5 Ways to Make Your Social Media Marketing More Effective

I have some bad news for you. Just because you are posting content on Facebook doesn’t mean you’re instantly going to get new customers. Social media is not a silver bullet, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing.
Having a strong social media presence is an essential part of any good marketing strategy, but like any type of marketing, it’s just one piece of the puzzle.

Too often, I see clients post about an upcoming concert, class or workshop on Facebook and then wonder why they didn’t have more people show up to their event. “But we posted about it on Facebook!,” they say.
What many people don’t understand is that each post on Facebook is only shown to a handful of your followers. Facebook uses an algorithm to determine how relevant posts are to each person, and each thing you post will only be seen by a tiny percentage of your fans. Facebook has a very good reason for doing this: They want you to purchase ads to ensure you’re reaching your audience.

And, if Facebook determines that what you’re writing about is an event, they’re even less likely to show it to your fans for free, in hopes that you’ll pay to boost your event. It doesn’t seem fair, but that’s how it works.

So what are some things you can do to make your social media marketing more effective?

1. Pay to Boost Your Posts
   As I mentioned above, one way to have your posts be seen by a larger number of your own fans, as well as outsiders, is to pay to boost your posts. When you pay to boost a post, you can choose to have it shown to your own fans, friends of your fans, or those who don’t like your page. If you’re looking to get more people to come to an event, you might want to try choosing to show the post to more of your own fans, who are the ones most likely to attend.
   
   One important note: NEVER pay money to boost a post that is a link to someone else’s website. Why do you want to pay money to send people somewhere else? If you’re going to spend money, make sure to spend it on boosting either your own events or on posts that link back to your own site.

1. Buy Facebook Ads
   Posting links to outside articles, photos and blogs on Facebook is great, but most of that content is designed to keep your current customers engaged with your brand. They’re not going to reach any new customers unless someone shares them. So if you want to reach new customers, you’re going to need to pay for it. Having a paid Facebook ad strategy, in concert with doing regular posts on the page, is the best way to reach a larger audience and continue to grow your fan base.
   
   
2. Post Memes, Photos and Videos
   Posting links to news articles that your audience would be interested is good, but it’s not as effective as posting more visual content. I’ve found that Facebook seems to show memes (photos that have words on top of them) and regular photos to many more people than articles. And if you can upload your own video into Facebook (as opposed to posting a link to a video on YouTube), you’ll get an even better reach.
   
   
3. Increase Your Frequency
   Too often, I see clients post about an upcoming event once or twice on Facebook and assume that all of their fans saw the post, and then are disappointed when it doesn’t bring more people in. Unfortunately, not ever post is seen by all of your fans (not to mention that we have crowded news feeds and short attention spans), so if you have an event coming up, post about it every few days for several weeks leading up to the event. Vary the copy and the photo being used in the post when you can to make the post seem fresh.
   
   
4. Invite Your Friends to Facebook Events
   If you’re hosting a concert, event or workshop, creating a Facebook event is a great tool for spreading the word. But again, just because you posted the event doesn’t mean people will see it. The next step is inviting your Facebook friends to the event. Encourage all of the people in your office to invite their friends, too! The more the merrier. And once you’ve done that, make sure to individually contact people who have expressed an interest in coming to seal the deal.
   
   

Have any other tactics you use to make sure your social media posts are effective? Let us know!