Social media marketing: 6 steps to a successful social media strategy

Only a few marketing disciplines have developed as much as social media marketing in recent years. Social networks are not only another channel for content and advertising, but also a direct link to the company's own customers.

The growth of social media marketing depends on the continued willingness of customers to use the relevant channel. Various studies have shown that consumer use of social media platforms has not only increased in recent years, but is also spread across multiple platforms and nearly all age groups. More than 72 million people in Germany now use social media on a regular basis - A huge number that shows the potential of social media marketing quite clearly!

From a company's point of view, social media marketing is, among other things, the art of getting to know the individual platforms in detail, using them in terms of content and reaching the target group in the long term.

You want to open your own online store and could use professional support?

What is Social Media Marketing ?

Social media marketing is a subset of online marketing. Here you create content to attract attention and interest for your company and your products or services on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter and Co. This content should be unique and designed specifically for the respective platform.

Benefits of Social Media Marketing

There is a lot to be said for using social media marketing for your own business:

1. Increase brand awareness.

Since millions of people in Germany now use social networks, many people can of course be reached via them. For this reason, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to use at least one of these platforms to increase brand awareness. Another advantage of social media is that you can direct visitors to your social media profiles directly to your online store.

2. Generate leads and increase conversions

By using social channels to promote and share your products, you automatically reach the right target audience, namely users who are interested in your business. After all, they are already following your account. For this reason, social networks are very good at generating higher leads as well as a better conversion rate and therefore more sales.

3. Maintain customer relationships

If you interact with your social media followers, for example by replying to comments, this will foster a lasting relationship with their customers.

4. Learn from the competition

Compare your marketing approach to your competitors' social media accounts. This will help you determine what works well for your competitors and what doesn't. However, in any case, make sure to create your own and unique content!

When does social media marketing make sense?

Social media marketing can be the right way for you to go if you can "package" your message into a story worth reading through interesting news and storytelling.

So think about the following:

• Do you have something to say that might interest potential buyers of your product or service?

• If so, does your target audience use social media and know about your company there?

By the way, in addition to normal posts, paid advertising is also possible on most social media channels and, depending on the region and industry, can be quite worthwhile, as there is virtually no wastage and you can reach your target group with pinpoint accuracy.

Social Media Marketing: Content Ideas

Using the following examples, we will show you the many possibilities that social media marketing offers. Post, for example, about:

• New products or special offers

• News from your company (e.g. new trainee)

• Everyday news from the office and the retail sector

• Seasonal and non-seasonal news (holidays, etc.)

• Promotions and competitions

• Own and sponsored events (e.g. open day, summer parties)

How to create a successful social media strategy

With the following points, you can create a successful social media strategy to really take off on Instagram, Facebook & Co:

1. Set goals

As with any other marketing activity, your first step for a social media strategy should be to think about what you want to achieve with it in the first place. Your goals could include the following, for example:

• Generate more leads or achieve higher conversions

• Strengthen customer loyalty

• Build brand identity

• Increase brand awareness

• Improve communication

• Find cooperation partners

• Recruiting

• Develop new target groups

• Obtain customer feedback

• Launch new products or services

• Increase customer loyalty

2. Define target group

Once you have defined your goals, the next step is to define your target group. In doing so, it can be quite useful to create a so-called buyer persona, i.e. a fictitious person who represents your typical customer. This persona will help you create the right content for your target group.

3. Determine social media platforms

In order to later play with content on the social networks that are most efficient for you, step 3 is about finding out where the identified target group spends the most time and what characteristics the different platforms have.

Take Instagram, for example: This is an image-centric network that is currently most popular among 20- to 29-year-olds. So you would have to ask yourself the questions here: What is the average age of my target group? Does it make sense for my company or my products or services to present them predominantly in the form of images? etc.

By thinking about these points, you can thus choose the best platforms for you quite easily.

4. Produce unique content

As mentioned earlier, you can definitely take inspiration from other business profiles on social networks, but a Unique Content is still crucial for your success. To do this, use the most exciting features that the respective platform offers and, if necessary, also reach out for cooperation with influencers.

5. Create editorial plan

To help you plan your posts and implement them thoroughly, an editorial plan is a good idea. It also allows you to hint at upcoming content to your followers ahead of time. Certain tools not only help you post content on time, but even allow you to create captions and prepare images and videos.

6. Evaluate results

The first step was about setting goals, the last step is about determining if those goals were met. To determine this, you should check the following social media metrics and manage them if necessary.

8 important metrics in social media marketing

Social media metrics tell you whether your content is performing well, such as:

1. Interactions (number of likes, comments, etc.)

2. Reach (how many people see your posts)?

3. Followers (number of people following your profile).

4. Impressions (number of times a post has been viewed).

5. Video views (How many times was a video clicked?)

6. Profile views (How many times was the profile viewed?)

7. Mentions (When other users tag you under posts, e.g. with @username)

8. Reposts/Shares (For example, if a follower also publishes your post on their profile).

Conclusion

Considering the fact that 86.5 percent of people living in Germany already use social media at the beginning of 2022, it is only a logical consequence to also use the platforms for advertising purposes and to interact with customers. So don't waste any more time and consult our step-by-step guide to successfully get started with social media marketing. You will soon see: the number of followers, reach, interaction rates and conversions will increase.