From likes to leads: master your social media strategy

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Social media channels have become an inseparable part of our personal and business lives. If you’re not present on social media, you’re missing out on a considerable audience. But how do you justify your choices and efforts for specific social channels? The answer lies in a social media strategy.

What are the elements of a media strategy?

In a social media strategy, the organic (unpaid) and paid efforts come together in a tailor-made approach. This way you can reach your target group at any time of the day with the right content on the right social channels. Paid social campaigns enable you to measure specific KPI’s, such as metrics. You can also establish your social media channels organically, ensuring that the relevant imagery, information, and tone of voice are available to the audience and in line with your desired brand image.

A successful social media strategy goes beyond simply setting up your social media profiles. It requires thorough audience research to understand the target audience’s location and information needs. With this knowledge you can develop a suitable strategy or optimize the existing strategy, so that the brand and the target group understand and identify with each other.

A social media strategy functions as a framework for conveying a narrative to a specific target audience

Define your objective through social media marketing

According to our strategist, Berber van der Sloot, a social media strategy functions as a framework for conveying a narrative to a specific target audience. Consequently, this target audience serves as the foundation of the strategy. What captures their attention, what are their information needs, and what is currently lacking? Based on these factors, the channels that align with the brand are determined.

In addition to defining the target audience and channels, a social media strategy includes KPI’s, the message you want to spread and the strategic objective. This goal can range from increasing follower count to creating an attractive storefront on the account.

Keep in mind that social media is not the sole channel where your target audience can find you. It’s part of the marketing mix, where each interaction, from an online post to a billboard poster, is just a small nudge that guides this audience towards you.

What are the characteristics of each social media channel?

The choice for a social media channel depends on the objectives at hand. Twitter is a platform for the concise sharing of opinions, while Instagram excels in showcasing visually appealing content. Pinterest and TikTok are like visual search engines.

A practical example is our campaign for Bloemenbureau Holland (The Flower Council of Holland), where we strategically used Pinterest to influence the purchase intent of flowers. This platform generates a 60% higher purchase intent compared to other platforms, because users seek a visual representation of their ideas. They search for something they truly want to buy. By tapping into the purchase intent and leveraging content that further ignites this intent, flower purchases significantly increased.

Identify your target audience and their needs

A brand can carry out target audience research to identify their audience or attract a new one. But how can you achieve that? A valuable resource is data research. Tracking methods, such as pixel placement in your campaigns and website, allow you to analyze the behaviour of your target audience. Although the new privacy law makes it more challenging to determine the exact target audience, there are other indicators to consider. For example, the viewing duration of your campaign videos (retention) or the collection of personal data.

The key to defining your target audience lies in distinguishing between primary, secondary and tertiary indicators. This allows you to gain a better understanding of which groups are most relevant to your brand and tailor your strategy accordingly. Above all, don’t forget to embrace the fact that the target audience cannot be confined to a single category, as a persona within that audience consists of multiple facets.

How do you achieve success on social media and stay current?

A customized social media strategy ensures your presence among the target audience at any given moment with content that connects them to your brand. It demonstrates your understanding of what interests the target audience and your ability to engage them with a message.

Social media offers an overwhelming amount of content and advertisements. Therefore, it becomes even more crucial to be present with content that seamlessly aligns with the audience’s needs. If the content fails to capture their interest, your audience will effortlessly scroll past it.

Stay informed about trends and remain true to your brand identity. Marketing or communication experts have the responsibility to be continuously active and creatively adapt to the dynamic and innovative world of social media. In short, authentically engage the target audience with topics that both your brand and audience have affinity for. That is the ultimate key to success on social media.

Our experts are here to help you

Looking to dive into the world of social media as well? Our specialists are more than willing to brainstorm and help you get started. Want to do some preliminary reading on your own? Download our useful step-by-step plan here: Social Brand Checklist.