Let Your Social Media Campaign Work for You in 2018

January 04, 2018 - Holly Cardew

Guys, it’s January 2018, and that means that you should be working hard to create a killer social media campaign for the new year ahead!

Leading up to this excitement, businesses around the world are contemplating their social media marketing strategies for the new year. And if you’re reading this, it probably means that you’re hoping to find some last-minute tips to ensure that you have this plan locked down tight.

Well, look no further my social media aficionados! We have exactly what you require in order to seal your new year social media strategy for 2018. Just keep reading and use all the tips you need – we’re certain you will be having a “Happy New Year!”

Tip #1: Set goals

You might think this should be a no-brainer, so why even include it as an official step? Because so many businesses want to dive right in before they’ve even tested the water. The only way to go about developing a successful social marketing strategy is to have predetermined goals and objectives with a clear plan on how to go about achieving them. Without that, you’re just shooting in the dark, and with so many adverts on social media these days, you don’t want to fall into the forgettable pile.

So, get to the drawing board and ask yourself the tough questions:

What are your main social media objectives?
What is paramount to reaching your target audience?
Are you looking for more hits on your website?
Are you looking to reach a new audience?
What return on investment (ROI) are you hoping for?

Most businesses won’t recreate an entirely new list of goals and objectives. They’ll amend their goals from a previous timeframe and adjust them to accommodate changes in their business and social media’s hottest new trends. Perhaps there are new up-and-coming apps that people are growing addicted to, or perhaps a current trending app has just launched a new feature that lets your business showcase your products in such a way that your ROI is set to shoot the lights out!

Whatever your goals are… just make sure you have them. Figure them out, write them down, understand them, and get going!

So now you know what you have to do, but you’re looking around the room awkwardly, wondering whether to make a cup of coffee or check your email before you get started. Then you realize you have absolutely no idea where to start and all that coffee is going to do is heighten the already simmering anxiety into a full-blown panic attack if you go that route.

Relax.

Just getting started is somewhat of a skill of its own (ask all the procrastinators out there), and if you’re feeling the heat, well… get out of the kitchen, get to your desk, and try the SMART mnemonic. Keeping the components of SMART in mind will ensure your goals are attainable and 100% relevant to your business’s requirements.

Tip #2: Learn from history! Let last year’s data gear you up

Get a hold of last year’s data and analyze, analyze, analyze! What worked? What failed? What time of day were you receiving more hits and activity? Auditing all these variables gives you great insight into what you’re going to want to keep and what you’re going to have to scrap. Audience engagement is key, so let your data pave the proverbial path for the new year.

A few tips on what to look out for in your analysis:

When is your audience actually plugged in? With 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week, knowing exactly when your target audience is engaging the most with your posts and ads is vital information for any marketing campaign.
Which campaigns have proven to be the most successful? Were people responding to product images, live videos, or casual Snapchat posts and Instagram stories? Take what worked, and build on it!
Who makes up your audience demographics? This is a major one to consider. Once you have an audience in mind, are the right individuals seeing your posts? Is an inapt demographic constantly making up the majority of activity instead? Study your data and do what you need to in order to rectify your marketing if need be. Need some inspiration? Switch things up a bit with this easy 5-step plan.

Tip #3: Incorporate hot trends

We’ve all heard of the term trending, but between your eggs in the morning and your salad at lunch, new social media trends have popped up enough to completely confuse you! While users might not know which way to turn, as a business, it’s up to you to ensure that you’re keeping up.

So, what were the major trends in social media in 2017?

Paid social media
Employee advocacy
Social media training
CEOs on social media, and
Social selling.

That doesn’t mean all of these trends are all appropriate for your particular strategy, but they are all important to think about as you’re crafting your plan.

Even though you’re no longer in school and homework is a thing of the past (heck yeah!), it’s still extremely important to do your marketing homework. Research is non-negotiable when it comes to what’s happened, what’s happening and what’s around the corner.

Tip #4: Let the unconventional inspire your creativity!

Got creative juice? Well, keep it flowing… Social media never sleeps and nor should you. Don’t feel bad about visiting other sites to get inspiration, everyone does, as long as you’re taking that info in and turning it into something that works for your social media campaign, you’re winning.

By unconventional, we mean:

Keep tabs on those viewpoints you don’t agree with. Does that even make sense? Of course, it does! If you don’t agree with them, chances are they’ll inspire great opposing content.
Test out some unusual ideas by crowdsourcing opinions from strangers, who are always more objective than your coworkers are. Suggest certain social media strategies or topic ideas, and see if anyone bites. You can go about this via all the platforms that come to mind: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and then some. Ask questions, begin chats and get the feedback you need in order to turn ideas into actions.

Make contacts without permission.There are many open accounts with some serious content, and following them in the shadows is a pretty sneaky way to collate data on all the different trends. It will help you differentiate between the good, the bad and the ugly without too much exposure or investment. So, when you see follow, click away!

Source: Twitter

Tip #5: Keep your cool

Your social media marketing campaign is almost ready, but if you’re still feeling slightly anxious, don’t be. While the social media landscape is ever-changing (what’s hot today, could be cold tomorrow), as long as you have a solid foundation for rolling out on your platforms and scheduling the best times for your audience, your content can be tweaked when needed as you go. The trick with social media is to keep up and adapt where necessary – keep up to date with Pixc’s blog to keep you in the loop!

We certainly hope these tips have helped and that you’re already well on your way (with that coffee nonetheless) brainstorming all your last-minute ideas for an impressive 2018 social marketing strategy!

What are you going to do differently in the New Year to ramp up your social media campaigns? Let us know in the comments below or tag us on Twitter @pixcphotos!