Lots of businesses start their pages on social media. And there are tons of good reasons for that too—it's an essential and, dare we say it, relatively inexpensive marketing tool that allows you to reach your target audience, drive traffic and get widespread brand recognition. What's not to love?!
That said, if you're just starting out, it can be a daunting step to take. From creating a profile to choosing your target group or setting up ads and more—there's just so much to get to grips with, and that's before you start creating engaging content for your audience.
That's why we came up with these five simple steps that will help you seamlessly launch your brand on social media platforms and get the results you deserve.
What is customer retention?
As the internet has become faster, it was only a matter of time before social media became our go-to for everything from communication to knowing what to buy next. In 2020, the global social network effect hit 48.3%, with over 3.6 billion users. But it's only just getting started. By 2025, it's expected to reach 56.7% of the world population, increasing to 4.41 billion netizens worldwide.
This is good news for businesses! Now getting in touch with your target audience is easier than ever before—that is, if you know how to do it right.
Social media marketing for businesses is now a must-have for any company. Social networks have transformed from being just a place to stay connected to a powerful tool that extends even beyond marketing.
According to Buffer's State Of Social report, 58% of media marketers said that using social media for promoting their brands was very important, and 30.5% agreed that it was "somewhat important." Another research held by MarketingSherpa states that 95% of adults aged 18-34 prefer to follow their favourite brands on social media.
Now you see why social media is essential for customers, and thus it must be necessary for business too. So if you're not already planning your social media grand entrance, now is the time to get started.
Why is customer retention crucial?
While there's no one-size-fits-all plan for social media business success—this will depend on your specific brand—there are some common steps to get your company social media marketing plan ready that are must-dos.
Remember: Your success depends on your team's creativity and ability to connect with your target group. So, let's get them started with these key steps to standing out on the social media channels.
1: Define your target audience
Before you even open up that social media sign-up page, you need to define the precise business reason you need it for and who you want to reach out to. No doubt, you've been working with your audience for a while, but when it comes to socials, you'll need to identify your target readers to connect more closely.
Otherwise, you'll end up with a rather diverse contingent, and this includes your business rivals, potential or current workers, social media idlers, and other random people.
Use different marketing and analytics tools and customer research data to identify your clients and decide which group of them you want to target. Only most creditworthiness customers? Or maybe you sell children goods and wish to speak with children instead of their parents? Consider your target customer's social status, living area, age, interests, preferences, and behaviour patterns.
Tip: When defining your target audience, think about the essential aspects of your business and exclude secondary ones.
2. Create your persons
Now that you know your audience, it's time to get into more detail and create personas for your business. But, what are personas, why do you need them, and how to build the most efficient ones?
Marketing personas are well-defined composite profiles of potential customers or social media followers that marketers use for devising and refining their marketing campaigns, content creation, social media marketing, and more. These profiles include various valuable data for each grouping, such as:
When marketers utilize personas, they can better understand how to promote their brand on social media to attract the most relevant audience and improve communication with the existing customers.
To create personas, marketers gather information via different channels and analytic tools then fill in personas' profiles in Google Docs, Excel sheets, or specialist tools, such as UXPressia Persona Builder, making creating personas much easier handier for the whole team. Check out the following example from UXPressia's templates:
Tip: Create your personas based on factual data and insights, not what you ‘think’ your audience may want. By listening to your customers and creating personas, you’ll be able to engage your audience more effectively.
3. Choose your social networking sites
There are many social networking sites on the web, and each has its specific niche. That is why you must choose only those networks your target audience actively use. Let's take a look at some of the most popular ones:
So, which social networking sites will be the most valuable to start your business profiles? Although there is lots of statistical data on the most popular social networks, the safest option is to join the ones that your customers or personas would use most frequently and where they are open for communication with you.
This way, you'll reach a wider audience, attract more leads, and have higher chances to convert your leads into regular customers, and still keep your business reputation intact. As of Statista, here are the top social media channels in 2021:
Tip: Don't spread yourself too thin by creating too many pages on various social networks. The more profiles you have, the more time-consuming it becomes to manage and generate content and stay connected with your audience.
4. Decide what you want to say
Now, you’ve defined your personas and know the social networking sites you’re going to use. The next step is to determine the social media posts you want to cover—what do you want to say to your customers now that you’ve got their attention?
Of course, these social media posts should be related to your product or service. It would be a bit odd for an electrical company to start posting about the latest bestselling novel, so keep it relevant.
So, how to create engaging and insightful content that will get your potential clients hooked? One of the most effective ways is to address your personas’ pain points and frustrations and show that your business is the one that can help.
Pain points and frustrations are the things that a) steer your potential customer away from a product or b) are a blocker to doing something.
That’s why it’s crucial to define your customers' doubts and hesitations at the stage of creating personas, back in Step No. 2. Next, go on to address how your business can ease their ‘pain,’ for example:
-- Why is your product better than your rivals’?
-- What are the unique features of your product that can be helpful to the customers?
-- What value does your product bring? And why should they pay for it?
-- What discounts or extra services can a customer get when buying from you?
-- How does your company manufacture the product? For Gen Z in particular, ethical products are very appealing.
While focusing on your customers’ pain points works great for a business page, don’t restrict yourself only to these types of posts. Engage your audience in various activities such as quizzes, challenges, or discounts for subscriptions. This way, you’ll make your business page more interactive and fascinating, and you’ll be able to find more touch-points with your followers.
Tip: Use a storytelling content marketing method to present your company or add some discussion like asking your audience questions or advice. Watch how your customers communicate, what vocabulary they have, what memes they consider funny. Learn to speak their language. It helps to gain sympathy and increase social listening.
5: Create your winning content
Welcome to the final stage of launching your business account in social media—creating your winning content plan. This plan will help define the time and order of what you post on social media and when you do it. You can include:
-- Articles
-- Announcements
-- Quizzes
-- Videos
-- Questionnaires
-- Photos
-- And more
Plan sharing content on social media ahead of time and make sure you consider any important events or holidays—New Year, Christmas, etc. Adding regular updates will help keep your business relevant and connected and encourage your potential customers to reach out to you.
Feel like you're running short on ideas? Here's some to get you started:
-- Product news
-- Lifehacks
-- Industry insights
-- Holiday offers
-- Giveaways
-- Customer success stories
-- Reviews
You can even use rubrics to plan your content. For example, you could share some useful product life hacks every Thursday or every second Monday of the month or post some fun stories about your team.
The main aim? Just be social on social networks.
Tip: Aside from your content, update your content plan as well. This will help you to stay current with the latest trends. And by revising your personas, you can gain more insights into improving your brand and business page in social media.
Ready to go social? The time to start is now.
Starting a business page on social media is an effective way to promote your products and brand. To get started on the right foot, stick to these five simple steps to launch your business profile with ease. Following these easy-to-use tips, such as creating your marketing personas, choosing social media networking sites, and elaborating on your content, will help you connect to your audience like never before and get the results you need.
The next step? Try it out yourself.
About the author
Iryna Kandrashova is a seasoned digital marketing specialist with more than eight years of experience. Right now, she is responsible for marketing at UXPressia. Iryna is keen on travelling (there are still some opportunities even now!), prefers an active lifestyle and amateurish sport. You can get in touch with her on LinkedIn.
