In the digital age, social media is a very valuable tool to help market your business online. Almost everyone is on social media, meaning your social media strategy is essential to reaching your target audience online. With 2018 coming to a close, now is the perfect time to revamp your social media strategy to get ready for the New Year. If you’re interested in improving your social media strategy, we’ve compiled a list of tips that can help!

1. Focus on Visual Content

Visual content is becoming increasingly popular. In fact, videos are the most popular form of content on social media, as users’ favorite to consume. Visual content is an effective way to communicate a brief message with your audience and promote your business through a method that is difficult to ignore. For this reason, it’s important to beef up your visual content in the New Year. Photos are very effective, but you should also create videos for your social media channels. Videos are very useful, but be sure to keep them brief, as most consumers lose interest after the first ten seconds. Because visual content is so successful, it’s important to invest in producing this content in the New Year.

2. Use Live Platforms

Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have created “live” features, allowing you to connect with your users in real time. Live videos are highly effective at encouraging engagement, especially on Instagram, where you can add interactive features such as polling. They are also a great way to get more personal and humanize your brand, a strategy that is essential to business success. Another great aspect of live video on social media is that it is one of the best ways to achieve organic reach. Social media is making it increasingly difficult for businesses to reach audience organically. In fact, on Facebook it’s virtually impossible to reach your audience without purchasing ads. However, live videos are a great way to reach your audience organically, especially considering these videos appear at the very top of the user’s page.

3. Establish a Budget

If your business isn’t using paid social, the New Year is the time to start creating a social media budget. Without spending money, it is virtually impossible for businesses to gain visibility on Facebook and very difficult on other platforms as well. For this reason, it’s essential to establish a social media budget to maintain visibility on your platforms. The benefit of paid social media is that businesses can target their ads to highly specific audiences. You can target your ads based on location, gender, occupation, interests, political affiliations, and more. Through these highly targeted ads, you can make sure that the right people see your social media ads.

4. Use Reporting Tools

If you haven’t been making use of reporting tools for your social media, 2019 is the time to start doing so. Most platforms have their own reporting tools that businesses can use to track engagement. If you use a social media management tool, it probably includes a reporting tool as well. It’s important to use reporting tools to inform your decisions to develop the most successful social media strategy. These reports can help you learn the types of posts that perform the best and which ones receive the most engagement. You can also find out the best times of day to post and other factors that will maximize your engagement and success. When you use reporting tools, you can keep track of your successes to mimic them in the future.

5. Take Advantage of New Technology

Social media platforms are often developing new features. When a platform rolls out a new feature, smart businesses take advantage. It’s important to try out different features to find out which ones will work best for your business. These features are not one size fits all, so some new features might not be right for your business. However, it’s important to take advantage of the newest features to show your followers your business is adaptable and on the cutting edge. Each new feature is a chance to improve your social media strategy, so it’s important to try out each one and find out which features work for you. If you haven’t tried out all of the features your social media platforms offer, 2019 is the time to start taking advantage of them.

ImageWorks, LLC | CT Social Media Marketing Agency

Does your social media marketing strategy consistently fall short of your goals? Knowing is half the battle. If it’s time to rethink your strategy, all is not lost. Do research on what others in your industry are doing in social media: what works, what doesn’t and their tone.  Take the time to get to know what your potential clients or customers want to see from you.

We understand that social media can be overwhelming, and it's not always easy to change with each update or refresh. If you are looking to boost your social media marketing then you may want to take a step back and reevaluate the online presence you already have.