It's common knowledge that social media platforms are powerful tools in marketing. They are omnipresent, offer unparalleled visibility to your brand worldwide, and present a direct link between you and your customers.

According to 2020 reports, there are over 3.5 billion social media users globally. Around 50% follow brands or companies via social media. Over 80% engage further in various ways, such as visiting a website or app, purchasing a product, or recommending the brand to a family member or a friend.

Among its benefits, you will often read that social media marketing is easy and inexpensive. Although this is not not true, beginning to perceive marketing on social media as a gravy train is your first step to failure.

How so?

Take it from the users themselves - consumers reported that their top reasons to unfollow a brand on social media are poor product quality, inadequate customer service, irrelevant content, and excessive ads.

So, these are your prospective client's pain points. Now, it's time to find out how to step up your social media game.

5 Social Media Strategies That Actually Work

Ditch posting for the sake of posting

Posting bad-quality, invaluable, and unattractive content regularly won't get you very far.

Consistent posting, even up to two times a day, is advised, as the platform might praise your effort by widening your posts' reach. However, once it detects that your posts have low engagement and generally dissatisfy users, you'll see a drop in all your metrics.

This is reasonable and expected. With over 300 million photos being uploaded on social platforms daily, users have plenty of content to choose from. Neither the platform will risk losing users by presenting mediocre posts, nor will the consumers bother to engage with second-class content.

Therefore, focus on creating relevant, informative, and engaging content. Spark a conversation, offer advice, use a variety of formats, and ultimately, make it valuable and beautiful.

Appeal To The Senses

In the abundance of social media posts people see daily, how do you make yours really stand out? Enter sensory marketing.

Sensory marketing is the new buzzword of the digital world. The strategy entails utilizing diverse means of appealing to the senses to capture the users' attention and develop brand awareness among the target audience.

So, how do you incorporate sensory strategy into your social media marketing? Well, visuals, such as images and videos, are an amazing way to appeal to sight and sound. Touch, smell, and taste might be a bit trickier, though much more powerful if done right.

Entice coffee lovers with a vivid description of their favorite drink's smell and taste in the early morning quiet, or evoke a feeling of comfort and luxury of your new car for automotive enthusiasts.

If you're looking for inspiration on how to incorporate sensory marketing into your strategy, check out some of the top New York web design companies and discover how their works intertwine senses with digital products.

Spark a Conversation

Likes, follows, and shares are all great, but without valuable and relevant user engagement, all your effort may come to nothing.

Quizzes, polls, contests, Q&As are, among others, excellent opportunities to bridge the communication gap between you and your customers, increase your product/brand awareness, and ultimately, learn more about the desires and pains of your target audience.

We all love to engage in conversations about our opinions and experiences. So why not leverage that in your social media as well?

Be Where Your Customers Are

Facebook still reigns as the most used social media network in the world, but that doesn't mean the platform is suited for all businesses and industries.

For your social media presence to be viable and effective, you have to discover where to find your customers.

For example, fashion brands should exploit the visual aspect of Instagram to appeal to their audience, whereas trusted Chicago software development companies should focus on B2B platforms such as LinkedIn.

Learn From Your Competition

Do an in-depth examination of your competitors' social media, outline their strategies, the messages they convey, and the content formats they create.

Do a SWOT analysis and define the content that works well for your competitors. Establish which type of content you could incorporate in your social media strategy and any areas you can improve on.

Still, your competition should only serve as an inspiration. Be cautious not to get too carried away with incorporating someone else's ideas that you eventually lose your brand identity and voice.

To Sum Up

We've outlined these five amazing social media strategies that marketers and brands alike swear by. Still, it's up to you to tailor these ideas into your business and add a personal touch. Ultimately, your goal is to set trends, not follow them.