Run Facebook Ads to content Running Facebook Ads is commonplace for social media marketing now. Running ads to content can make them feel more “native” to the Facebook platform. Use videos and photos to preview content Content marketing is a big marketing strategy for brands everywhere – and social media is a great outlet to share your content. Reach out to other accounts to share your content Tools like BuzzSumo (or other analytics platforms) also allow you to identify influencers – people with large followings. They’re engaging and easy for followers to interact with, meaning running a poll is a good way to drive engagement and start a discussion with your customers. Share user-generated content Add some flair to your content strategy by retweeting or re-uploading content that your users have sent to you about your brand or product on your Twitter account. Show people the best (or the most unique) ways to use your product – these kinds of videos are engaging and helpful to your followers. Post your Snapcode on your other social platforms Snapchat is a unique social platform because it’s really not easy for your followers to find you. Run a Snapchat Q&A The great thing about Snapchat is it makes it easy for fans to reach the brands they love. They allow you to upload video directly from the glasses to your Snapchat Story – and interestingly, the video Spectacles take is circular, which makes for an interesting viewing experience.
If it is, you know how hard it can be to keep up with all of the latest news from the different social platforms. Things changing constantly can make it difficult to craft a cohesive social media marketing strategy for your business.
Have no fear – I’ve put together 50 amazing social media marketing ideas, strategies & tips to help you put together a successful social media marketing plan. I’ll cover 10 takeaways each for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.
Let’s get started!
1. Run Facebook Ads to content
Running Facebook Ads is commonplace for social media marketing now. Oftentimes, however, running these ads straight to products can make them stick out like a sore thumb on a Facebook user’s News Feed. Running ads to content can make them feel more “native” to the Facebook platform. If all goes well, people won’t even notice they’re ads, and before you know it, they’ve visited your website and subscribed to your email list.
2. Run a Photo contest
Use an app like Wishpond to run a contest in a tab on your Facebook page, and prompt your fans to submit photos related to your brand and product. Running a contest is one of the best ways to increase engagement and spread awareness of your Facebook page, all while generating leads for sales and collecting user-generated content that you can use in future marketing campaigns.
3. Run a sweepstakes
Just like running a photo contest, running a sweepstakes is a great way to quickly grow your following and spread brand awareness. Because sweepstakes are so easy to enter, it’s simple to get people interested in your products. Make sure your prize is a product related to your brand, so you can connect with non-winners in the future with the purpose of turning them into sales. Add a “Like this page” popup box to your contest as well, to ensure contest entrants become connected with your brand.
4. Run a Facebook Live campaign
Interacting with your fans in real-time adds a layer of honesty and “realness” to your social media marketing. Running, for example, a live interview to answer fan questions or to preview your newest line of products adds to the fan experience by creating a channel where you can engage your audiences right away, driving interest in your brand.
5. Use videos and photos to preview content
Content marketing is a big marketing strategy for brands everywhere – and social media is a great outlet to share your content. Though you could just link straight to your content, previewing some of the content you’re sharing in a short video or picture (like an infographic) can help to pull viewers in and drive traffic from social channels (like Facebook) to your blog.
6. Post relatable “tag a friend” content
If you’ve been on Facebook recently, chances are memes have been taking your News Feed by storm. You’ll also notice that most of the comments are people tagging friends they think would like the post – kind of the modern-day equivalent to forwarding a chain email to friends. Post a funny, relatable picture that’s relevant to your product or brand and encourage fans to tag their friends – this helps to spread brand awareness without feeling overly promotional.
7. Post coupons on Facebook
Providing value in the form of discounts or coupons on your page keeps current fans interested, and can convince others to interact with and Like your page. Though your regular content can be exciting, remember that your end goal is likely to drive sales – introducing Facebook-only coupons can help to increase social engagement and turn passive Facebook fans into customers. There’s also the added possibility that fans may share the discount with their friends, spreading awareness and raising sales even further.
8. Respond to customers’ concerns
As marketers, we know by now that social media isn’t just a platform we can use as a content megaphone. We’re responsible for using it to create and maintain connections with your customers to strengthen our brand and keep fans around. It’s also happens to be a popular place for customers with complaints to vent their frustrations. Respond to your customers’ complaints and concerns on Facebook. Avoid being defensive – use it to listen to and solve their problems, and you’ll see you can turn a bad situation into a brand-building opportunity.
9. Run “reaction” campaigns
Something Facebook subtly introduced this year was an added array of “reactions” that people could use in place of the standard “Like”, including “love”, “haha”, “angry”, “sad”, and “wow”. Get users engaged by posting an image asking fans to vote for an option using the reaction buttons. For example, a protein bar company might ask fans what their favorite flavor is by saying “press Like for peanut butter or Love for chocolate”. This not only increases engagement, but also helps you gain insight into the minds of your consumers.
10. Post infographics
Though Facebook isn’t usually the best place to post dense or numbers-heavy content, you can circumvent this by creating and posting visually-appealing infographics. Take interesting statistics and turn them into easily-digestible – and shareable – visual content. This is a great way to inform customers about your product and industry in a way that’s not overbearing. Use this tactic sparingly, for information you know your customers will be surprised by or particularly interested in.
11. Schedule your posts with a tool like Buffer
Tweeting constantly is the best way to ensure you remain relevant by increasing the likelihood that you’ll show up on your followers’ Twitter feeds. It also shows people that you’re active on the platform, and allows you to space out your content easily without running into periods of content overload (or drought). Using a tool like Buffer also allows you to track metrics for your links, so you can see which of your Tweets are receiving the most engagement.
12. Use BuzzSumo to curate content relevant to your account
If you like to share content from other places, use a service like BuzzSumo to find content with proven engagement. Use keywords relevant to your brand or product to look for content your followers will enjoy, and share the top posts. Because BuzzSumo has metrics on the most engaging posts for each keyword, it gives you a foolproof way to share content that’s interesting to readers.
13. Reach out to other accounts to share your content
Tools like BuzzSumo (or other analytics platforms) also allow you to identify influencers – people with large followings. If you have a high-value piece of content you want to share with the world, it’s a good practice to reach out to influencers who follow you (or share content like yours) and ask them to give yours a share. More often than not, they’ll be willing to do it, helping to disseminate your content in different social media circles.
14. Host a Twitter round table
Twitter can be a great medium to hold discussions with your social media circles. If it fits your brand, hosting a live chat or round table is an awesome way to learn more about your consumers. Companies like Buffer host weekly chats, with different questions and discussion topics for each chat. These chats are all linked by a hashtag, making it easy for participants to follow along.
15. Create Moments
Twitter recently made their “Moments” feature available to all users, meaning it’s easy to compile a selection of Tweets, photos and videos to create a seamless experience for viewers. If there’s a specific campaign you’re running, take Tweets from your various accounts (and followers if they send you content) to create a Moment that summaries the campaign. Share this Moment with your followers to easily share the entire experience with them.
16. Run a poll
One of Twitter’s less-used features is Twitter Polls. They’re engaging and easy for followers to interact with, meaning running a poll is a good way to drive engagement and start a discussion with your customers. Though the options are endless, some creative uses include letting followers make decisions for you or vote on an item to go on sale. Play around with Polls and see if they have a positive effect on your engagement.
17. Leverage other media when interacting with customers
One of the most common things I see from brands replying to users on Twitter is a tone that’s a bit too customer service-y. Mix it up a bit when interacting with fans on social medias by responding with funny images or GIFs. Not only does this make your brand feel more personable, it also increases the chance that they’ll retweet your Tweet, leading to increased brand awareness.
18. Host a live Q&A
Twitter owns Periscope – arguably the most popular livestreaming app – which means you can embed Periscope streams right in your Twitter feed. Make sure you host your livestreams on Twitter in addition to other platforms like Facebook Live to increase their reach to your other social platforms. Twitter’s feed algorithm also seems to prioritize videos from Periscope, which can help your account out a bit.
19. Share user-generated content
Add some flair to your content strategy by retweeting or re-uploading content that your users have sent to you about your brand or product on your Twitter account. Though it won’t do much in terms of sending traffic to your website or driving sales, it shows that you…
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