German internet users spend most of their time in social networks: 192 hours per months (source: tobesocial). This is approximately 6.36 hours per day when users can be reached through social media marketing. The importance of this type of marketing is continuing to increase. It is not surprising that one in two purchase decisions is influenced by social media content. (Source: DigitasLBI) The more important it is for companies to start their “Social Media Marketing Optimization” and make use of the benefits of social networks. This does not only increase the awareness of the company and the coverage in viral marketing, it also strengthens the trust in customer retention.
You can find more information on the facts and benefits in our infographic “10 Important Social Media Marketing Facts 2015“.
Once the possibilities are recognised, the question of ‘how’ arises. In order to attract the attention of prospective buyers, it is not enough to simply post anything at any time. Any post does not equal a good post. You carefully have to consider the content, layout and publication time to achieve the desired coverage and resonance. Here are a few tips and infos on what to bear in mind for your Social Media Marketing Optimization.
Generally, the following applies for every network : content should have a positive and authentic appeal. Advertising in a strict sense is to be avoided. It is better to refer entertaining or informative content about the product/en/company/brand and take up current events. In short: Content Marketing. Naturally, the relation to a product should always be recognisable in order to follow a more stringent line. Well performing content may be shared once in a while – in moderation! Including an image can be an enormous advantage since posts with an image achieve 53% more likes on average. (Source: Hubspot) Furthermore, it is important to always link content via tracking links to be able to analyse the resonance a specific content is generating at any time. Another important point which applies to all types of posts is the call-to-action. Giving the user the chance to get in touch via interaction is extremely beneficial for the customer relationship. Being open to dialogue and promptly available suggests real interest in customers and helps build trust. Since one in two internet users surfs the internet on a mobile terminal device (source: German Federal Statistical Office), it is always important to design the post in a way that can easily be displayed on smartphones and tablets.
Different networks, however, have different foci, usage times and functions. It is therefore sensible to have other suitable content available for the different channels.
Has 1.59 billion members. Every day, 1.04 billion active users are on facebook. Based on these high user numbers, most companies have already identified facebook as a marketing platform. (Source: allfacebook.de) The best time to post on facebook is between 1pm and 4pm. (Source: Social Media für Unternehmer) It is recommended to add a short piece of descriptive information to a link or image to provide interested users some insight to the content. Due to the profile, posts have more permanency on facebook than on Twitter and therefore appear more often in subscriber feeds than tweets. An additional advantage is that in CMS systems such as WordPress you can set which image and which information is to be shown when publishing on facebook. The information is automatically retrieved by facebook. You can find more tips on the correct facebook use in marketing in our article “Facebook Content Marketing for Brands“.
Social Media Marketing Optimization: Facebook-Post from BMW (Source:https://econsultancy.com/en/blog/64900-six-examples-of-automotive-social-media-strategy)
As previously mentioned, Twitter with its 320 million users – 305 million of which are active on a monthly basis – is much shorter lived than facebook (source: golem.de). Most Twitter users follow many other users and this is why the frequency of posts is so high that you only view a few. It is therefore recommended to share the post more than once – but in moderation! The trick is not to exceed the character limitation of 140 and nevertheless get the message across. There are tools which help to shorten a link so that it doesn’t use up all the characters. In order to increase the coverage, it may be sensible in Twitter to link people @ who have something to do with this topic. The most significant character in a tweet is the hashtag (#). When a user searches for a specific hashtag and another user has linked this under his post, this tweet and all other tweets fitting this hashtag will be displayed to the searcher. Videos and images draw more attention in Twitter as they stand out and increase the likelihood of a retweet. The best time for a tweet is between 1pm and 3pm (source: Social Media für Unternehmer). You can find further tips on the correct twitter use in our articles “5 Limitations of Twitter Use in Digital Marketing” and “Twitter as an Effective Tool in the Branding Communication – 3 Practical Tips“.
Google+
With Google+ it makes sense to check out the hashtagged “trending topics”. With this function, you can easily inform yourself about the latest news in your fields of interest. Targeted tags, hashtags, chosen communities and the collections provide numerous opportunities to promote your product in an attractive way. You can, for example, create an image collection which shows how the product may be useful in many everyday situations. Or a whole community can be created which only talks about this product. A strong headline is another bonus provided by Google+. This can be used to set protruding keywords relevant for the target group. This is an advantage when other Google+ users search for these keywords. They can find the post quicker since its ranking is higher while users who are not registered with Google+ will get a lower ranking. Since the network has a lower number of active of users – 235 million (source: Google+) – compared to other networks, the interaction and the call-to-action is even more important if you wish to achieve coverage and resonance. The best time for a post is between 9am and 11am. (Source: Social Media für Unternehmer).
In the above mentioned three networks the topics chosen e.g., everyday life, political satire or travel, play hardly any role. Everything is allowed as long as it fits your own offer. With LinkedIn, however, you will need to be more careful. Professionalism is expected so that the messages reaches the right people. Here it is even more important to have the right Ideas for the Social Media Marketing Optimization of your company.
LinkedIn with its 414 million users globally has a significant coverage. (Source: statista). 396 million of its users are active. To use the platform successfully as a marketing channel, the content must appeal to the target group on a business level and must be relevant specifically for its business model or function. A company should therefore score with information around the business sector and not make jokes about the weather. Especially the subsequent discussions with users can become an important focal point to develop users in a targeted way and present yourself as an authentic talking partner. Due to the topical seriousness, many questions are detailed and professional. To answer them and pass on your knowledge as a company can be a large step towards lead generation. Content which is popular in social networks is quickly discovered by search machines and it is therefore recommended to use relevant keywords to move up in the SEO ranking. They are also relevant when you are looking for expert articles. The best time to share content on LinkedIn is between 7am-9am and 5pm-6pm (source: Social Medien für Unternehmer).
You can find more tips on successful social media marketing optimization in the marketing engineers’ blog.