If you're still standing at the platform unsure whether to hop on the social media express, all we can ask is why. Social media is home to users of all different demographics, traits, and interests, and you can reach broader audiences simply by posting or advertising. In 2023, TikTok had nearly 1.5 billion monthly active users,  expected to rise to 1.8 billion by the end of 2024. Can you afford to bypass these users?

What is a Social Media Marketing Strategy

A social media marketing strategy improves building your brand presence on social media platforms by curating eye-catching, targeted content that resonates with your audience. It is part of an overall strategy to help brands and businesses increase their social presence and reach their big or small goals. Research has shown that social media ads account for 28.8% of all digital advertising spend.

‍

‍

What Goes Into a Social Media Marketing Strategy

Firstly, it involves understanding your audience - who are they? What are they interested in? Where do you go for information and entertainment online? Knowing who your audience is and their behavioural traits is critical to tailoring your content and social media messaging to resonate with them.

After you know your audience like the palm of your hand, you should define your objectives and business goals. Do you want to increase brand visibility? Improve your social presence? Generate leads? Or boost sales? Your social media strategy should outline SMART goals to work towards. 

S - SPECIFIC

M - MEASURABLE

A - ACHIEVABLE

R - RELEVANT

T - TIME-BOUND

After this, it's time to get creative and make your social media content, whether it be crafting compelling written posts, videos, images or articles that will align with your brand messaging and identity to reach your target audience and resonate with them. It is important to be consistent, maintain consistent messaging, and have a flexible yet regular posting schedule.

A massive part of any social media marketing strategy is increasing engagement rate; social media got its name for a reason, and that reason is being social! Your brand should be on its A-game regarding responding to customers' comments, messages, and brand mentions and building great relationships with your target audience. 

Engagement is another vital aspect. Social media is, well, social! Responding to comments, messages, and mentions helps foster relationships with your audience and build trust in your brand. You have to put effort into your social media strategy, which involves mixing with your potential customers and ensuring they receive timely responses. 

Your social media marketing strategy should involve monitoring your performance, which consists of tracking key metrics such as reach, engagement, and conversions. Tracking these metrics will allow you to assess the effectiveness of your strategy and discover valuable insights which can inform your future by making data-driven business decisions. 

How To Integrate Social Media Into Your Marketing Strategy

When integrating social media into your overarching strategy, the above basics have you in pretty good nick to make a splash on social. The most important thing to understand is aligning your social media strategy with your overarching business goals.

As a team, work to set key marketing objectives and social media goals. Do you want to achieve more visibility? Improve brand awareness? Generate more leads? Your social media marketing strategy, whether organic or paid social media advertising, can complement the overarching marketing goals differently.

Organic social is the foundation for any great marketing strategy where businesses can foster genuine connections and build a loyal online community. The organic content created could include engaging posts, behind-the-scenes glimpses, user-generated content, and interactive polls. 

Our recent blog covers everything you need to know about the difference between organic and paid social media.

Paid social is a strategic marketing avenue that can amplify reach and target specific audiences based on audience demographics and behaviour with sponsored posts, ads, and promoted content. This content may include visually impactful advertisements, images of products, compelling video ads, and influencer collaborations to maximise visibility and drive conversions.

Understanding your business goals and how social media can complement your strategy makes integrating social media alongside your other marketing activity easy and seamless. 

The Different Types of Social Media Content

Regarding social media, one of the most significant selling points for brands and businesses is the variation of content formats that these platforms allow. 

• Carousels: Carousels are swipeable pieces of content that allow you to take users on a journey through your content using multiple images in one post. This type of content is suitable for Instagram and LinkedIn, and you can also make carousel-style content in the TikTok app. Carousel posts have an average engagement rate of 1.92%.
• Text Posts: Text posts are pretty simple and are the most common form of social media post, allowing brands and businesses to get their message across through written content. These pieces of content are suitable for most social media platforms, but they have some limits on text length, such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. 
• Long-form Video: Long-form video takes your audience on a journey and can be used to demonstrate products or services and educate your audience. These types of content are best suited to YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok; research has shown that 87% of marketers report a direct increase in sales through video.
• Short-form video: Short-form video is for quicker, snappier, more punchy videos like reels and short TikToks. They are usually designed to entertain your audience in mere seconds. This type of content is best suited to social platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
• Still Images: Pictures on social media are so versatile; whether it be a picture of your product, your team, an infographic, or an image of your networking pictures, they are a great way of showing what you're up to and updating your audience. This type of content is best suited to LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 
• Stories:  Stories are a blink-and-you-'ll-miss-it type of content as they are only live for 24 hours before they disappear! This type of content is best suited to Instagram. 

‍

Can Any of These Formats be Pushed as Social Media Ads?

Yes - all of them! Each of the above types of content can be a part of your social media advertising strategy through strategic marketing campaigns or boosting your posts to generate more engagement. 

Note what content formats each social media platform supports to plan an effective advertising campaign utilising strong, practical ad formats.

At Soar With Us, we specialise in crafting strategic social media campaigns on meta platforms, including Facebook and Instagram and tackle TikTok strategy and content creation for our vast array of ambitious clients. 

For more information, see our recent blog, 'What is the Difference Between Organic and Paid Social Media?'

 Our Final Thoughts

Integrating social media into your marketing strategy is paramount for success in today's digital landscape. The opportunities to reach a diverse audience using social media platforms to connect with your audience are endless. You can drive meaningful engagement and achieve tangible results by leveraging different types of social media content, including carousels and video content, and aligning them with your business goals.

So, if you want to take your brand to new heights, speak to one of our specialists to understand how Soar With Us can help your business unlock its true online potential.

Our savvy social media specialists utilise dynamic social strategies to unlock exponential growth for ambitious E-Commerce brands. Check out our Paid Social Media Services today!

‍