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10 Social Media Marketing Resolutions You Need to Make in 2016
Social media marketing in 2016 is going to be drastically different than any other year. Already the platforms are making waves, with Twitter phasing out the 140-character limit and Facebook putting clearer metrics in place to track success. In the past year alone, social media advertising has grown exponentially and refined itself into a sophisticated must-have for any business. If you’re not on board with social media marketing for your company, you’re going to get left in the dust in 2016.
There’s no better time than the now, so below you’ll find 10 social media marketing resolutions to make for your company in 2016. Breeze through these babies and make your mark this year!
ALLONS-Y!
2016 Social Media Marketing Resolutions
1. Track Your Social Media Marketing
If you’re a business owner or marketing manager, chances are you use Google Analytics to track web traffic. Chances are, you dedicate serious time tracking all your marketing efforts and evaluating what value they bring to your company. If you don’t, you’ve got other issues and should sort that out before you do anything social.
But guess what? You can also track your social media efforts. Using a tagged URL will help you keep track of visits from social media as well as get an idea of what’s working. Beware, however, as Google Analytics is a third party app, which means there are a few kinks in transferring data from your social media platform.
What we’ve found works best is to use both Google Analytics with tracked URLs as well as Page Insights on Facebook. It’s also worth it to invest in software that tracks all your platforms in one place, like Hootsuite or Sprout Social.
2. Choose the Right Social Media Platforms
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t actually need to be on every single social media platform. Unless you have a dedicated social media marketing manager, you need to evaluate each platform and ask yourself,
“Is it worth it for my company to be on Pinterest?”
What about Twitter? We always recommend companies have a Facebook, Google+ and Twitter account, but beyond that is up to you and where your target audience hangs out.
3. Invest in Social Media Visuals & Videos
Social media is visual. Think about the last five social media posts you clicked on. Were they 100% text, or did they have some sort of visual with them? Facebook has even updated its algorithm to favor content uploaded directly to the platform over links.
How powerful are visuals? According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index, video will account for 80 percent of all internet traffic by 2019. What does this mean for you? If you haven’t gotten on the social media video train, now’s the prime time to jump on or get left behind.
4. Embrace Paid Social Media Ads in 2016
The key of social media marketing is to make yourself visible to the right people. The magic of social media advertising is that you can hyper-target. Age, gender, income, job title, spending habits, and interests are just a few of the metrics we can target with paid social media marketing ads. In a world where close to 60 percent of online traffic comes from mobile and 28 percent of time online is spent on social media, you really can’t afford not to invest in paid social media marketing.
On the other side of the spectrum is organic reach. If no one sees your social posts there’s no point in posting. Currently, organic reach hovers around 7.25 percent, according to the latest study by Locowise. So, out of every 100 people that like your page, only seven of them actually see what you post. Remedy this by boosting your posts to your followers. Even a budget of $10.00 can make an impact.
5. Make Efforts to Grow Your Social Media Audience
If you’ve decided to start a social media marketing campaign in 2016, your first priority should be to grow your audience. Like we said above, there’s no point in posting on social media platforms if no one sees what you post. Take advantage of paid ad campaigns, which now cover most social media platforms.
6. Engage with Your Social Media Followers
If a potential customer talked to you would you respond or just stare back in an awkward, stony silence? Same thing goes for your social media accounts. Thank people for comments, answer questions, and behave like a normal human being would in a social setting.
7. Post Compelling Content
Your social media accounts should not be glaring advertisements for your company. If people liked advertisements (outside of the Super Bowl), content marketing wouldn’t exist and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. In 2016, resolve to think like your audience and see your page from their perspective. Would you get annoyed? A good ratio to remember for social media is 80% engaging content and 20% promotional content.
I’ll make it simpler:
80% this:
And 20% this:
8. Focus on Quality, not Quantity
I hate social media reporting tools that compare how often you’re posting vs. your competitors. Sometimes posting more often can hurt you, especially if you’re posting overly-promotional content that has little value to the reader. This year, resolve to do some research into the timing of your social media posts. Find the sweet spot that works for you, and stick with it.
9. Try Something New
The great thing about social media is that anything goes. If you saw something on your competitor’s account and thought it looked cool, try it! Don’t box yourself into playing it safe, because on social media, safe is usually boring. Show some personality—let your customers peek behind the curtain and see the people behind the company.
10. Don’t Give Up on Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing isn’t easy. If it was, I’d be out of a job. But don’t give up. Social media advertising is just going to keep growing. It’s going to get more and more sophisticated. It’s going to get harder to reach your key audience. And those are the exact reasons you shouldn’t give up. You’ll find your groove, and if you don’t, you can always give me a call!
About The Author: Blue Corona's Editorial Staff is determined to help you increase your leads and sales, optimize your marketing costs, and differentiate your brand by passing on our tribal knowledge. The team vigilantly stays on top of the latest in digital marketing, bringing you the top insights with expert commentary. Want to see something on our blog you haven't seen yet? Shoot us an email and our marketing team will get to work.
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The information on this website is for informational purposes only; it is deemed accurate but not guaranteed. It does not constitute professional advice. All information is subject to change at any time without notice. Contact us for complete details.
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