5 Tips for Developing a Social Media Marketing Strategy Across Meta and LinkedIn

Plan for Social Media Success with Digital Marketing Services from a Strategic Agency Partner

When someone wants to learn more about a business, what they have to offer, and how they interact with customers, they often look to social media.

Don’t believe us? According to a 2022 report from DataReportal, 75% of internet users use social media to research products and services they’re interested in.

That means a well-calculated social media marketing strategy is essential. To keep your current followers engaged and attract new ones, you need a plan that is hyper-focused on building awareness and, perhaps most importantly, meaningful connections.

In this blog, our experts on social media best practices share tips for crafting a strategy primed to drive results on Meta and LinkedIn.

A Successful Social Media Marketing Strategy Starts with SMART Goals

You can’t develop a winning social media marketing strategy without first assessing what you want to accomplish. Goals give you a way to evaluate how well your content is performing and measure your overall return on investment (ROI).

Social media pros recommend setting goals that are SMART:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

This ensures you’re able to properly track your progress on different objectives for different networks. Social media platforms are unique, and each requires an individual approach for the best outcome.

Although followers are easy to take note of, they’re not the be-all and end-all of your social media marketing strategy. For instance, if you’re running Facebook and Instagram ads to generate leads, you’ll want to use metrics like cost-per-click (CPC) to determine how successful a campaign is. On the other hand, paying attention to engagement rate and link clicks is more important for organic content designed to boost brand awareness. With the right goals in place, you can be certain you’re analyzing what matters.

Get to Know Your Audience – and the Competition

Posting social media content without an audience in mind is a lot like speaking up in a crowded room, but not directing your statement to anyone in particular. If someone does hear you over the sound of surrounding chatter, they’re less likely to respond, because they can’t be sure that you were specifically talking to them.

When you understand who your customer is and what they want, you can target them more effectively. Give your ideal buyer a persona by considering factors like their age, income, job, location, and interests. If you already use social media, diving into your analytics can provide valuable insights related to who your audience is and help you refine your social media marketing strategy.

This is also a good time to see what your competition is up to. A competitive analysis can give you a better sense of what’s working for others in your industry and shed light on untapped areas that you can dominate in.

Audit Your Current Social Media Marketing Strategy

When you already have an established presence on social media, it’s best practice to take a magnifying glass to your efforts from time to time. By performing an in-depth audit, you can get a clearer picture of how your social accounts are contributing to your business objectives and make more informed decisions about how you can improve.

Look at the type of content that’s performing the best, who’s engaging with you, and where you have your biggest brand advocates. If you find an account is no longer serving its purpose and producing results that align with your goals, it may be worth considering pivoting your social media marketing strategy and allocating your time and energy to other platforms.

To take this a step further, experts suggest coming up with mission statements for each network you’re active on. For example, if you plan to optimize your LinkedIn page for recruitment, you may write down, “We’ll use LinkedIn to highlight our company culture and share employee stories that attract top talent.” This short and sweet declaration keeps your strategy on track and everyone involved on the same page.

During your audit, make it a point to also search for your own brand to ensure there aren’t any imposters posing as you and misdirecting potential followers. You can even apply to get verified on Facebook and Instagram, giving users a clear sign of which account is the real deal.

Your Social Media Marketing Strategy Should Include the Perfect Blend of Content

It’s certainly tempting to hop on every social media trend that pops up, but what you post isn’t just about bringing in likes. Your content should support your larger business goals and reflect those mission statements we talked about earlier.

However, that doesn’t mean you should post about your products or services constantly. This can become too repetitive and drive followers away. You need a good mix of content, so your audience stays engaged.

There are a couple of popular social media best practices for publishing varied, yet purposeful content:

• The 80-20 Rule: Following this rule means that 80% of your social media posts will be used to inform, educate, or entertain your audience. The remaining 20% should directly promote your brand.
• The Rule of Thirds: Your content should be split equally three ways when you adopt this train of thought. One third of your posts push your products or services to garner more leads, another third positions your business as an industry expert by sharing ideas and stores from thought leaders, and the last third relates to reciprocal interactions with your audience.

Ultimately, finding the perfect blend of content takes some guess-and-check work. There’s nothing one-size-fits-all in the world of social media, so craft a content mix you feel will resonate and make adjustments as needed based on performance.

Set a Standard for How Often You’ll Post

If there’s one thing platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn love, it’s consistency. However, frequency is also part of the algorithmic equation. You can be incredibly consistent, but easily publish the wrong amount of content. Too many posts increases your chances that followers will grow annoyed with seeing you in their feeds, while too few means you risk users forgetting you. With this in mind, it’s key to define a posting cadence in your social media marketing strategy.

At the very least, you should post to social media once a week. But each network has a different preferred frequency and benefits from a unique schedule. Social media management giant Hootsuite makes the following recommendations for 2023:

• Instagram: Three to five times per week
• Facebook: One to two times per day
• LinkedIn: One to two times per day

Of course, it’s best to post slightly less frequently if more frequent posts render your content repetitive or unengaging. Find the sweet spot for your business through experimentation and evaluating content performance.

Drafting a content calendar is a great way to keep track of all your social media efforts in one place. This provides a visual of both your day-to-day posts and larger campaigns, so you can ensure content is appropriately spaced and timed.

Get Social with Customized Digital Marketing Services from iFocus Marketing

The social media landscape is ever-evolving. What’s true one day can change overnight as new platforms arise, demographics shift, and your business scales. That means your social media marketing strategy also must adapt.

But when you’re running a business, reevaluating your marketing plans can feel like an overwhelming task you simply don’t have time for. iFocus Marketing takes the stress out of strategy with social media marketing solutions customized to your business. Our in-house organic and paid social teams dig into the data and stay on top of trends, so we can continue to fine-tune your strategy to garner the best consumer response.

We’re passionate about forming a true partnership with you and putting your business one step closer to meeting – and exceeding – your growth goals. For more information regarding our digital marketing services and how we can help you develop a strategy set up for success, call (913) 578-8521 or send us a message online.