Social Media Marketing Tips For a Successful Campaign

Over the past few years, we've seen social media grow exponentially as one of the essential ways of reaching an audience. With this, comes a whole host of new advertising opportunities for companies.

With such a saturated market of advertisements and brands, it has become increasingly important for brands to consider ways in which they can stay above the noise and stand out from the crowd. Here are just a few social media marketing tips that will help maximise engagement for any campaign.

MAKE SURE YOU'RE ON THE RIGHT PLATFORM

Every social media site has its pros and cons when it comes to advertising. These will vary from brand to brand, and it is important to plan out which platform will work best for your brand or product, because there's no use wasting time in a space that isn't interested in what you have to say.

The best marketers will take into account the different demographics and tools that come with each platform:

Facebook
Facebook allows for perhaps the most targeted form of social media advertising. You have the ability to pinpoint people through based on interest, location or behaviour. It has the largest user base.

Instagram
Instagram has a very high level of customer engagement. It is focussed entirely on visual posts, where products and brands with an aesthetic appeal perform well. It has a much younger user-base, in the 18-30 range.

Twitter
Best for natural engagement with customers. Twitter is great for raising brand awareness, and its conversation based structure means you can directly converse with your user base.

Pinterest
Pinterest has a predominantly female user base. Users often use it to search for creative or more unique products, linked by visual style and aesthetic. It is a platform built around mood boards, so much like Instagram, visually appealing posts are essential for engagement.

Snapchat
Snapchat allows customer involvement through interactive ads and camera filters. It has a much younger user base than other platforms, mainly popular with 18-34 year olds.

LinkedIn
A little more formal than other channels, LinkedIn is a network for professionals which means content based around industry topics and specific businesses will perform better. It is the most effective channel for B2B marketing - building professional relationships and offering professional advice. It has a typical user age of 18-65.

Don't be Afraid to Take Risks

Taking risks at times can be the best way to get people speaking about your brand. It is often the campaigns that aren’t afraid to push the boat out a little, that have the most success. In fact, users are more likely to appreciate content that feels new and unique.

One of the biggest ways a brand can fail on social media is to create content that feels too much like an advert. One of the best examples of a brand taking a risk is Old Spice's advertising campaign in 2008. This campaign went viral bringing in millions in additional sales for Old Spice. By thinking outside the box, Old Spice was able to bring attention to their product. Try not to throttle your campaign from the get go by playing safe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

Don't copy competitors

In a similar vein to the previous point, the most successful campaigns are those who actively try to come up with new ideas, instead of doing the same as others. People get tired of seeing similar videos constantly, and as soon as it becomes clear you're just following a trend, people tend to switch off.

The unique videos are the ones you remember, copies are easily forgotten. Doing the same thing as your competitors can make you seem like a second option - you should always push to be seen as the first. It's not always easy to think outside the box, but you should always be thinking about what it is you're doing differently to everyone else.

Tell a story

The next of our tips is all about how you're informing viewers. Marketing campaigns which focus solely on dumping information on the viewer are usually the least likely to land. Creating a relatable story will help viewers to connect and give them a reason to want to keep watching.

Always think about what it is about your campaign that will make the average social media user want to stop and watch. It has been proven that videos that elicit a more emotional response can increase engagement with a brand or product. It can be as simple as having real-life testimonials, or perhaps a narrative that is about more than just the brand.

By conveying the information in a more engaging and enjoyable way, not only will people be more likely to care about what you have to say, they'll also be more likely to share it.

A Clear Call To Action

Having great content is all well and good, but if your viewers don't know what to do with it, it's pretty useless. That may sound extreme, but in the end if you're not going to nudge potential customers in your direction, they'll just go somewhere else. Telling your audience where to go can go a long way. People like to be told what to do.

Once you've got them hooked, give them something to do with it - send them to a specific part of your website, ask them a question. The most successful campaigns will have thought about their call to action right from the beginning, and threaded it through their entire campaign. You should ask yourself two questions when it comes to any piece of content you put out: what do I want my viewers to do with this? and how will they do that?

Successful campaigns can be a lot to manage. By keeping these social media marketing tips in mind, your next campaign has the potential to be a huge success. But if you're still stuck and want to maximise your social media content even further, get in contact to see how we can help. Our bespoke social media packages bring your brand or product to life on social with video content as well as content scheduling and campaign management. Learn more about our Social Media content packages here.

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