How to Fix Your Social Media Strategy

Social media marketing is one of the most effective ways to build your brand and grow your business. But sometimes, in spite of all your efforts, it just doesn’t seem to work the way you hoped. There is plenty of information out there on how to form and execute the right marketing plan, but often the advice is contradictory and it is hard to know what will work best for you.
To find the best marketing strategy for you, it takes time to put different techniques into practice and the patience to move onto the next when one isn’t working.
Before you get frustrated and throw in the towel on your social media strategy, stop to reevaluate your plan and find out what needs to be done to get the results you seek.
Reestablish Your Goals
At some point, you have probably lost sight of your goals. Do you want more visitors to your site? What will you do with them after you have them? In order to be successful, you need to have clearly defined goals. Without them, you will just be wandering around trying random methods that won’t help.
Before you can create an effective strategy, write down your goals. Know what results you want to get from your efforts and it will be easier to know if you are on the right track.
Use the Right Sites
When you are starting out with social networks, you might choose to go directly to the big guys: Facebook and Twitter. But if you aren’t getting the results you expected, it is probably time to start venturing away from the mainstream.
Pick a few niche sites that are closely related to what your business or blog is all about. You don’t have to give up on the other sites completely, but don’t focus all of your efforts on them if they haven’t been working.
Check Your Content
If you want to be successful online, you need to have valuable content that engages your readers. If it isn’t quality writing, people will quickly leave your website in search of another.
See what topics and writing styles are getting the most response from the audience that you are targeting. You can do this by searching your competitors’ sites, blog posts, social media updates, etc.
Spend time writing down topic ideas that you can go back to any time you need inspiration for your next piece of content. If you feel that your writing is not strong, you can choose to hire a freelance writer to create content for you.
Change Your Timing
Look back at your posts and note what time and day you typically put them up. If you aren’t getting a lot of interaction at those times, try posting differently. Keep in mind the different time zones. You might be posting at 5 pm on a Friday in Eastern time, but most of your visitors live on the West coast and aren’t checking their Facebook and Twitter accounts then. Get the timing right and you could see higher engagement.
With social media, you need to remember that in order to see results you need time, patience and practice. There are no overnight sensations online. Each successful marketing strategy takes a lot of effort and planning to get it just right. Don’t give up on it too soon and you will reach the goals you set.
Are you having trouble getting the results you want? What have you tried to be successful in social media? Share with us!

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Dawn Pigoni of Be Social Worldwide is a certified social marketing specialist