What kind of campaign are you preparing for social networks? Do you come up with ideas or you have a plan? Where will you publish the content you create? Who will you share it with? Are you willing to pay for the promotion of the post? And, how much are you willing to extract?

In addition, how will you know the impact your content has on the audience? Did you hit the target group? Is the audience satisfied? Has the content been useful to her? How will you measure the success of a campaign? By the number of reactions and divisions? Or by the number of page views?

And finally, or above all, did you know that 60% of the content on the Internet is never viewed, used or downloaded by users?

That is, as they say in the SiriusDecisions research agency, a huge amount of missed opportunities. How can you reduce this number, are you wondering?

There are no, unfortunately, warranties, but you should always keep in mind the following - whether it's text, video, surveys, research, e-book, infographics or poster, the content you create and promote online must have the purpose, goal, and clearly defined way of reaching the destination.

In other words, you need a strategy for content promotion. More precisely, it is necessary.

If you want to have success in a business performance, on social networks, and we believe you want it, it would be a good idea to have an answer to all of the questions previously asked, as well as many others.
We do not want to scare you with this text. On the contrary. We will endeavor to provide answers and provide as much useful information as you can to make important when planning marketing campaigns on social networks.

WHY SOCIAL NETWORKS?

Before answering questions about what to advertise, through which channels of promotion and how to do it, we answer the question - why?

Why is it important at all times for a company or a brand to own a business website and to advertise on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Snapchat, Google+, and others?
There are few answers and they are very simple.

Marketing on social networks will bring you:

    - greater visibility for the company, brand or special campaign
    - meaningful promotion of the content you create
    - stronger connection with the target group
    - personalized communication with customers/clients
    - a large number of followers
    - more site visits or targeted sites
    - increase sales of products or services
    - more loyal customers/clients.

WHAT: THE FIRST IS THE STRATEGY, EVERYTHING IS AFTER

Data from the US Institute of Marketing (Content Marketing Institute) show that less than 37% of business-to-business marketing experts have a defined strategy and those who plan to spend up to $ 5.2 billion at the annual level for creating content for promotional purposes.

This data has been highlighted during the webinar about how to use content for more engagement of the audience, organized recently by the Search Engine Journal.

Within the same webinar, a survey was also conducted for the participants, among which there were mostly marketing experts, then SEO experts, content creators, and other specialists.

An unexpectedly small number of people are planning interactive content. Is it because they do not know how to do it or because they are afraid to step out of routine (because they are used to creating static or video content) or maybe they do not know how much benefit interactive content can bring to their brand?

If we take into account that quizzes or surveys can provide invaluable information about the target group, their expectations, the problems they encounter or, in turn, the percentage of satisfaction with products or services offered by a company, it becomes clear that such a type of content would not be ignored.

Please note that the underlined segment from the previous paragraph is not a wrong link, but it is a key item that is therefore emphasized, and these are the problems your audience is facing.

This means that when designing the topics and the format of the content you plan to advertise your company, products or services, you should always try to provide content with a solution to some of the problems your audience is experiencing or to answer some of the questions that interest them and can be of use.

Numerous research shows that content that is genuine, educational, based on research, complemented by useful (and accurate!) Information, brings a much greater percentage of personal engagement in the form of reviews, comments, reactions or divisions among social network users than content that is purely promotional characters.

So, do not lose sight of this important fact - in advertising campaigns should not be an accent on the company, but on the audience and its needs.

HOW TO CREATE THE STRATEGY FOR ADVERTISING ON SOCIAL NETWORKS?

Creating a social marketing plan and the program is certainly not an easy task.

First of all, the results of the existing campaigns should be carefully analyzed and the audience responded positively to what they did not respond to, which content format had more views, whether the promotional, educational or gift campaigns were engaging the public (audiences engagement), after which the ad was followed by the largest number of new followers and the most effective way to increase sales of the products or services you offer.

Then, we need to approach the planning and decision-making phase of what will be advertised, to what extent to advertise and where. One of the publications that can be useful at this stage is the Guide to Marketing Planning on Social Networks for 2018, published in the form of PDF by Simply Measured, specialized in providing analytical services just about advertising on social networks.

As part of this guide, strategies for different types of promotions, such as those aimed at raising awareness about the existence of a particular brand, increasing audience engagement, impact on the conversion percentage, are separated, and special attention is paid to the necessary research and analysis that precedes the final plan.

The guide also includes worksheets that can greatly help to set goals for organic and paid promotions, determine the precise parameters for measuring the success of marketing campaigns, and decide which trends should be considered when planning.

BIGGER IMPACT OF VIDEO CONTENT

Marketing expert and columnist Larry Kim, recently published on the Media Platform, points out that video content has become a powerful motivator.

If videos have so far not been part of your content marketing strategy, Kim says, they will soon have to become it if you want to remain competitive on the market.

The impact of video footage from mobile devices has increased enormously over the past five years. Only 300 hours of new video content is uploaded to YouTube every minute, and the latest research shows that by 2020, video content will account for 70% of total internet traffic.

FEAR OF MISSING OUT AS A DRIVING FORCE

It is noticeable that from day to day the importance of the so-called ephemeral content, which is shown live at the time of occurrence, is also growing and it is available shortly afterward, after which it is permanently deleted. Although Snapchat is a pioneer in the field of automatically deleted content, LiveVideos Live and Instagram stories have quickly taken the lead in the area.

If you are planning to use video content in your social media ads, keep in mind the statistics provided by Simply Measured:

    - 82% of people would rather look at live footage rather than review content on their brand profile;

    - 80% of people would rather look at the live footage set by the brand on Facebook and Instagram than by reading a text post from the company's blog;

    - People spend an average of 2.8 minutes watching online videos, while on average they spend five minutes watching live footage from brands they follow.

A factor that greatly influences everything is - the fear of missing out, FOMO. Marking experts know very well that such a type of fear is present in a large number of people, and often play on a psychological and emotional map, by placing special offers, great discounts, or giving gifts to followers exclusively through short-lived videos.

WHERE?

For this question, look for the answer in one of the following articles.

Follow me on Twitter - @SrdjanKali.