Ready to tackle social marketing but not sure where to start?

Or maybe you’re already in the social media game but it isn’t working… You need new social marketing ideas, a new perspective.

Either way,  you aren’t alone. There’s a ton of information out there about social media marketing, from best practices to worst mistakes. Maybe you’ve tried some of the “best practices,” avoided the “worst mistakes”… And still haven’t seen the results you wanted. You’ve run out of social media ideas.

You know you want to move forward with your social marketing but you’re not sure how.

3 social marketing ideas to breathe new life into your social media strategy

Note: These won’t work for everyone all of the time. I’m not promising the magic cure to all your social media woes. If I did, you should leave immediately because I’d be lying.

These are social marketing ideas that push you to think differently about your social media actions and presence. It’s up to you, your team, or the professional you hire to make them work for you and your audience.

1. Create original images just for social

It may seem crazy. It may sound like a lot of work. But you’d be surprised how much more response you’ll get on any social media channel simply by sharing links, thoughts, and advice with original, bold images.

Worried about your design skills? I use tools like Canva and apps on my phone. Trust me, I am not a graphic designer nor an artist. Examine the images that get lots of engagement on social media, then create your own. (Hint: Pictures with short, insightful blurbs over them tend to be quite popular.)

The best news? Create just one image and share it to all platforms. Customize the message in each post to fit the audience you reach on each social channel.

My personal lifehack: I reuse a lot of images for background images and just use different filters and new text. It cuts down on time searching for free images and I’ve seen no negative impact on my engagement!

2. Connect your social marketing with the rest of your marketing

This may seem like a “Duh,” but you’d be surprised how many people do completely different things on social media than they do in all other marketing channels. Consistency, consistency, consistency.

Make sure your brand is consistent across all social media plus advertising, marketing, and outreach … Yup, even social. And when you create messages or images for other marketing, repurpose it for your social media. Building a print ad? Change it a bit to work digitally. Sending email blasts? Share a blurb after your email is sent to entice people to read more. Adding a new product to your line? Share pieces of the development process. Better yet, use social to ask for feedback on new labels or new names.

Simple example: We designed an ad for a local business publication, SEDCOR. To repurpose it for social media, we created banner images for all our social media accounts. Memes with the same message were designed to work digitally. We maintained consistency and it was really easy to use something we already had!

3. Try recording video… See what happens.

Video has been popular for a while. There are plenty of stats to support its importance, including that YouTube is the second largest search engine.

Does it seem like too much work? Or you aren’t “creative?” Not sure what to say? You tried it once and it didn’t do anything? Whatever your reason, just try it. Even if it’s a low quality recording using Periscope, Google Hangouts, or just recording a video on your phone. Try it.

If you don’t like the video you created or your audience doesn’t seem to be responding, at least you tried. Now you know what you don’t like. Or now you know what your audience doesn’t like. Then create something that does work. When you try again, consider these potential reasons your video didn’t work:

• What does “didn’t work” mean? What are your metrics for success?
• Was the content in the video entertaining, useful, or both?
• Was the sound quality good enough so people could hear it?
• Where did you place the video? Can you share it somewhere else?
• Did you include a call-to-action at the end? Was it the right call to action for the audience you wanted to reach and the buying stage they’re in?
• If you used a social media platform (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram) have you optimized your video so it’s easily found on that particular platform?

Just three of many possibilities!

Once you find your groove in social media, and learn what works for your metrics, you’ll have fun. If you aren’t in that groove yet, try these three social marketing ideas. Let me know what works for you! If you already have your groove, I’d love to know your social marketing ideas.

What’s putting social media to work for you?