With 2.80 billion global social media users in 2017, there are few tools as powerful as social media when marketing your business. And while using social media platforms for marketing purposes can help take your business to the next level, there are some additional tools that can be used along with social media to further improve your customers’ experience. Remember, 71% of consumers are likely to recommend a brand to others if they’ve had a good experience with the brand on social media. Below is a list of the best tools to complement your social media marketing efforts, ensuring that your brand delivers impeccable service to your customers.
Responsive Website Design
In today’s world, where nearly 80% of all social media time is spent on a mobile device, having a website that is responsive is a must. It’s also important to note that more than half of all Google searches are performed using a mobile device. Thus, websites need to look nice on all device types. If you’re creating a site using a pre-built theme, it’s wise to make sure the template has been designed to display properly on all devices, so the transition for those coming from social media platforms is seamless. In most cases, themes—such as those found at Shopify—are specifically made to be responsive, but it’s always worth checking before committing to one. The last thing you want as a business owner is for users to be turned off (and ready to seek out a competitor) because they can’t navigate your website on their device after clicking a link on your brand’s social media profile.
Signup Forms
Custom signup forms are a great way to build your email list, and when combined with social media, they can significantly increase conversion rates. However, manually integrating and linking to signup forms can be difficult, as there are some technical aspects to consider. This may not be an issue if you have a fully-staffed web development team, but this is a luxury some businesses do not have. On the other hand, there are companies designed to help businesses integrate forms into social media accounts with ease. For instance, Formstack has a Twitter form integration that allows you to connect your online form to your Twitter account and post custom tweets. Customer shoutouts can go a long way in keeping users engaged and convincing them to sign up for your email list.
Graphics Creation
With photos averaging a 35% boost in retweets, it’s no secret that graphic design is important when using social media for marketing. (Who doesn’t love a good meme?) And while hiring a professional graphic designer can be an expensive endeavor, it’s not always necessary, especially if your business doesn’t rely heavily on graphics. Instead, you may want to consider using one of the many simplified graphic creation tools that are available online. Platforms like Canva can aid in designing everything from images to fonts, which can be vital for taking your social media marketing efforts to the next level.
Post Scheduling
One of the most important aspects of social media marketing is ensuring that each post is scheduled to appear on a feed at the correct time. After all, you don’t want to release a bunch of posts at the same time, overwhelming users and causing them to disregard much of the information. Ahalogy reports that your brand will start to feel spammy if you post more than once a day on Facebook. The company FindMyShift follows this rule and only posts once every day or two.If your business has staff members dedicated to managing posting schedules, this may not be a problem. But for many businesses, it’s more effective to rely on a scheduling tool. If you’re in the latter category, use tools like Buffer to keep track of your posts.
Reporting
Keeping track of your social media user statistics is extremely important, as it can indicate whether your marketing efforts are paying off. Plus, reviewing crucial statistics—such as fluctuations in user levels and conversion rates—helps businesses better determine what changes may be needed to increase engagement. In addition, knowing the various statistics about your social media marketing efforts will allow you to put goals in place.Having set goals can give employees a better picture of the overall changes needed for your business to have growth on social media. There are literally dozens of different reporting tools available online. Some are free, and some charge fees, but either can be well worth it. If you’re looking to track your social media stats, such as hashtags, you may want to check out a site like Keyhole, which will give you added insight into your marketing efforts.
Final Thoughts
As internet technologies have become more intuitive, the need for interaction with users has increased, and social media platforms are the perfect place for this engagement to occur. If you’re using social media for marketing purposes, you should consider using additional tools to help grow your audience and revenues. Implement tools or themes that help with responsive website design to give users a seamless transition from social media. And consider incorporating signup forms and well-designed graphics into your posts to capture more followers. Additionally, be sure to take advantage of scheduling and analytical tools so you can track each event and set goals. By using these tools to complement your social media marketing efforts, you are sure to take your conversion rates and growth to new levels.
About the Author
Michelle Deery is a freelance writer for Heroic Search in Tulsa. She writes and edits marketing content that converts visitors into subscribers.
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