News {Business Development}
Nine Social Media Tips for 2022 By Adriano Aldini, Imprint Canada
There has been a steady, inexorable move to online shopping, networking and meeting that was accelerated by the global pandemic. Your audience lives and breathes online now more than ever before, so the importance of your social media strategy cannot be overstated. There are 4.2 billion active social media users, nearly double the number of people online just five years ago. As staggering as those numbers are, even more relevant is the amount of time people spend online. According to Hootsuite, social media users spend an average of two hours and 25 minutes on social channels every day. You have nearly 2.5 hours a day with current and potential customers to build brand awareness, develop customer relationships, and make direct sales through your social channels. How can you make your content and channels stand out in a national or global market? The first step to refining your digital presence is to do a social media audit. Once you know what is working to gain traction and what isn’t, you can begin to plan.
increase brand awareness, build your audience, and increase revenue. However, this growth won’t happen overnight. It requires a consistent and strategic approach. Signing up to social channels is free, but your time is not. The time you spend crafting, curating, posting, and boosting content is valuable and needs to impact your business. Start by defining your goals. Do you want to grow your audience? Do you want to become a trusted source of information and advice? Do you want direct social sales?
What is a Social Media Strategy for Small Business?
A social media strategy encapsulates everything you want to do and achieve on social media. It details what you’ll post, the platforms you’ll use, and defines measurable goals that will support your specific business needs. Smart social media strategies for small businesses can
Review the social media channels of the top performers in your industry. What is engaging their audience? Are they missing opportunities you can exploit? If you’re a new entrant or a more minor player in an industry dominated by multinationals, you won’t be able to out-spend or out-market your competition. You can often do what larger corporations can’t, be genuine, authentic, and build a true connection with your customers. Research to learn what to emulate and where you can differentiate.
3. Build a Social Calendar
By planning ahead, you can identify and incorporate any special days that align with your industry, prepare content for holidays, and determine your content needs. You can schedule posts ahead of time or just have them ready to go. Remember, if you have posts scheduled and some significant event happens, you may need to delete or change your message. Many brands have made the error of allowing content to post when the world was captivated by a tragedy.
1. Plan your social strategy
For a small business, having a social media strategy is essential for increasing brand awareness, reaching your target audience, and driving sales. With a strong social media strategy, you’ll never run out of ideas on what to post — and you’ll soon have an engaged community at your fingertips.
2. Research your Competition
Start with your top three marketing objectives and determine how social media can help achieve these. Follow the SMART framework. Your goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. Choose metrics that will have a genuine impact on your business: 10,000 followers are great, but not if they aren’t driving sales. Spend some time trying different approaches. Until you start posting, you won’t know what is resonating with your audience. Be prepared to adjust and pivot.
4. Choose your Channels & Define your Voice
In our September/October 2021 edition, we broke down the five major social media networks and how to best leverage them. You may want to refer to that article for more details on each platform. Most brands will need to be on multiple channels to reach different segments of their audience. You might find you are handling a lot of customer service on Facebook and getting new leads from Instagram. TikTok might be vital for building brand awareness while your blog can demonstrate that your brand is a source of valuable knowledge. continued on Page 8
6
IMPRINT CANADA | January/February 2022
