Developing a social media marketing strategy for 2016 is important. Just sticking with what you did last year is a mistake because, as you know, things are changing all the time and you need to keep up. You don't have to go as far as crumbling up your old plan and tossing it out, however. Take some time to analyze what worked and didn't work last year, then try out at least one new social media marketing strategy this year. You may be pleasantly surprised with the results. Here are three good ideas to try in 2016:
#1 Establish Yourself As A Thought Leader
Rather than solely using your social media accounts to engage with your audience, use them to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. A thought leader is an individual whose opinions on a certain subject are given more authority than the opinions of others. Thought leaders are often the most successful in their fields, so it's something worth aspiring to.
To become a thought leader, you must deliver your own unique perspectives on news in your industry instead of repeating it in your own words. Go deeper than summarizing it. Think about how the piece of news will affect different people. Develop strategies or plans to help people impacted by the news. There is a lot you can do; the key is to go beyond most professionals in your field and demonstrate your expertise.
#2 Try A New Social Media Platform
New social media sites pop up left and right. A few will become popular whereas the rest either die off or fall somewhere in the middle. Typically, businesses who are the first to jump on a new social media platform that becomes popular benefit the most. Therefore, try just one new social media platform this year to see how it goes. It will be exciting if it works out well for you. Be strategic though. Join a platform where your target audience can be found.
Examples of young social media platforms to try are Periscope, Vine, and This. Periscope, launched in 2015, is a live video streaming app that has already been downloaded 10 million times. It's already popular and will likely continue the upward trend throughout the next few years. Vine is a bit older than Periscope but isn't widely used by businesses like Facebook and Twitter are. It's a cool platform to experiment with because videos uploaded can only be 7 seconds long.This. is a lesser known social media platform that only allows users to post one link per day. Take a look at Snapchat too. There are a number of ways businesses can use Snapchat.
#3 Re-Purpose Content On All Platforms
An effective social media marketing strategy includes re-purposing your social media content on all of the platforms you use. For example, you can upload a short clip from your YouTube channel to Vine and post the link to your vine on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. This allows you to get the most out of each piece of content. Think of the best way to present a social post on another platform. Remember that each social media site has different user demographics, psychographics, and culture. Reshape the post to match perfectly with the platform it will be posted on.
Consistently trying new social media marketing strategies is essential for growth and success. If you keep doing the same thing you can't expect different results, you can lose touch with the changes occurring not only on social media sites but on the Internet. You will also lose out on great opportunities to engage with your audience and grow your business. At the same time, you shouldn't try too many new things at once either. Try at least one new strategy in your social media marketing plan for 2016.
