You need a great social strategy if you want to attract customers, and social media marketing doesn’t sound too difficult. After all, it’s a form of word of mouth marketing, which is the most effective way to get customers. However, a great social strategy requires more than just your own understanding to be effective.
However, if you aren’t using the right resources, you’re making it much more difficult than it needs to be. There are many tools and outside resources available to improve your social strategy. The result will be an increased reach and less hassle on the back end.
If you’re looking for a better social strategy, here are some widely available resources you should use.
1. Automation Apps
Social media without automation is simply too much work. Why spend all day logged into your social accounts when you can schedule your posts? Avoid missing prime posting opportunities by taking advantage of automation apps. Here are some of the best:
- Hootsuite
- Buffer
- HubSpot
- Social Oomph
- SproutSocial
- SocialFlow
Each of these apps has other capabilities as well, so explore their abilities and experiment to determine which app will do the most work for your organization.
2. Consultants
As a marketer, you probably know a thing or two about a social media strategy, but you don’t know everything. Oftentimes, your company can benefit from a fresh set of eyes with experience solely in social media. A consultant can help you define your social strategy and meet the goals you’ve set for your company.
When looking for a great social consultant, use a platform like Consultants 500 where you can research different options and hire the best fit for your company. If you get the right person on your side, you’ll be amazed at how much they can help your campaign.
3. Ebooks and White Papers
You should constantly read and study up on the newest trends and ideas regarding social media. Aside from subscribing to social marketing blogs, read white papers and ebooks that are often considered more credible and more valuable than a simple blog post.
There are thousands of publications available, but you want to go with what comes highly recommended. Here’s a list of guides, playbooks, courses, and more worth reading for an improved social strategy.
4. Customer Personas
One of the most important resources is something you create yourself: customer personas. These files will have important information regarding age, location, and other demographics that will help you target the right people on social media.
Develop a few customer personas to reflect different facets of your target audience. Other than demographics, look at insights like your audience’s typical day, shopping habits, optimum posting times, content medium of choice, topics of interest, and more. You can easily refer back to these items throughout your campaign.
5. Competition Monitoring Tools
Social media is one of the most competitive games in marketing. If you’re not keeping an eye on your competitor, you’re as good as crushed. Once you’ve identified your top 3-5 competitors, start paying closer attention to everything they’re posting, the times of day they engage, their interactions, and any other social signal you might pick up.
There are a variety of tools that can help with this. Here are some of the best for monitoring the competition:
- Hootsuite Insights
- Reddit Keyword Monitor Pro
- Reputology
- Brandwatch
- Synthesio
With the help of these tools, you can stay neck and neck with your competition over social media.
It’s amazing what your social strategy is capable of when you use the right tools and resources. Carefully evaluate your current gear and add a few more items to your toolbox. Your social strategy will improve and you’ll be a better marketer because of it.
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