Understanding social media marketing best practices for 2021 will help you accomplish your online marketing goals. When you know what you need to be doing and implement what you know, you’ll consistently grow and thrive. These best practices work for any company in any industry that strives to maintain a positive brand reputation while increasing revenue.
Below are the key focuses we know will help your business stand out in 2021. Whether you’re all in on TikTok or spreading your efforts out between Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, you’ve got what it takes to succeed.
Listen
Brands all over the world have been tested in 2020 as to how good they really are at listening to their customers/clients. Paying attention to the needs of your target audience will help them know that you care for them. When you listen, you become a resource for your ideal customers to solve their problems that you’re best solving. Pay attention to what they're saying in your comment threads, reviews, and direct messages. Respond to each and every person to reaches out to you. Showing that you care goes a long way and helps people be more invested in your brand.
Collaborate
Teaming up with other brands is one of the most effective ways to expand your online reach and influence. When you work with others, you’re able to be exposed to people who wouldn’t have heard about you any other way. You’re able to quickly earn trust with others because you’re teaming up with a brand they already know and trust. There are a variety of ways you can partner with another brand such as the following:
Giveaway: Doing a joint giveaway is a proven way to increase engagement and exposure on social media. Having other brands tag you and you tagging other brands helps you have more opportunities to provide value for others. One thing to keep in mind when running a giveaway is that you’ll need to determine how winners can claim their prizes before you launch the giveaway. Create a process that’s as simple as possible without any unnecessary steps.
Event/Party: Whether it’s an influencer party or an event for loyal customers, experiences are a way to cement your status in the minds of consumers. Here’s an example of an event you could host if you own a business that translates text into different languages with the various businesses you could partner with:
International market:
Food trucks with international cuisine
Local ethnic dance groups
Arts and crafts businesses
As you can see, these businesses you could invite all compliment each other and don’t take away from anything you do as a translation business. The same idea can be applied to any other type of company such as car dealerships, insurance agencies, gyms, and health clinics.
Product shoot: Are you struggling with creating visual content for your brand? Reach out to other brands and organize a product shoot! One specific industry this is effective in is the home goods industry. After all, you wouldn’t have an empty room with only your products in it. For example, if you sell custom curtains, you could stage a shoot with someone in your city refurbishes antique furniture and a local florist. You could take it a step further by finding models who look like your target market.
For more details on how to collaborate with other brands, read this blog post on how to collaborate to increase brand awareness!
Post
The most common way for businesses to fail on social media is to not post on a regularly basis. Sharing content to your social media platforms once a month or even every other week won’t help you hit your goals. To cut through the noise, you need to be a consistent presence on social media. Figure out a sustainable schedule that helps you stay on top of your content creation and posting schedule.
One effective way to make sure you have content for social media without feeling overwhelmed is to dedicate time every two months where all you do is create content. For example, set aside every 1st and 3rd Monday of each month for content creation. You’ll have dedicated time to make sure you have everything you need to post on social media and engage your followers. The next step will be to block off every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month for scheduling your posts (social media schedulers that will save you time).
When you have a system in place, you can plan more effectively. You’ll also be more efficient when it comes to your overall marketing efforts.
Take action!
Listening, collaborating, and posting will help you get closer to your sales and marketing goals for 2021. To sum up the social media marketing best practices for 2021, here’s a quick list:
Listen: Pay attention to what your community/followers have to say about your brand and respond. Show that you care.
Collaborate: Expand your reach and influence by teaming up with other brands. You’ll get in front of potential customers in a way that gains trust.
Post: You can’t build a brand or increase sales if you’re not posting on social media. No one reached their social media marketing goals by not doing anything on social media.
Remember that you can’t have results without taking action! The great news is you’re not alone. There are accessible tools you can use to manage your social media marketing efforts to make life easier. You can also outsource your content creation needs to focus on what you do best.
Do you have any questions about how you can improve your social media marketing efforts for your business? Let us know by sending us your questions in the contact form below!