Don’t Just Wing It; Play SMART and Get Ahead of the Pack!
About a decade ago, a noted author, speaker and influencer in the social and digital media space posted an entry on Twitter, asking people to define ‘social media’ in two words or less. Amongst his hundred thousand plus followers at the time, many offered fascinating responses that included both ends of the spectrum. From ‘community’, ‘relationship building’, ‘dynamic and engaging’ and ‘getting connected’, to ‘hostile’, ‘over-hyped’, ‘productivity-killer’ and ‘white-noise’, every user’s perception and experience of social media was different. Ten years later, the social media phenomenon continues to grow. You can love it or hate it, but you cannot ignore it! Here’s a guide on how you can improve your social media marketing results!
Fun Facts about the Social Media Landscape
Social media is the new normal in the average individual’s life. While striving to leverage its power to boost your business is a given, wouldn’t it be interesting to know what people are doing there, how much time they spend on social channels and what makes this new age socializing so all-encompassing?
Here are some more fun facts about social media:
1. Social media usage outranks time spent on daily routine activities: If the current time spent across all popular networks is projected across a consumer’s lifetime, on an average, people will spend 5 years and 4 months on social media, as compared to 3 years, 5 months for eating and drinking, 1 year, 10 months for grooming, or 6 months for doing laundry. The only other activity that currently ranks higher is watching TV, at 7 years and 8 months.
2. The average internet user:
- Has more than 7 different social media accounts across platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, WhatsApp and more.
- Checks WhatsApp more than 23 times per day, and spends 195 minutes per week communicating with family, friends or business associates.
- Spends 40 minutes on YouTube, 35 minutes on Facebook, 25 minutes on Snapchat, 15 minutes on Instagram and 1 minute on Twitter per day.
3. Every day, more than 3.2 billion images are shared across various social media posts.
4. People aged 55-64 are twice as likely to respond positively to branded content than the younger audience on social media.
Social Media Strategy for Ottawa Businesses: SMART is the Way to Go
From supporting a cause and sharing valuable information, to creating and nurturing relationships, and building a social image, people are present on social media for a number of reasons. Hence, no matter which channel or network you prefer, it’s important to make every like, reply and comment count. When it comes to achieving those ideal social media marketing results, the more specific your strategy and the more ROI on your social media marketing spend is always something to focus on. Here is a social strategy checklist that may be useful to your Ottawa business:
1. Don’t pull lofty goals out of thin air just because they look good on paper! Be realistic about what is achievable within your timeframe and budget. Start with Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely (SMART) goals for your desired outcomes, so that you can track and measure progress. For example:
- ‘Increase engagement’ may seem like a worthwhile goal but it does not indicate what engagement means to you, unless you specify, for example, ‘add 100 new followers each month’.
- ‘Improve customer service levels’ is a meaningless goal unless you tie it to reduction in customer attrition, or increase in repeat sales, or some other measurable business goal.
2. Track metrics that are meaningful. While retweets and likes may increase your business visibility, it is tough to track if they are really adding value to your investment. As part of your social media marketing in Ottawa, focus on measuring:
- Awareness: Do current and potential customers know and recognize your brand?
- Engagement: How are your audiences interacting with your content?
- Conversion: Is your social media strategy translating into hard sales?
- Consumer: How do your active consumers perceive and value your brand?
3. Learn everything you can about your audience and competition. Gather real-world data, conduct competitive analysis, and engage in active social listening. Make the most of analytical tools that slice and dice every piece of available information to provide insightful extracts and trends.
4. Invest in a social media audit to get a clear picture of how each channel serves your business. Determine the mix of social networks you wish to use and how to use them, along with setting up and optimizing your business accounts on each platform.
5. Create and track a social media content calendar, including your posting schedule and content mix. Whether you wish to direct traffic back to your blog, curate from other sources, or support selling and lead generation, direct your new content towards different business goals. As a rule of thumb, 80% of your content be informative, interactive and educative, and the remaining 20% could be directly promoting your brand, product or service.
From sales and marketing teams, to your content agencies and consultants, set timeframes and milestones for everyone who is involved and accountable towards fulfilling your Ottawa company’s social media marketing initiatives.
Is Your Ottawa Business Ready to Take Social Media by Storm?
Apps and websites will come and go or be replaced by bigger, better, and faster versions. However, social media will continue to penetrate deeper into our lives with each passing day. Since social media is constantly changing, no matter how far along you are in this journey, you need to keep revisiting your digital marketing strategy. It isn’t enough to just be present on each network, you need to make your presence felt, find your place in the sun, and rise above your competition. If you’re looking to grow your social media marketing results, give us a call!
Working on a robust social media strategy for your business? Contact the social media marketing experts at WSI eStrategies in Ottawa and we’ll help your business take social media by storm.
