As an estimate, 3.499 billion people that make around 50% of the earth’s population are active social media users. Of that, Facebook alone has over 2.375 billion active users. WhatsApp, an instant messaging app by Facebook, has more than 1.6 billion users.

Other Facebook developments: Instagram has one billion, and SnapChat has 190 million daily users.

Despite the fact that Facebook owns a majority of leading social networks, there are many other social platforms where users love to engage and spend time. YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and TikTok are some of the most popular, non-Facebook social media platforms at present.

Marketing on social media is quite different from traditional marketing. In 2018 alone, $74 billion were spent on social media marketing worldwide. Why? Because social media marketing yields better visibility and ROI than traditional and TV advertising do.

This blog covers six new and proven social media marketing strategies on the following key areas. Implementing these strategies, you will be able to bring in new customers, build strong relationships and trust, and win back customers that seem to have been lost forever.

Start creating Instagram stories

As mentioned earlier, Instagram has over a billion users. And, roughly, half of its users use Instagram Stories every day.

And that’s where you have a chance to cash in via your Instagram Stories.

Considering the fact that you can build your audience and convert them through your stories, you should have a separate dedicated strategy for your Instagram Stories.

If you too are planning to use Instagram Stories, here are some of the best practices to create Instagram Stories that get views, engagement, and clicks –

• Add hashtags (#)
• Tag your location
• Run polls and encourage users to participate
• Use trending stickers and icons
• Follow the right image and video formats so your stories look good on mobile screens
• Put your popular updates, content, and stories in highlights
• Add links to stories
• Place strong CTAs

If you have a verified business account or more than 10000 followers, you could also set up your shop on Instagram. And then, you can promote your products through your Instagram Stories and ask watchers to take the desired action to buy.

Get started with YouTube Ads

With its 1.9 billion users, YouTube is the largest and most active video social network. At an average, its users spend at least 40 minutes every time they open YouTube.

If you are a YouTube user, you are already aware of YouTube ads being run before and during the videos you are playing.

Imagine your ads being shown to users chosen strategically based on whether they fit into your buyer definition.

Wouldn’t that be a great way to boost visibility and awareness?

You can target users – or show your ads to specific users – based on their Google search and YouTube watch history. Put simply, if a user has searched for a product or term on Google, and you have a product that falls into that category, you can choose to show your advertisement to that user.

YouTube reaches more people than any TV network in the world. Using YouTube Ads could give your brand massive visibility and your sales a big boost.

To set up your video ad campaigns, you will need to create attractive and meaningful videos to engage and delight your audience. Here is a complete guide to create and run your video ads campaign on YouTube.

Increase your reach with Facebook Ads funnel

Facebook’s more than two billion users access the platform eight times a day, either through web or mobile. That makes it the most active social network as well.

Given that, it becomes a platform with plenteous sales and marketing opportunities.

26% percent of users who click on Facebook Ads go ahead and make the purchase. 39% of users follow official brand pages expecting to receive the latest offers.

But, to be exact, Facebook is not a place where a user is ready to buy. It is certainly a platform to make a user a loyal customer that not only will buy from you in the future but will also spread your brand through the word of mouth.

If pitched right, Facebook Ads offer higher returns on investment meetings, and in most cases, surpassing your ad objectives and expectations.

The most important element of your Facebook ads is your content, which could be a blog post, infographic, video, live webinar, or eBook. The focus should be on producing quality content that you can pitch your audience.

You can also create the same content in multiple formats so that you can convince people at different stages in different ad formats through different ad sets. Creating and promoting segmented content by targeting it your lookalike audience is the basics of Facebook Funnel marketing.

Remarketing is probably the best feature of Facebook Ads. You could expose your brand (through your ads) to potential audiences multiple times till the time they make a decision.

TikTok Ads for a specific audience

TikTok rose to fame after a revamp, followed by the takeover of Music.ly a couple of years back. This Chinese social network allows users to create 15-second videos while lip-syncing on popular soundtracks, music, movie dialogs, and famous personalities. This fun app is largely popular among teens and those in their twenties.

The platform is available in 150 countries and in 75 languages. On Apple AppStore and Google Store, TikTok is one of the most downloaded free apps.

TikTok is an attractive marketing platform, especially if you have products that interest teens and tweens.

Of 500 million, 26.5 million are from the United States and 43% from India. 66% of its audience is below 30 years. These stats tempt marketers to use TikTok marketing to promote their brand.

IGTV for more views and actions    

IGTV is probably Instagram’s best feature from a marketer’s standpoint. Earlier, it was a standalone app.

Back then, using it was an uphill battle for marketers and a confusing affair for the user. It was challenging for marketers to generate engagement and views on their videos.

Now, things have turned easier.

What’s more interesting is: Users can now see IGTV previews on their Instagram feed. And by tapping the preview on their feed, they can move to and watch the video on the IGTV tab which is existent within the app’s interface.

Your videos are also shown in the search or discover section on Instagram – which gets you more views from users interested in videos, products, and services like yours. Strategic use of IGTV gives your brand a chance to showcase your product videos in an interactional manner and stand out.

With that, Instagram and IGTV offer a completely different approach to reach and convert. So gear up and create IGTV specific videos to deliver quality and value, and to gain more views and engagement.

Here are seven useful tips to get started with IGTV marketing

• Create videos in Instagram-friendly (vertical) format
• Keep your video content short and crisp – full of information
• Choose different backdrops or locations to shoot your video. (it helps create visual interest for the audience)
• Conduct game shows and interviews (make sure they are relevant)
• Add subtitles to your videos (and make it easier for users, who watch videos with the sound off)
• Use pop-up texts to send important messages during the video
• Design your cover photo showcasing your title and keywords

Live video marketing

To make your marketing efforts perform, you will need to be different. Social media has transformed how businesses are run. The dominance of video-sharing platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo, SnapChat, and TikTok has ignited a new trend within social media.

Since users spend one-third of their time watching online videos, video marketing has now become an integral part of any successful social media marketing strategy. And for that reason, 87% of marketers use video to market their content and brands.

Evidently, every brand and marketer seems to be doing video marketing. So, now is the time to take a step further and indulge in live video marketing.

Live video is the future of video marketing. People love watching live videos more than pre-recorded videos, as it is more trustworthy. Users know that there is no editing involved and what they are seeing is true and unedited.

According to a survey, 80% of customers would be more interested in watching live videos rather than reading blogs, web pages or customer reviews. Videos are easy to digest, and live videos add a dash of reliability to easy understandability.

If you haven’t started a live video, put together a live video marketing strategy for all social networks that support live streaming.

Since you are managing multiple platforms, you would not want to spend all your time navigating from one platform to another. It makes perfect sense to introduce a social media marketing tool in your process. Not only will it save your time, but also streamline your process and makes it easier for you to analyze and develop future strategies.

The success of your social media strategies relies largely on the experience of the user first on your social media and second, on your landing page. This definitely includes, but is not limited to, the content, the navigation, the design, and the call to action.

To supercharge your social media marketing efforts, you could consider working on the SEO part as well. People still use search engines to find products and services they need. Installing an SEO extension on your website, you can improve its SEO-readiness and performance on search engines.

To end with, here is what you should focus on

• Select the right platform(s)
• Set your goals
• Identify your target audience
• Share what your audience likes to engage
• Make your social media strategies flexible
• Be consistent
• Never leave a chance to interact with the audience

To identify what’s working and what’s not, you should keep a watchful eye on the performance and outcomes of your updates and social media ads. Make necessary changes in your social media strategy as and when needed.

I hope the ideas suggested in this article help you curate an effective social media marketing strategy for your brand. If you have some questions or if you would like to share something, drop a line in the comments section below.