Social media is growing up. We're watching Facebook morph into a communications monolith while newer channels like Twitch and Tik Tok are capturing the imaginations (and time) of niche demographics. As the digital landscape changes, Australians are opting-in to more channels to fulfil a range of different social needs.
There are more places to connect with your audience than ever. In fact, a recent study found that Australians have an average of 6.7 social media accounts. There is great opportunity for brands, but it comes with great responsibility.
Our Likeable Account Director Brent Clinch gave us his advice on how to manage a multi-channel social media strategy without the overwhelm.
Find your people
Fact: producing great brand content takes time and a lot of it. For marketers, the hyper-demand for new digital content can feel almost impossible to meet, especially if your brand is communicating on every single channel. Brent offers a really simple solution. “Don’t focus on every social channel, focus on the channels where your market spends time”. It might seem obvious, but many clients and companies get excited by shiny new apps and overlook target audience research. Take TikTok for example. It was downloaded 1.5 billion times globally at the time of writing and it’s still in the early adoption stages. Should you take notice of it? Absolutely. Should you rush to create #challenge campaign? Only if your audience is a portion of the 1.5 billion.
Brent’s advice is to do your research, find your people and advertise where they are. What you find might surprise you.
Get to know each platform (and why we use them)
Creating a multi-channel social media strategy can feel like looking at a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. It’s hard to know where to start. “Understand what you want from each account and what each account can deliver for your market. This will help you see a clearer picture instantly” says Brent.
Each platform offers users something different even if it seems like many of the features are exactly the same. “Facebook is one place where people discover information about a business, it’s fantastic for driving visits to a webpage. While Instagram is more exploratory in nature, making it a perfect platform for building brand awareness” says Brent. Understanding why people are on each platform is just as important as knowing which platforms they’re using.
Be unoriginal sometimes
If you can regularly create unique videos and images for each channel your brand communicates on – we applaud you – but your gargantuan effort may be unnecessary. Brent suggests a different approach. “Go back to your audience research. If you have different followers on different platforms, then you can post the same visual content across different channels”. Keep in mind that sharing the same visual content does not mean sharing the exact same post across all channels. We know it's a tempting time-saver, but it can be social media suicide. You should always adjust the messaging and post copy, so it works for each channel.
Use careful influence
It feels like influencer marketing is here to stay. However, you’ll need a new strategy if you want to succeed. When it comes to branded content and influencer partnerships, people are becoming savvier and more cynical. As said by Brent, “Influencers can boost your campaign efforts but only if you remember that not all influencers are influential”. In a recent study by Elderman, they found that influencer relatability is twice as important as popularity when it comes to product endorsements. So, if you're going to spend some of your hard-won advertising budgets on influencers, choose wisely. Remember that micro-influencers may, in fact, have more sway than big accounts even if they’ve only got a quarter of the following.
Learn to measure the right way
We know just how easy it is to get caught up in building creative campaigns that look incredible. While creativity counts, it needs to be built on a solid strategic foundation. Brent thinks “you should start by defining your goalposts and decide what a win looks like for your campaign. Are you measuring click-throughs, leads or good old-fashioned engagement? Then, test your goals to ensure they’re realistic for the platform you are using and your industry”.
Ready to spread your social media wings? The team at Likeable Creative is always here to chat about strategy and creativity, we are the most likeable Perth agency after all.