As you’re already well aware, we live in the era of smartphones, technological advancements, and the Internet. And because of how easy it is to access the net and browse different online stores, an increasing number of companies find it extremely complex and daunting to come up with a plan that’ll help them beat their competition online.
It is true what they say, if you wish to succeed, you’ll have to come up with a strong social media strategy – or several of them – that’ll help you beat your online competitors. To help you beat your online competitors and to help you determine which strategy is suitable for you, here are the top seven tips that you should remember:
1. First Things First – Compare!
Before you do anything else from our list below, one of the first and most important things that you could do is to perform a brand audit. What does this mean you should do? It’s simple, an audit will require you to compare your business to the ones of your competition. This suggests that you’ll have to look at and compare websites, promo materials, sales data, as well as the means of communicating with clients. By comparing your brand with others, you’ll be capable of learning which areas you’ll need to improve.
In most cases, there are 5 tasks audits require. For starters, you’ll have to learn more about your competitors, as well as the products and/or services that they offer. Second, look at your online identity and how you represent your brand online. Third, look at your branding (including your site, email, and ads). Next, you should determine how you’re is positioned when compared to other companies that offer similar products/services. Lastly, create a list of all the things you could improve.
2. Look at Their Social Media Pages, Accounts, And Website
An audit will allow you to determine which strategy is suitable for your business, however, another thing that could help is analyzing the social media accounts of your competition. Each platform – Twitter, Instagram, and so on – will have its own niche, meaning that people will interact differently on each of them. Because of this, you should learn what strategies and tactics your rivals are using on each of these platforms.
Now, it can be a little bit tricky and time-consuming to track their online activity over a period of time, which is why you might want to opt for hiring the services of companies such as www.adintelligencer.com. Why should you pay for this? Well, it simply, by working with such companies, you’ll quickly get insights into your competition’s strategies, products and services, and more importantly ad data, hence, you should seriously consider it.
3. Know What Your Clients Want
Before you start paying for ads, you should consider to whom you’re promoting your company. If you don’t know the answer to this question, you won’t really be capable of creating a suitable social media strategy, which is why you must research the market. Thus, learn what needs your customers have through online pools and interviews, look at your key products/services and compare them to your rivals’, check the reviews you have, and don’t forget to include all of the data you gain into your online strategy.
4. Customization is The Key
If there is one thing that you should remember from this list, it’s the fact that you should use a different strategy for each social media platform. Why? Well, as mentioned, customers interact differently with each of them and although you should stay consistent with the content you create and post, there are other things that you should consider changing. For instance, you might want to adjust your captions on each site. Why? Well, Twitter won’t allow you to create a long caption, but LinkedIn will.
By personalizing your media and by thinking about how you reveal different content to your targeted audience, you’ll be capable of finding a strategy that’ll work for you, but more importantly, that’ll help you attract the attention of your niche. Besides this, customizing your content can make things interesting for the individual following you on several platforms, meaning that they won’t simply skip your content because they saw it already, they’ll interact with it.
5. Everything Needs to Be Fun
No matter what you’re selling, everyone likes brands that are funny, which is why everyone will talk about those brands. Of course, it’s quite daunting to create a post that’ll be extremely popular, however, you can improve your chances by sharing things that people will like to see, interact with, as well as share. Also, don’t forget to be engaging since this can help you connect with your clients – which is something that all businesses should focus on.
6. You Need to Share Often
Now, keep in mind, you shouldn’t bombard your audience with dozens of posts in a day, which is why you should post at least 5 to 10 times per day. But, the content shouldn’t be the same all the time, instead, you might want to opt for sharing five posts of other people – such as your clients’ experiences – three that’ll feature relevant content of your brand, and two funny or relaxing posts that your audience can connect with.
Although you might feel the need to discuss religious or political topics, you shouldn’t. Why? Well, although some people might agree with you, others might not, which can cause you to lose engagement rates, but customers as well. Because of this, you should try and stay completely neutral on difficult or daunting topics, especially since this will help you keep your business and branding efforts completely consistent.
7. Monitor and Use The Data You Gather
Last on our list is the fact that you should use various analytic programs and tools that’ll help you utilize the data you gather. There is a wide range of programs and apps available, all of which will help you track your social media pages, review the performance on each of them, as well as learn what your metrics are for reaching the objectives you have. By using the data you gather, you’ll be able to see whether or not your strategy is actually working.
Conclusion
By following all of the tips we’ve mentioned in our list above, you won’t only be capable of improving your social media and advertising strategies, but you’ll also be capable of beating your online competition. Since you now know what you must do, don’t waste time, instead, start with the first thing we mentioned – which is comparing your brand with your competition.
