Social Media Marketing Tips For Businesses In 2024 And Beyond: A Brief Guide

Choosing the right platforms for your organisation

The first step is identifying the platforms that align with your target audience. Here’s a quick overview:

• LinkedIn: Primarily for professional networking and B2B marketing, ideal for sharing industry insights and thought leadership – best for most businesses to extend reach. Certainly, a platform for professionals to be seen on to build their professional brand. This channel is widely used for professional networking, job seeking, and personal branding.
• Instagram: Visual-centric, ideal for showcasing products, building brand identity, and engaging creatively with stories and image-led updates
• TikTok: Short-form video platforms are ideal for reaching younger audiences with engaging, shareable content, making them a popular choice for businesses looking to connect with this demographic
• Facebook: Still a dominant force, effective for building community and reaching a broad audience.
• Twitter: Real-time engagement and news sharing, great for customer service and building brand awareness.

Remember, quality over quantity. Do not stretch yourself too thinly. By focusing on a few platforms where you can excel you can build your digital platforms by engaging your growing followership.

Creating engaging content will be your friend

Once you've chosen your platforms, it's time to create content that resonates. Here are some tips:

• Know your audience: Understand their interests, pain points, and preferences. In this arena, by persona mapping you can understand more about the triggers and messages which will appeal to your ideal buyer. To start persona mapping, this is an exercise that involves your staff and also analysing who your customers are and if there is any trending data.
• Engage: If a follower comments on your post, it's always good practice to acknowledge their input and use the opportunity to start a conversation.
• Visual appeal: High-quality images and videos are essential. Why not use Canva, Adobe Express or PicMonkey to set up your images to attract more? These tools can optimise your design for the perfect size for many different social media platforms.
• Authenticity: Be genuine and human in your interactions. By being honest and authentic in your social media posts and reply, your followers will increasingly empathise and understand your viewpoint.
• Consistency: Maintain a regular posting schedule. Once a working day is the least you should be aiming for.
• Storytelling: Storytelling is a powerful tool that can help you connect with your audience on a deeper level. By creating narratives that resonate with your followers experiences and emotions, you can make your content more engaging, memorable, and persuasive. Storytelling should be key parts of case studies, brand campaigns and web copy.
• User-generated content: Share content created with and by your customers. Ideal examples here could be collaborative posts on LinkedIn, sharing case studies showcasing successful outcomes and/or video interviews. This content can be used socially (both on your corporate accounts and shared with colleagues to post), in newsletters and on your website.
• Experimentation: Try different formats and styles to see what works best.
• Leverage trends: Stay up-to-date with the latest trends and challenges relevant to your industry. Register for news and updates from journals so you share, and credit, news.

When things go wrong (hopefully they don’t)

Social media can be a platform for both positive and negative feedback. It's important to have a clear company policy in place for handling negative comments. While it's often best to address concerns privately, it's crucial to never ignore or hide genuine complaints. By being open, honest, and responsive, you can turn potentially negative situations into opportunities to improve customer satisfaction and build trust.

Measuring success

Social media isn't just about posting; it's about measuring results. Track metrics like engagement, reach, conversions, and ROI to determine what's working and what's not. At Access, we use Hootsuite to stay ahead, empowering our social media champions to publish consistent, on-brand content while monitoring key metrics to strategically post and strengthen our digital presence.

Essential tips for you in 2024 and beyond

• Prioritise mobile: Optimise your content for mobile viewing – currently over 50% of content from the web is consumed via mobile device (Source: Mobile vs Desktop Usage Statistics for 2024 | Research.com)
• Embrace video: Short-form videos are highly popular. Easy to view and easily viewed/consumable.
• Invest in social listening: Stay informed about online conversations related to your brand and industry by using a social listening tool. The best option for you will depend on your budget, monitoring needs, and the scope of your social media presence. Popular choices include Brandwatch, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Meltwater, and Mention.
• Build relationships: Engage with your audience through comments and direct messages.
• Paid advertising: You can significantly expand your content's reach on social media platforms by boosting posts or running targeted adverts. Many social media accounts apply this strategy to increase visibility and engagement.
• Analyse and adapt: Regularly review your performance and make adjustments.

Remember, social media is an evolving landscape. Stay flexible, adaptable, and always be willing to experiment. By following these guidelines and staying attuned to your audience, you can harness the power of social media to drive business growth.