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20 Social Media Marketing Ideas to Improve Your Social Media Marketing Campaign

One of the most difficult aspects of managing the social media campaign for your company is the creation of fresh social media marketing ideas. Your audience looks to your brand to provide fresh content on a regular basis, but after a while, it can become very difficult to come up with new tactics to improve your social reach. The strategies and techniques available to you are almost as varied and diverse as the individual people you are advertising to. When getting started with marking on these platforms, it is important to understand all the fine nuances of marketing to make your social media marketing and advertising campaigns a success.

#1 Fill out Your Profile

Let’s start at the beginning. Take the obvious first step and fill out every section of your profiles. Unless you are going for a super minimalistic appearance, all your demographics and contact information should be filled out. Check in monthly to take advantage of any new features that may pop up.

#2 Create Branded Hashtags and Icons

When Instagram first came out, you were unable to connect other accounts within the platform. Now, you can link accounts and hashtags to your bio. These hashtags can be branded specifically to your company or to promotions such as a contest. Followers will then be easily directed to your account.

If your customers are looking for your business through a search engine, your website should be the first to pop up in the search results. From there, it should be a simple step for your customers to locate your social networks.

#3 Hold a Contest or a Giveaway

Everyone loves free stuff! Contests can be an excellent way to engage your followers while growing your audience and increasing your exposure. In fact, Instagram accounts that run contests regularly grow about r than accounts that don’t. Make sure that the rules are plain and simple. The best contests/giveaways are those in which the fans are required to do minimal work to enter and result in high engagements. If you are just starting out with contests, this is a good first choice. The added benefit of having contests is the natural collection of user-generated content for your webpage, which brings us to…

#4 User-generated Content and Video Testimonials

Taking advantage of user-generated content is an excellent way to offer a new perspective on your brand while building stronger relationships with your customers. Consumers tend to trust content from the average person more than they trust content from the brands trying to sell them products. User-generated content is an excellent way to grow your customer base by showing your followers that you are not the only one who thinks your company is awesome.

Users of platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram often tag their friends on posts that they think are awesome. You can take advantage of this additional exposure by posting content and inviting users to tag a friend or post a stupid hashtag.

There is no better advocate for your brand than your loyal and satisfied customers. Video testimonials are one of the best ways to show potential customers how others have found success using your products or services.

See if your best customers are willing to come on camera for a short video to talk about why they love your brand. Make it even more sensational by conducting live interviews with customers at trade shows and other events.

#5 Behind the Scenes and How-to Videos

Allowing your readers to take a peek behind the curtain of productions helps them bond with your brand. Sneak peeks show your audience that behind the company name, there is a group of people who work hard to provide quality services and products. Images or videos that show the progress of a remodeling project or that highlight a milestone in the company’s history are great ways to build a more intimate connection with your customers.

Using video is a great way to show your follows step-by-step processes. Tutorials and how-to videos are eye-catching and attractive forms of connecting to your followers across media platforms. You can break things down into bite-sized pieces while providing a visual learning experience. How-to videos are also extremely shareable and will give you the opportunity to get your content in front of a fresh audience. Video ideas include recipes and DIY projects.

#6 Emojis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😁

Using emojis in your posts is a good way to help engage your audience and get them to participate. The use of emojis in tweets can increase engagement by about 25 percent. Using them on Facebook posts can increase engagement by 57 percent. Be sure that you understand the appropriate use of the emojis at your disposal. Relevancy and immediacy are key to success in this area. Don’t be afraid to get creative! Creating a mental image that sticks will ensure that you will forever remain in the minds of your audience.

#7 Polling and Trends

Polling is a quick way to engage your audience and to learn how to best target it. Polls are easy to create on Facebook or Twitter and can pull in responses in a matter of minutes. Learning the preferences of your followers is a great tool for analyzing the effectiveness of your approach and can provide you with information on adjusting your strategies to improve your online presence.

For more creative social media marketing ideas that will allow you to increase exposure, take a look at trending topics. Media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook make it simple to see trending topics by providing a list on the sidebar. Before jumping on the latest bandwagon, be sure that you understand the details of what the trend is. Make sure that it is relevant to your brand, product or service. If you have something of value to add, take advantage of these topics to grow your audience.

#8 Run Live Campaigns

Live video is probably the most compelling form of content you will ever use and is one of the best creative social media campaign ideas. In fact, people have been proven to spend up to three times longer watching live videos on Facebook rather that pre-recorded versions. Use this knowledge to your advantage by going live. You can do a live product demonstration, discuss some of the inner workings of your business, answer questions or even vlog! A real-time experience is more deeply imprinted on the minds of your followers and can help you build a more personal connection as you respond to comments and questions through live video.

#9 Repurposed and Curated Content

Great content does not necessarily mean creating something completely new every time. There are ways you can repurpose your content to get the most value out of it and save you time in the bargain. Reposting previous content is one way to repurpose something that may be a little stale. You can also transform your content by changing it into a different format to engage a different audience.

For example, you can create a “trailer” for a longer video presentation to pique interest in your more in-depth content. You can also turn infographics into blog posts or combine articles to create an e-book. Consider reversing this idea and turning blog posts into infographics and e-books into shorter articles to allow your followers a way to easily and quickly access the information.

While you don’t want to share content from your direct competitors, there is no rule against sharing content from other sources. Appropriate and timely articles and content from other sources allows you to provide more value to your followers while demonstrating your credibility and your knowledge of the latest news and trends.

Excellent content does not only promote your products, brands or services. It should also provide genuine tips and guidance to your potential customers to help them understand and overcome their challenges. Sharing tips and advice is an excellent method of demonstrating your knowledge and building relationships with your customers.

#10 Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday is a fun tradition that takes place every Thursday on media platforms. Postings that contain this hashtag include memories and images from the past. This can be a fun and engaging way for brands to connect with their users by sharing some of their own past and how they came into existence. An auto dealer, for example, can show images of older models that fans would find interesting or nostalgic. Be sure to indicate Throwback Thursday with the appropriate hashtag to allow people to find your photos on Twitter and Instagram.

#11 The Ask Me Anything! Series

The Ask Me Anything! series, or AMA series, is a popular program on Reddit that offers businesses a unique chance to let their followers learn more about their brand and services. You don’t have to use Reddit if you don’t want to. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are also great places to host your AMA series. An AMA series gives you the opportunity to establish yourself as a leader in the industry while providing valuable information to potentials customers.

#12 FaceBook Reactions

Facebook’s most entertaining features is the “reaction button.” With this button, users can respond using one of five different emoji responses. Instead of “liking” a post, users can now “love,” “haha,” “wow,” “sad,” and “angry” a post. Brands can use these responses to gauge interest and determine the level of passion that their followers have on a certain topic. “Like,” “love,” and “wow” reactions let you know that the viewer found the content useful, educational, inspiring or creative. If you find yourself getting a lot of “angry” reactions, you might need to revise your marketing strategy.

#13 Brand Partners and Take-overs

If you have the chance to hook up with another brand with a similar target audience, you can increase your exposure exponentially. Choose a company whose audience may be able to benefit from your product or services. Don’t choose a direct competitor. This could send your brand down the tubes [sad emoji].

You can also consider an account take-over. Allowing another person to take over your account for a short period of time allows your brand to obtain a fresh perspective while receiving exposure to a new audience. This option is a creative solution for industry experts to work together to grow their businesses. Here is an example. A baker (Steve) may take over Cake Decorator’s Instagram page for a day to share favorite tips, tricks and secrets. Steve can identify with the cake company’s audience, while Steve’s audience is drawn to check out Cake Decorator’s website.

#14 Promotion Techniques: Cross Promotion, Promoting Through Email Signatures and Newsletters

Cross promotion takes advantage of having multiple media accounts. By reminding your followers that you have other accounts, you can create a call-to-action asking people to follow you. If you want a more subtle approach, mention that you are on other networks in your bio. For Snapchat users, a profile photo change to your Snapcode is a good idea.

For another subtle reminder to recipients who receive your newsletters, consider adding your media icons at the bottom of the page. A more direct approach involves the promotion of your accounts in your newsletter by adding a fan section where you can present a picture from your community. Although many newsletter services permit the embedding of images, an upload with a link to the account will work just as well for the services that do not support embedding. If you often send external emails, include links in your email signature. This branding opportunity is another way to get your name out there in front of potential customers.

#15 Targeted Ads and Discounts

Facebook is one of the best platforms for ad targeting. By setting up a Facebook pixel on your website, you can adjust the settings to automatically target those who visit your pages. The audience data collected by Facebook is a big help to determine current interests and trends. Once your ads are set up, use a tool like Sprout Social to help you keep up with the inevitable comments and questions. The Sprout inbox allows you to monitor connections across your profiles and media accounts to ensure that you never miss a message that is relevant to your brand.

Traditional advertising involves the presentation of deals and bargains in the newspaper or through email sweeps. Media accounts work in the same way. These discounts are offered to your audience and end after a specified period of time. The simplest way to offer a discount is to embed a code in a post. Flash deals with limited quantities on Instagram or Facebook are excellent ways to drive traffic to your site and boost sales.

#16 Switch It Up

Using the same copy for all your networks will lead to stagnation and low interest in fans. Your followers are most likely unique to each platform. Using different copy on each network will go a long way toward keeping your audience engaged. Take some time to learn the differences between your audience groups before experimenting with different vocabulary and angles. For example, if your audience is mostly on LinkedIn, your copy will be more oriented towards sales. If you have a younger audience on Snapchat, your copy will contain more gifs, memes, and emojis.

#17 Loyalty and Ambassador Programs

The ambassador program is based on brand awareness and takes advantage of customers who have used your products and want to share information about your products with their friends and families. An ambassador program takes a certain amount of time and patients to create and support. If you are low on resources for some social media marketing ideas, consider a loyalty or referral program. Offer your loyal customers referral codes and reward them with discounts when their referrals make a purchase.

You can also use your employees as advocates for your brands. A loyal staff is invaluable and can promote your brand with tailored messages on their media channels to reach a wider range of potential customers. Employee advocate toots such as Bambu are great ways to give your brands exposure to new audiences by connecting your organization to your employees’ media networks.

#18 The Leaky Landing Page

Although the landing page has been the obsession of marketers for years, did you know that leads often fail to click through to reach the landing page at all? Certain media advertising formats allow you to bypass the landing page entirely and provide a call to action using the “call” button for your Facebook ads. Because most Facebook users are mobile, the “call now” feature embedded in the ad eliminates the potential for lost leads caused by the extra step it takes to reach a landing page.

#19 Make the Most Out of Twitter

Although most marketing operations use Twitter as a promotional tool for online marketing programs, only a few understand the importance of harnessing the power of Twitter to comment on topics before taking the time to produce more in-depth content. Twitter can be used to test how effective a topic is likely to be and gauge interest in various subject areas. You can use Twitter Analytics to track the performance of your tweets and determine your engagement rate. This free experiment can give you the information needed to determine whether you should pursue a topic or drop it and is one of the lesser-known social media campaign ideas.

#20 Remarketing and Facebook Ads

Remarketing is the process by which you follow your leads around with offers related to their search history. When users visit your website, they are tagged with a cookie. To remarket to your visitors, a code is inserted on the visited page. This code then programs your ads to follow the cookied user around the web, everywhere from media networks to other websites across the internet.

As an example, Google Ads allows advertisers to remarket across their platforms by creating remarketing lists designed to target either all visitors to your website or those who visit a certain page or complete a certain action.

Facebook remarketing is similar in certain ways, but instead of displaying your advertisements across websites, the ads are shown on Facebook. Remarketing on Facebook is usually referred to as “Custom Audiences.”

Custom Audiences works in the same way as Google Ads: Someone interacts with your website or brand and is tagged with a code that permits you to track them. While they are looking through their Facebook feed, your ads pop up and bring your brand to mind again.

Facebook ads have the ability to mimic email marketing by targeting your audience members with personalized messages. You can pull a list of contacts from your customer database and upload it directly to your Facebook account. You can then target your audience with ads relevant to their position on your sales funnel.

This is the most common form of remarketing. Once you have placed a Facebook pixel on all your web pages, you can determine your audience types based by setting filters based on the pages your audience groups have visited. As an example, if you sell cycling equipment but want to use Facebook ads to target those who are looking for helmets, you can set up an audience that shows ads to people who have visited pages with “helmet” as the keyword in the URL.

Conclusion

Social media marketing is an effective tool that both companies and brands or small businesses can use to increase traffic to their sites and boost sales and conversions. If you think your advertising could use some improvement, consider implementing these 20 creative social media marketing ideas for new twists and fresh perspectives on this multi-faceted topic.

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