The Top 5 Social Media Best Practices in 2024
Is your business stuck in social media marketing quicksand? Scrolling through feeds, posting the occasional update, and hoping for traction? In today's hyper-connected world, that's a recipe for digital obscurity.
Even the most captivating social media ads will flop without a pre-established social media presence (which you can only get through regular posting and engagement).
I'm here to tell you there's a better way – social media marketing doesn't have to be such a shot in the dark.
Millions are glued to their screens, devouring content on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, you name it. Every minute spent is a marketing opportunity for you, a chance to rise above the noise and snag the attention of potential customers.
Table of Contents:
- What is Social Media Marketing?
- Which Social Media Platform is Best For Marketing?
- Top 5 Social Media Best Practices For 2024
What is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing (SSM) is the art of leveraging social media platforms to achieve your business goals. This goes beyond simply posting content and hoping for clicks. It's a strategic approach that encompasses a variety of tactics to promote your business, establish your brand, boost website traffic, and drive conversions and sales.
SSM covers a wide range of activities:
- Content creation and distribution
- Community building
- Social listening and engagement
- Social media advertising
- Influencer marketing
- Social analytics and reporting
Which Social Media Platform is Best For Marketing?
Picking the ideal social media platform for your marketing strategy can feel like navigating a minefield. Each platform caters to specific demographics, content formats, and marketing goals. To help you choose wisely, here's a chart outlining the strengths of various platforms for different marketing objectives:| Objective | Platform | Strengths |
|---|---|---|
| Brand Awareness | Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube | Massive user base, diverse demographics, powerful ad targeting options, rich multimedia formats for storytelling. |
| Lead Generation | LinkedIn and Facebook | Professional audience, focus on thought leadership and B2B engagement, lead capture forms, strong organic reach for valuable content. |
| Customer Engagement | Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat | Visual-driven platforms, strong emphasis on community building, interactive features like polls, Q&A, and live video, ideal for fostering brand loyalty. |
| Product Sales | Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest | Strong e-commerce integration, shoppable posts, influencer marketing opportunities, visual product showcasing drives purchase intent. |
| Thought Leadership | LinkedIn, Twitter (X), and Medium | Professional focus, emphasis on long-form content and industry expertise, knowledge sharing attracts potential clients and partners. |
| Website Traffic | Twitter (X), Reddit, and Pinterest | Real-time news and content sharing, strong organic reach potential, link-driven formats like threads and boards direct users to your website. |
Ultimately, you're best bet will be to use a multi-platform approach. Leverage the unique strengths of each platform to reach a wider audience and achieve your diverse marketing goals.
The Top 5 Social Media Marketing Best Practices For 2024
1. Define your goals and target audience.
Without a clear concept of the audience you intend to reach and the results you hope to achieve, all of your social media efforts will be in vain.
Every choice you encounter when developing your social media marketing strategy will come back to your target audience.
- Who are your ideal customers?
- Which social media platforms do they prefer?
- What sort of content do they engage with?
- When are they most likely to scroll through their social media feed?
Once you know your audience, the next step is to determine WHAT exactly you want your audience to do. Do you want to gain more followers or increase website clicks? Do you want to gather stronger leads or simply build brand awareness?
No matter your social media goals, they must be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.
Possibly the most important of these qualities is “Measurable.” Without consistent social media key performance indicators (KPIs), you will have no way to track the success (or failure) of your social media efforts.
- Concerned about your social media reach? Take a look at your impressions, follower count, and audience growth rate.
- Focusing on engagement? You’ll want to keep track of likes, reactions, comments, and shares.
- Seeking more conversions? Pay special attention to the click-through rate (CTR) and cost per click (CPC) of your social advertisements.
2. Create and share engaging content
With the multitude of content available to consumers on social media, your content must be uniquely useful or interesting to your target audience in some way.
Already determined your SMM goals and audience? You are halfway there!
Now, use those audience preferences and SMART goals to identify the types of content that will be most appropriate and drive the intended results.
- If you are building your social media presence from the ground up, you may want to start with educational and branding posts to get the word out about your product or services!
- If you’ve already amassed a good number of followers, create posts that encourage followers to engage in the comments or click to view and purchase your product.
Make sure you pay attention to trends in your audience’s content preferences as well. According to Hubspot, consumers generally prefer short-form video content and content that is “funny” or “relatable.”
No matter the nature of your business, you will most likely want to incorporate a variety of content. In addition to traditional photo or video content, consider trying boosted (or promoted) posts. And don’t forget to throw a couple of social ads in the mix.
LEARN MORE: Want to learn more about boosted posts? Check out our blog!
3. Consistency is key
We cannot overemphasize the importance of regular, consistent social posting. Consistency is critical for establishing a strong social media following and a brand your potential customers will remember.
This means two things…
- First, you must maintain your brand consistency, creating posts that adopt similar styles and colors and feature recognizable people within your company.
- Second, you must develop – and stick to – a strategic posting routine.
To remain top-of-mind with your target audience, produce plenty of high quality content each week. Posting frequently increases your chances of popping up on potential customers’ news feeds.
But keeping up with the high pace of social media requires dedication.
The best way to ensure you achieve an appropriate posting frequency is to plan your social media content ahead of time. Fill out a content calendar a couple of months in advance, take your time crafting exceptional content, and use a scheduling platform like Hootsuite or SocialPilot to pace yourself.
NOTE: Remember, while posting on social media regularly is important, quality still trumps quantity every time.
4. Monitor and engage with your audience
One of the only drawbacks of pre-scheduling social media posts is that it occasionally encourages marketers to become lazy with audience engagement.
It is NOT enough to simply make a post and let it do its thing.
Social media is designed for interaction. So, it follows that to be effective on social media, you must actively keep up with your audience.
Get into the habit of social listening, or using social media to determine and evaluate the general sentiment of your brand, industry, competitors, and audience.
And if you receive direct feedback from customers – positive or negative – make sure you respond promptly and courteously. Just like reviews on Google, social media comments and reviews can have a major impact on consumer perception of your brand.
Many business owners may opt to ignore or “hide” negative feedback they receive on social media rather than addressing it head on. However, Facebook’s algorithms are not blind to such actions. Hitting that “hide” button could actually do you more harm than good.
Just taking a few minutes to write a positive, respectful response could mean the difference between losing or securing a whole line of customers.
5. Track and measure your results
As with most other forms of marketing, social media growth cannot happen without extensive trial and error. The only way to improve your social media strategy and campaigns is to take full advantage of social media analytics.
Key social media metrics to track include…
- Likes and reactions
- Comments
- Shares
- Post views
- Post clicks
- Website visits
- Sales and conversions
- Reach
Fortunately, social media platforms have incorporated comprehensive analytics tools that provide all of this data and more!
Build a Winning Social Strategy: Contact Us Today!
Whether you operate a small business or a large company, you can make social media work in your favor in 2024 with…
- A clearly defined audience and goal
- Strategic, captivating content
- A consistent posting style and schedule
- Active audience engagement
- And a dedication to analytics
No matter what, do not remain stagnant in your social media marketing strategy. Social media platforms are continually changing, and so must your marketing methods.
And remember, if you need a hand navigating the ever-changing social media jungle, BlueTone Media is here to guide you. Our team of digital marketing experts specializes in crafting winning strategies that drive results. So, let's chat and turn your social media dreams into a thriving reality!
Contact us today for a free consultation. And follow us on social media for daily marketing tips and tricks!
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