, or behind-the-scenes.
3. Promotional content to showcase your services or products strategically with the use of testimonials, case studies, offers, etc.

To find the right balance, stick with the 80/20 rule which is: 80% of your content should be value-driven, and 20% should be promotional.

Step #5: Implement a posting schedule and consistency plan

It can feel overwhelming trying to find extra time in your already-busy schedule to create content, but to be successful on social media, you need to be consistent. Here’s how to effectively do it stress-free: 

1. Plan your content in advance by using scheduling tools such as Meta Business Suite, Sprout Social, Hootsuit, etc.
2. Dedicate a day to create multiple posts at once without trying to create something every day.
3. Use your analytics to find out when your audience is most active so that you can post when they’re online.
4. Respond to comments, messages, and interact with your followers as much as you can.

Remember, it’s all about quality over quantity. It’s far better to post high-value content 3-4 times per week than to post daily without purpose.

Step #6: Use paid advertising to increase your reach and results

While organic reach is essential to create and maintain an online presence, it’s a slow-burner for getting the results you want. Instead, you need to be focusing on paid advertising alongside your organic content to achieve faster growth.

Here’s how to use paid ads effectively:

1. Retargeted website visitor ads: These ads will show to people who have visited your website but haven’t converted across social media, keeping you fresh in their minds.
2. Lookalike audience ads: These target people who are similar to your current customers to expand your reach and get new people in.
3. Engagement ads: These are great if you have organic posts that have performed really well as you can boost them and extend that engagement beyond your follower-base.
4. Lead generation ads: These collect emails directly from social media.

You don’t need to go large on your budget to see results, even investing $5-10 a day can make a significant impact when you’re targeting the right audience.

Final step: Analyse and improve your strategy, always

The golden rule for successful social media marketing is always tracking your results to understand what’s been working and what needs improving.

You need to be using the following key metrics:

• Engagement rate (likes, comments, shares, and saves).
• Website clicks (how many people have visited your site from social media).
• Conversion rate (how many leads/sales have come from social media).
• Follower growth

If you’re not familiar with Google Analytics, Meta Business Suite is excellent for tracking your progress.

A final word from us

To have an effective social media strategy, you no longer post content randomly. Instead, you create intentional, result-driven marketing that aligns with your business goals. If you focus on researching your audience, content strategy, being consistent, and paid advertising, you can turn your platforms into powerful revenue-driving tools.

Need a customised social media strategy for your business? Let’s talk!

At The Social Pig, we have the experience to create data-driven strategies that work, so you don’t have to! We help you to attract premium clients and scale your brand while you focus on running the business.