The world has never been more connected. And if you’re not doing social media yet, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to reach the right people at the right time and more effectively than ever before. Social media is a revolutionary platform. It has had the biggest impact on business since the internet itself was born. However, while all firms nowadays have their Facebook and Twitter accounts, they are not utilizing social networks to the fullest yet. 

Many marketers have found it difficult to engage effectively with their target audience, even after spending a lot promoting posts that hardly got any response.

So if you want to take your social media seriously and make it an integral part of your marketing strategy, here are some tips to make your content more appealing and engaging:

1. Use Hashtags

Hashtags are a great way to expand your reach, but you need to use them correctly. If someone is looking for a particular hashtag, they will likely check out any posts that include it, even if they don’t follow those accounts. Using the right hashtags is the key, and if you are wondering how to increase organic reach, create hashtags that are relevant to you, your products and your overall brand image.  

Hashtags are a great tool for surfacing your content, but they’re not always easy to use effectively. Each platform has its own set of rules and best practices that you should follow. Instagram, for example, limits users to 30 hashtags at a time — and up to two consecutive hashtags are allowed in each post description. On Twitter, however, you can use as many as 10 hashtags in each tweet and add them either before or after the text in question (but not both). Also, remember to avoid using trendy or seasonal hashtags that might disappear over time — such as #ThrowbackThursday or #MondayMotivation — because they’re likely to become irrelevant by the following week or month. Be creative and use hashtags that can reach maximum people and remain relevant for a long time.

2. Social Listening

Social listening is a way of listening to what people are saying about your brand or industry. It helps you identify the key issues and opportunities your customers care about. This knowledge can be used to inform your content strategy and future campaigns. Try to understand the conversations happening around specific topics related to your business to see what ticks the customers. You can also look at what people say about your competitors and use their failings to become better.

3. Understand Audience Demographics

All companies and businesses have particular kind of consumers. They understand who their audience is, what type of content they like, and when they’re online. 

Knowing this information will make it easier for you to create content that appeals to your audience. These include age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, education, location, etc. For example, a traveling agency wishes to launch an all-female travel package. Their audience will likely be women between the ages of 18 to 50. Using the right tool for data analytics, your campaign should reach your desired audience appropriately.

4. Use Video-Based Content

Videos are one of the most popular forms of online content because they are easy to digest and understand even without reading any text on the screen! Most people prefer watching videos online rather than reading text on a screen because it helps them stay focused on what’s happening in front of them instead of scrolling through pages and pages of text. 

Research shows that video-based posts and content get 65% more engagement than simple text or pictures. YouTube recently announced that users watch more than 1 billion hours of video content on its platform every single day. 

Videos also have a greater chance of going viral than other types of content because they’re usually more relatable and engaging for viewers.

5. Use Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing has become an important part of many companies’ social media strategy. It involves using influencers in your niche to help promote your brand and products. Influencers are people with a large online following who are respected by their peers and the audience considers their recommendations genuine. 

The best way to reach influencers is through guest posting on their blogs or websites. This can be done by pitching an article about one of your products or services or asking them to try your product and write reviews about it.

6. Track Your Performance

Understanding how well your content performs on social media is critical for any brand’s success on this platform. You need to know what works and what doesn’t to constantly improve and optimize your content for better results over time. 

Track how well each piece of content performs before sharing it again with your followers on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The analytics will tell you which posts generate more engagement from users, like comments and likes. You can also use Google Analytics to measure visitor traffic from social media campaigns.

7. Know Your Peak Hours

If you’re spending time on social media, you must do it at the right time of day or night. If you don’t know what’s going on in your market at different times of day or night, you’re going to waste a lot of time and money trying to engage with people who aren’t interested in what you have to offer. Use analytics tools like Google Analytics or Facebook Insights to see when people are most likely online and engage with content related to what you do or sell.

If you sell products or services used primarily by women, for example, it’s best to post when women are most likely online — typically from 10 pm to 2 am. If you sell products or services that are used primarily by men, then it’s best to post during those times when men are most likely online — typically from 8 am to noon.

Conclusion

Whether you’re using social media to market your business, support your clients, or just stay in touch with other people, it’s important to be aware of some of the strategies that can assist in that process. Adopting a few simple strategies can save you time and resources and increase your success rate as well. 

Here’s the best way to approach your social media marketing: find what works and keep doing it. You’ll win more fans and make more sales if you can help potential customers see the value in your product or service right away. And (surprise) consumers are likely to spread the word if they have a great experience.