SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING STRATEGY AND CALENDAR IN 2021

Social media is effective communication and advertising channel used by Digital Marketers. The content of social media advertising can be compelling enough but is very difficult to reach the right person. Social media advertising strategy of content, which is very good and fresh does get traction. 

However, many experts like you and me do encounter problems. We always wonder what is the best time to post on social media. How many posts do we need to post it daily to get higher engagement? Many studies are suggesting that the organic reach of social media is on the decline. The engagement of unpaid posts is too little, some do feel that it is dark and hidden. 

In contrast to organic reach, it is the paid advertisements that get impressions. If you want to increase the reach of your content without worrying about the platform’s mechanism. It will give you results. Social media is becoming more complex as well as competitive than ever. Every brand needs a social media advertising strategy to help it grow and meet objectives. 

SET GOALS FOR YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING STRATEGY

SET GOALS FOR YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING STRATEGY

Social media advertising strategy starts with planning by setting your goals. The goal can either be more engagement, by building the community. Or it can be increasing the revenue by driving acquisition. These goals can help in setting the time and energy which needs to be committed.  

With an increase of audience through engaging posts. It helps in communicating your category of the brand as well as business. Constant monitoring of the conversation will help in building the key hashtags, conversation key words. The attempts should be to engage community engagement throughout.

The common goals of your social media advertising strategy can be any of the following 

  • Brand Imagery Brand Engagement
    • Lead Generation
    • Driving Traffic to Websites         
    • Education about the product, services

There should be complete awareness of the platforms that you will be using to achieve the above-stated goals. Different social media platform attracts different audiences, so the focus should be on the platforms where the core target audience is available. 

DEVELOP SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING CONTENT CALENDAR

Social media strategy is dependant on the content calendar. Marketers should have a good idea of the content that they are looking at. This content is dependant on the goals and objectives that have been set. 

The content posted needs to be on basis of storytelling. Many followers like the stories, the stories can be shared either in form of an Audio Visual in a short form or long-form. It can be static images, GIFs, or even Memes. 

DEVELOP AN EFFECTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CALENDAR

The social media platform should be used to promote the content of any brand. But it should not be only promotion -promotion- promotion. Many people resent sales, so the more you post content intended on selling, the engagement levels will come down. It needs to be a casual interaction like how two friends interact. Everything under Sun, serious discussions on topics to a casual chit chat. Moreover, the content created needs to be customized for each platform. 

A well-balanced content with the right mix of promotion, information, entertaining items will be successful. To give you an example, I used to work on a social media brand that was in the niche category. When the social media advertising content calendar was designed, it was a mix of industry information, product information along entertainment. In the execution phase, only the industry and product-related content were posted. The entertainment, engaging element was ignored. Few members of the team started questioning the need to post the content related to entertainment. Birthday wishes were resisted. The results of posting only subject-related educative information led to a decrease in engagement. 

Need of a effective content calendar is very high. Here is a social media content calendar template. It is for February 2021, adaptable for any brand.

SOCIAL MEDIA DATA ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS WITH MEASUREMENT, ANALYSIS OF KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

DATA MEASUREMENT, ANALYSIS OF KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS METRICS 

Irrespective of how much effort we put in while designing the social media advertising strategy, things may go wrong. There can be a deviation in the results. Thus, it becomes extremely crucial that we track the results against the set matrix, goals. 

Constant monitoring of the various platforms will give us an idea of how the metrics are performing. There are tools, data available to the admin of the Facebook, Instagram business analytical pages. The website analysis will also give a fair idea of how many users came to the website from social media. The data will help you in understanding how a particular type of content has more affinity with the target customers. By taking note of these data point inferences, we can adapt our social media advertising strategy suitably. 

The paid campaigns result in increasing the organic content reach. Leading to increase in Social Media presence. As we keep on moving, fine-tuning the advertising budget, scheduling the advertisements, creatives will bring in more engagement for the brand. There are various tools available that can help you in measuring the reach of the organic content. 

However, the content as mentioned earlier should be fresh, relevant, and even timelier creates a better engagement. Brands are reactive.

ANALYSE EMERGING TRENDS IN SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING IN 2021 POST COVID

ANALYSE EMERGING TRENDS IN SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING IN 2021 POST COVID 

There is a rise in user-generated content. It is created, and shared with everyone. The apps like Koji, banned app Tiktok, and Instagram Reels are allowing users to remix the content. Remixing is like taking an existing format, idea, and recreating it with users’ personalities or ideas. Here the execution is the differentiator. This trend is rampant amongst Gen Z consumers. Further, memes communicate effectively, as against an emoji. 

Social Games are now getting increasingly interactive. With increased data speeds, bandwidth, Gen Z is constantly online. They interact with their peers, friends in digital mode only. With restrictions on physical meetings during the lockdown, virtual interactions have been on the rise. The line dividing gaming and social media is getting thinner and thinner. Very soon, it is going to merge. 

Brands need to take stock of these emerging trends. They need to focus on building a brand connect with these emerging mediums. Developing content that is least invasive to connect with this emerging niche community. 

Another key changing trend seen in Gen Z and Alpha is that these are active on many social causes. Topics considered taboo, are discussed openly. Brands need to think about it before engaging publicly on an issue. Else the repercussions will follow. 

Recently, Tanishq Ekatvam withdrew its advertisement. It was due to the controversy of forceful religious conversions through marriage. 

SOCIAL MEDIA CALENDAR EXAMPLE FOR BRAND BUILDING IN 2021

BRAND BUILDING IS EASY, WITH A SOCIAL MEDIA CALENDAR IN 2021

In a perfect market place, Social Media is a tool to connect with the target market . Essentially, a part of the overall marketing strategy. However, marketers look at social media as a mode to get their content viral. The sooner the better for them. The aim is to get popular in no time. The focus is on getting more likes, engagement, and be popular. 

Social Media is not a one-time engagement tool. It is a continuous exercise. A slow and steady approach will work here. The aim is to urge loyal and dedicated followers. Unlike, an unknown follower who doesn’t interact with your brand.

For brand building, brand imagery needs to be consistent. There should be no deviation in the brand’s tone, voice, persona. Consistency in the communication of messages will help in creating a unique relationship of the brand with the social media platform.

Social media indeed is a powerful tool. It does play its part in brand building. It doesn’t matter whether the brand is big or small, the goal is to connect with the target audience as well as users. Social Media calendar developed should aid in an increase in brand imagery. It should be consistent with the issues, messages that the brand wants to associate with.  

Social Media is like a marriage, everyone has to work on it. #Shyamalsiddhanta

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