It’s 10 a.m. Do you know how your social media marketing is going? You’ve scheduled your posts for the next day, responded to comments and are filtering through your feeds. Social media marketing consumes more and more of our time, so how do you prioritize?
In many cases, a company’s presence on Facebook and Twitter is of the utmost importance. It connects a brand or message with users in the digital realm. The value of using Facebook or Twitter, though, relies solely on how well you take advantage of each platform.
Let’s break it down:
- Facebook allows you to access a social network. You get information about your Facebook audience and followers—see demographics. With Facebook, you can see what they like, who they are and what they’re passionate about. You see user habits—when they’re online and what they’re doing. Connections are made. Communication is shared. Facebook is great for learning more about your fans and measuring actions.
- Twitter is about sharing information. This stream-of-consciousness platform shares breaking and real-time news. See how well your campaigns worked. View your followers’ level of engagement with your posts. Overall, Twitter allows you to see the effectiveness of your work.
Engagement Over Activity
Facebook and Twitter should be used for measuring engagement — any social media marketing campaign worth the time focuses on engaging people and not just churning out posts. Analytics tools give business owners a clear picture of what’s working and what’s not working…on social media.
Here’s the bad news—Facebook and Twitter, while still boasting millions of active users and businesses, are moving targets, much like SEO or any online marketing. Evolving algorithms dictate how easy (or hard) it is to get in front of your customers. As these social media platforms change to a pay-to-play structure, it’s easier to measure the effectiveness of your social media efforts, but it’s more challenging to boost your organic, unpaid reach.
The good news? This ain’t no fairytale, but there’s a sweet ending. Great content will outlast and outlive any social media platform, algorithm update or revolutionary change. Period. Yes, content must adhere to the latest standards of the platform. That means keeping posts fresh, relevant, interesting and rich with images or links. That means conducting honest interactions instead of leaving your account on autopilot. Where there’s interesting information, clear messaging and engaging content, users will listen.