Different platforms, different audiences

Each social media platform has a different audience demographic so it is important to be active on the right platform for your audience. Unless you are a huge business, with a dedicated marketing department, it is not possible to be active on all platforms effectively.

Therefore, you should choose the platform where your target audience is most likely to be. If your target audience is young then TikTok may be an option. If your audience are millennial’s and GenZ then they are likely to be on Instagram and YouTube. If you are looking to invest in paid advertising, both Facebook and YouTube are an excellent option. In order to understand which platforms will benefit your business, it is therefore important to understand clearly who your target audience are so identify where they are likely to be and appear there, under their noses, offering your services or products.

Scores on the doors

Try not to get too caught up in metrics which are not meaningful for your business. Reach tends to be a useful metric since it shows how much of your content is actually reaching people’s feed. Of course you also need to know whether people are engaging with the content as well, and this is where clicks come in. Knowing how many people have clicked on a link which takes them back to your website will allow you to see which types of content your audience is finding attractive and allow you to create more of that type of content in order to attract even more of your ideal client to your product. Your engagement figure is the total number of interactions divided by the number of impressions. This will show you how your audience is perceiving and interacting with your content.

Engaging content

Your social media marketing strategy will revolve around creating engaging content. People read social media posts to be informed, entertained, and amused. Your content needs to stand out in in a very crowded space and it needs to clearly articulate exactly how you will resolve your ideal clients pain points. Your ideal client needs to feel that you are like them, that you understand them and what it feels like to be them.

Examples of popular content in 2022:

Stories on Instagram, particularly if you use these to take your followers behind the scenes which allows them to feel part of your business and to learn more about you as a person.

Short form video continues to be popular, think TikTok and Instagram reels.

Personal content continues to be important, don’t be afraid to let people see the person behind the posts.

Right on time

it is important to ensure that your social posts are as timely as possible. It’s important to post regularly, and you should try to post at times when your audience is most active on the platform that you are posting on. If you’re using a scheduling tool, most of them will give you hints and tips on the best time to post. However, if the suggested posting time is during the evening, and you know you will be putting the children to bed at that time, there is no point in posting at that time because you will not be available to respond to any comments which your followers post.

Don’t just post and run. Always check back to see how your post is doing, and answer any questions or comments that your followers might have posted as promptly as possible.

It is particularly important to do this on days when you have posted something which asks a question or has requested some type of engagement for example a poll. Customers will expect a quick response to any questions that they might post so it is very important to keep an eye on your social media. Although they can be annoying, it is worthwhile enabling notifications on your phone for your social media platforms so that you are alerted to any engagement and can respond promptly.

We hope that these tips will help you to achieve your marketing goals on social media. If you do not have time manage your social media yourself, don’t forget that Handpicked Harrogate and Handpicked Wetherby are ideally placed to help you to achieve your marketing goals. We offer a range of services from “done for you” social media, magazine advertising, and our highly competitive business membership which includes both advertising in the magazine and social media support.

Click here to see how our fingers can do your talking.