Social media platforms are undoubtedly among the most useful sources for evaluating a company’s activity. In fact, most consumers make purchasing decisions only after carefully analyzing a brand, product or service. When evaluating brands, customers usually look at the online presence of the company in question, read reviews submitted by other customers, assess the company’s communication style, look at the topics covered by the brand, and evaluates the values it promotes. Numerous other aspects are also considered by shoppers before they make a purchase decision, especially on social media, and that means brands may have to work harder to build a positive reputation.
It’s never been easy to develop a great marketing strategy for social media, but it can become increasingly harder as time goes by. Not only are new technologies and platforms appearing more frequently than ever before, but customers’ expectations regarding social media presence also seem to be growing. According to HubSpot, 79% of customers now expect a reply to a social media post within 24 hours, while 39% of those who are active on social media expect a reply within an hour. However, setting high standards for customer service response times is not enough when it comes to creating a good social media marketing strategy. Other decisions and actions are equally important.
Accurately Defining a Buyer Persona Profile
According to Hootsuite, defining a buyer persona profile can help marketers target their ideal customers, and develop a social media marketing strategy designed to meet those customers’ needs. This first step is essential in understanding consumers, predicting their needs and desires, learning their motivations, and understanding the psychological mechanisms that may lead them to make purchasing decisions. Moreover, buyer personas can help marketers by keeping them focused on addressing the correct customer priorities rather than imposing their own. By thinking about buyer personas before making decisions, marketers can be sure that their social marketing strategies will be successful.
To accurately define a buyer persona, marketers should invest in audience research, including but not limited to defining existing customers and monitoring competitors. Tools like Facebook Audience Insights and Google Analytics can prove indispensable when it comes to defining the age, location, and interests of a buyer persona profile.
Creating a Customized Social Media Calendar
Extensive research is also needed before creating a customized marketing calendar for a brand, product, or service. This means carefully evaluating the market and the competition, while also using the buyer persona profile to understand what type of consumers should be targeted and what topics might pique their interest. Only by laying this groundwork can marketers create customized marketing calendars for their brands. The marketing calendar in question should include a great content strategy created specifically for the right buyer persona profile. The calendar can be divided into main themes and sub-themes that align with the brand’s marketing goals.
According to Buffer, a customized social media calendar can include various types of posts— conversation starters, articles featured on the brand’s website or blog, quotes, tips, useful information about its products and services, and announcements about upcoming sales and events.
Designing Great Social Media Content
A good social media marketing strategy starts with planning the first steps, such as accurately defining a buyer persona and creating a customized social media calendar. However, most marketers already know that developing a great social media marketing strategy is impossible without great social media content. Creating a great business identity on social media requires creative and original copywriting that should be supported by professional graphics and photos. Great social media content conveys professionalism and enhances credibility, and it can also increase conversion rates and sales organically and at no additional cost.
According to Post Planner, great social media content comes in a variety of forms, like user-generated content (UGC), quotes, repurposed articles, podcasts and videos, infographics, customer testimonials, and more.
Conclusion
Creating a great social media marketing strategy has never been easy, and it has become even more difficult in 2022. However, by accurately defining a buyer persona profile, creating a customized social media calendar, and crafting great social media content, marketers can ensure that their brands become visible and successful on social media.
