Are you a business owner and wondering how you can leverage social media to increase sales in 2024?
Or, are you just starting out in the world of digital marketing and are eager to know how you can use social media as a weapon for success?
Either way, this article has you covered!
Up to 76% of consumers buy things they’ve seen on social media posts. In other words, if you can make it on social media, your business stands a higher chance of excelling in the competitive online landscape.
But do you know that using social media isn’t just as simple as posting what you’re selling and coming back to see what the audience is saying?
That’s right! And surprisingly, not many businesses know how to use social media effectively to their advantage.
Not any longer, though!
In this article, we’ve curated the top 10 social media tips and tricks from some of the world’s most renowned agencies to help you maximize your odds of success on social media in 2024 and beyond.
So, let’s dive in!
Top 10 Social Media Tips and Tricks from Digital Marketing Gurus
Statistics show that social media usage is upsurging. As per a recent Statistica report, there are currently over 5.14 billion social media users as of 2023, almost double the 2.17 billion as of 2017.
To bring you into perspective, 5.14 billion represents about 64% of the 8-billion global population, and a staggering 96.07% of the 5.35 billion people currently having access to the internet.
And get this: the report by Statistica further shows that social media user base will grow to 6.05 billion by the time 2028 elapses!
Take a look:
Source: Statistica
The message is very clear — that social media usage is expected to only keep increasing, which is why you have to be acquainted with the tips and tricks on how you can use it to your business advantage.
Here are some of the tips to keep in mind:
Tip 1: Focus On Quality Over Quantity
While consistently posting content helps keep your social media followers engaged, always remember that more posts don’t always mean better.
You’d rather post less and add value to your social media audience in every post than make multiple posts that add less to no value at all to them. The latter can become tedious to your audience and some may even unfollow your page or channel.
Lure Marketing, one of the leading digital marketing agencies believes that “fewer high-quality posts on social media allow for more thoughtful content creation, deeper connection with audience, and higher chances of meaningful interactions and conversion”
So, stick to high-quality, relevant social media posts rather than high-quantity posting. The former will give you more success per post on average and will greatly help you create strong social media presence.
Tip 2. Engage with Your Audience
Social media is all about building relationships and fostering conversations. That means to succeed in it, you have to effectively reach your audience and keep them engaged.
Let’s talk about some of the best practices to help you achieve that:
- Respond promptly to comments, messages, mentions, and tags
- Regularly ask for opinions or feedback from your followers
- Join relevant conversations by posting insightful comments on posts within your niche.
- Share other users’ content or repost user-generated content (with permission) to build a community around your brand.
- Host contests and giveaways to encourage your audience to ask questions and give their insights to help you understand their needs better.
By actively engaging with your followers, you not only build relationships but also establish trust and credibility for your brand.
Also, incorporate polling into your social media campaign or make them more frequent if they’re already there.
Agency Platform, a leading SEO reseller clearly brings out the importance of using, “polling is something that raises customer eyebrows out of excitement, assuring them of it not being for a selected few.”
Tip 3: Conduct Social Media Competitor Analysis
Social media competitor analysis helps you know how you stack up against your competitors by clearly examining what their strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to using social media.
This assessment will also help you know who among your competitors is doing better on social media and the strategies they’re using, what you can do to make your business stand out, and lots of other important information.
This analysis can even help you discover the needs of your competitor’s audience, which more often overlap with those of your audience.
To do this analysis effectively, analysis tools like Hootsuite’s competitive analysis report and Sprout Social comparison tool should come in handy.
Source: Hootsuite
Tip 4: Utilize Paid Advertising for Your Social Media Platform
If you’re still relying on social organic reach, you might well be on your way to doom.
The reason? Organic reach of social media posts is slowly dying.
Stats by Social Insider suggests that the average organic social reach of Facebook was 5.9% as of January 2024, having been at 8.6% in July 2022, and a significant 10.43% a year earlier.
Instagram has also experienced this decline, registering just 7.6% in January 2024, a significant drop from the 13.51% and 19% reported in July 2022 and June 2021 respectively.
In contrast, social media ad spend has been on the rise and is expected to hit an all-time high of $219.8 billion by the close of 2024. This value is expected to experience an annual growth rate (CAGR 2024-2028) of 3.86%, therefore hitting a staggering US$255.8 billion by 2028.
Hence, if you aren’t using ad spending on social media, then you’re already losing it.
Hootsuite states that one advantage of paid social ads is that it allows segmentation, where audience targeting is based on demographics, behavior, interests much better than when relying on organic social media reach.
Source: Social Insider
5. Master Social Media Algorithms
Social media algorithms are changing to prioritize certain types of content and user behaviors. Hence, one of the tricks of succeeding in social media is ensuring that you stay abreast of these changes.
Social Champ believes that staying up to date with these changes will ensure that you remain relevant, maximize visibility, and drive engagement.
But how do you do it?
Well, there are several ways, actually:
- Keep a tab on what official blogs, social media accounts, and press releases are saying about social media platforms.
- Become a member of social media platforms, groups, and forums where professionals discuss algorithm trends, changes, and new ideas.
- Monitor industry news and blogs
6. Utilize User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) is simply content created by users of your products or services. This includes reviews, comments, testimonies, and posts that mention or tag you.
UGC remains a crucial aspect that you should never ignore in your social media campaign. In fact, 75% of marketing professionals agree that using UGC can help boost the authenticity of your brand, increasing your chances of success.
Agility PR Solutions, a world-renowned digital marketer, emphasizes the importance of UGC content, saying, “Users see real people sharing positive user experiences and testimonials. They are more likely to trust and relate to the content. This, in turn, can influence their purchasing decisions.”
7. Refresh Your Social Media Strategy Often
Your social media strategy, similar to other digital marketing strategies and tactics, really isn’t a “set it and forget it” deal.
Technology and user preferences are constantly changing, and what worked yesterday may not be enough to give you success today.
So, keep track of progress with analytics tools and make necessary adjustments to ensure you stay relevant on social media. Social Media Examiner suggests evaluating your strategy every 3-6 months.
8. Make Use of Influencer Partnerships for Your Social Media Marketing
We already know how influencer marketing affects your SEO. But do you know that it can also aid in your social media success?
That’s right!
When you collaborate with influencers, you can increase your brand awareness by tapping into their audience. This can significantly drive product sales, as 81% of consumers trust influencer recommendations, at least as per Businesswire.
To succeed with influencers on social media:
- Choose the right influencer: Who are you trying to reach? Get an influencer whose audience aligns with yours.
- Do your groundwork: Research what people say about them online. Are they trustworthy?
- Clearly define objectives and campaigns
- Monitor results based on set KPIs
9. Harness the Power of Short-Form Video When Using Social Media
Video is undeniably one of the most powerful tools for driving engagement on social media.
But then, users’ attention spans have been dwindling over the years, necessitating the need to reconsider the traditional short video.
Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram Reels are all becoming great options for creating content in the form of short videos.
Facebook and Tiktok have 3.5 and 1 billion monthly active users, respectively. Instagram also boasts an impressive user base, but 74% of its users turn to it for mostly entertainment purposes.
This means that these platforms are incredibly fertile ground for businesses to reach a wider audience and increase brand awareness.
To make your brand stand out on short-form videos:
- Keep them short (under 60 seconds)
- Create catchy hooks
- Make use of sound effects
- Use hashtags wisely
10. Utilize Content Recycling and Resharing
Social media content has a very short lifespan, and chances are high that many of your followers will miss what you post the first time. To avoid this pitfall, repost your content to maximize its reach.
Text Broker advises that “Just don’t share it in exactly the same way”. So, use a different approach in your repost.
If you have posted a blog post the first time, try to pull out a quote from it the second time you post it to change your presentation.
Also, it’s wise to schedule posts so that you don’t reshare the content at the exact same time. Your audience likely has different times they are active on social media, and so re-sharing at different times increases your chances of reaching more people.
Of course, you also have to share your content across all platforms as opposed to posting different content on different platforms. But again, try using a different approach for each platform so you don’t spam your social media platforms with the exact copy of content.
Final Thoughts on Social Media Tips and Tricks
Social media success requires a lot of hard work and consistent effort. But the fruits of your effort are well worth it.
Thankfully, you don’t need to be a social media guru or even to recruit one for you to experience success on these platforms. With the go-to tips shared in this article, you have all it takes to help you create and run a social media strategy with far-reaching results.
So, proceed and implement each of these tips and tricks to maximize your chances of success. However, keep in mind that it may take time to see the outcome, so remain patient. Again, in case you get stuck somewhere on your social media campaign, you can get advice from an expert.