The global social media user base is expected to reach 4.9 billion in 2023 — a 6.5% increase from a year ago. Thus, harnessing the potential of social media is essential for your growth.
However, navigating this dynamic social media marketing landscape for beginners can be challenging. That’s why we’ve crafted this comprehensive guide to help you with the best strategies for social media marketing for beginners.
From building a strong online presence to creating engaging content and measuring your success, this blog will equip you with the knowledge and tools to kick-start your social media journey effectively.
Let’s dive in.
Top 10 Strategies To Help Navigate Social Media Marketing For Beginners
Navigating social media marketing can be challenging, but it’s definitely possible for beginners. Follow these tips to learn how to use social media to reach your target audience, build relationships, and grow your business.
1. Choose The Right Social Media Platform(s)
The key challenge with social media marketing for beginners is choosing the right platform.
That’s where most businesses and marketers go wrong. They direct their efforts on all platforms without understanding that each platform is unique, and so is the audience.
Similarly, each platform supports various types of content (e.g., images, videos, articles). As a beginner, you should select platforms that best suit your content and message.
For example, visually appealing content may thrive on Instagram, while long-form content might perform better on LinkedIn.
So, what would be the right social media strategy for Henry Meds to inform as many people as possible about their products and services?
Most people don’t know what GLP-1 weight management is. And the name makes it sound like a complex topic. But Henry Meds does an outstanding job of turning this medical topic into informational graphics on Instagram that are:
- Educational
- Eye-catching
- Inspirational
- Easy to understand
But why choose Instagram over another social platform? Instagram is the perfect place to boost brand awareness, which aligns with their current marketing goals.
So, how do you determine which social media platform is the preferred channel for your brand (and goals)? For this, you need to consider a few factors, including your target audience, goals, resources, and, most importantly, budget.
By choosing the platform(s) most relevant to your target audience, you can increase your chances of reaching them with your content and achieving your social media marketing goals.
2. Optimize Your Social Media Profiles
When someone lands on your profile, you want them to understand who you are and what you offer.
Here’s a simple example from Clean Origin. It’s clear from the moment a visitor lands on their Instagram profile that they sell lab-grown diamonds and fine jewelry like engagement rings.
This clear, concise (and professional) bio has helped them amass nearly 50,000 followers on the platform.
Why? A well-optimized social media profile can help you build a strong brand by providing clear information about your business, products or services, and its values. It also improves the chances of your profile ranking higher in search results, enhancing your discoverability.
Additionally, social media platform algorithms prioritize content from well-structured profiles.
Here are some specific tips for optimizing your social media profiles:
- Use a high-quality, recognizable brand logo image.
- Write a concise and engaging bio that clearly states what your business does.
- Use relevant keywords to make your profiles appear higher in search results.
- Fill out all fields in your profile, including contact information, location, and website URL.
- Keep your profiles updated with new information and content to stay on top of mind with your audience.
3. Create High-Quality Content
You’ve probably heard at least one marketing expert say, “Content is king.” But what does that even mean? Does the quality of your content matter, or is it just about quantity?
The answer is yes, quality matters. Creating high-quality content is often emphasized because it significantly impacts the effectiveness of social media marketing for beginners.
Remember that you’re not the only one creating content on social media. Social media is a crowded space. And when you create informative, valuable content, you’re more likely to grab customer attention and stand out.
Standing out from the masses leads to increased engagement, which is one of the key metrics for measuring the success of social media marketing.
Take, for example, Hims & Hers, a multi-specialty telehealth company. The strong side of their social media marketing lies in cultivating a relatable and engaging brand image.
Through creative storytelling and authentic content, Hims & Hers effectively connects with its audience (on a personal level), addressing sensitive health and wellness topics such as antidepressants, anxiety, or Minoxidil usage for hair loss with empathy and transparency.
So, yes, it does matter to create high-quality content to see success with your social media marketing efforts.
If you are a beginner, don’t worry about creating perfect content all the time. Just focus on creating informative, engaging, and relevant content for your audience. Over time, you’ll create high-quality content to help you achieve your marketing goals.
4. Post Consistently
While creating high-quality content is important, it’s also essential to remember that it’s just one part of a successful social media marketing strategy. Factors like audience targeting, timing, and consistency also play significant roles.
So, when learning social media marketing as a beginner, tuck this tip into your back pocket for safekeeping: consistency is key.
Why? It reflects your seriousness towards your social media presence and commitment to providing valuable content. It can help you build trust and credibility with your audience, resulting in long-term success.
A prime example of consistency reaping the rewards can be observed through StudioSuits, a brand renowned for crafting custom-fit men’s suits and pants.
Their strategic prowess lies in consistently posting on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. For example, they post a daily “Customer Order Spotlight” on Facebook highlighting a custom order.
This steady flow of engaging content not only keeps their audience engaged but also positions them as a reliable source of high-quality menswear.
Consistently posting helps keep your brand top-of-mind for customers. They’ll think of your brand when purchasing or deciding between your brand and a competitor.
Most importantly, consistency also aids in content planning and goal achievement. It encourages you to create a content calendar and strategy, guaranteeing a coherent brand message and aligning your marketing objectives.
Lastly, when you post consistently, you discover opportunities to experiment, learn, and adjust your strategies based on audience feedback. Using this information, you can refine your approach and improve engagement as a beginner.
5. Maintain Consistent Brand Image
Brand consistency is the foundation for a solid and effective social media marketing strategy.
Why? Because it helps you build trust and recognition among your audience.
When your brand maintains a uniform visual identity, tone of voice, and messaging, it becomes easily recognizable, increasing brand loyalty and credibility.
For example, Aurit Center uses its blue brand color across all its Instagram posts. Also, you can see how each post has a photo with relevant and encouraging quotes for their users.
However, the key challenge with social media marketing for beginners is defining a brand identity. Consistency in content and messaging can help with this.
How? By conveying a clear and cohesive brand story.
Consistency in content and messaging helps tell a compelling narrative, making it easier for the audience to connect with and understand your brand’s values and purpose.
Here are some tips for maintaining a consistent brand image on social media:
- Define your brand to develop a consistent image that reflects those values and personality.
- Use the same branding elements across social media channels (logo, colors, fonts, tone, and style).
- Be consistent with your posting frequency and content.
Expert Tip: To guarantee a consistent brand tone, use a free AI writer to help you write captions, generate hashtag ideas, and respond to customer questions. That way, you’ll never miss the mark.
6. Use Hashtags Wisely
The strategic use of hashtags is essential for beginners to succeed with social media marketing.
Why? Hashtags categorize and organize content, making it easier for users to discover posts related to their interests. Using relevant and popular hashtags makes your content more discoverable to a broader audience beyond your immediate followers.
Effective hashtag use can increase engagement, connecting your content with users searching for or following those specific hashtags.
In fact, including at least one hashtag in your posts can help you get 29% more interactions (for profiles with 1,000 or fewer followers).
Take TSplus, a company specializing in Remote Access software for IT Professionals.
They use relevant hashtags related to their social media posts on every platform. That helps them push their posts further to bring more eyes of the audience interested in those topics and create better engagement.
However, it’s important to strike a balance: using too many (or irrelevant) hashtags can appear spammy and deter users. As a beginner, you should research and select appropriate hashtags that align with your content and target audience.
Here are some tips for using hashtags wisely for social media marketing:
- Use relevant hashtags
- Use a mix of popular and niche hashtags
- Use trending hashtags
- Use branded hashtags
7. Add Engaging Visuals To Your Social Media Posts
Imagine scrolling through a sea of text, and something visually appealing emerges on your feed. The chances are you’ll stop for a while to engage with it.
Creating engaging content is more important than ever in today’s crowded social media landscape. Adding visuals can help your content stand out in a crowded timeline.
Don’t worry if you don’t have any design experience. More than 11 million users trust tools like Piktochart to design posters to share on their social media profiles.
Why? It’s free, no watermark, and you can access easy-to-follow templates. You can create eye-catching visuals in no time. That way, users will stop scrolling and reshare your post, boosting your online visibility.
Also, with attention spans fleeting, visuals can help simplify complex ideas. You can use visuals to break your information into digestible, shareable, and memorable components.
This extra effort will help you convey your message more effectively. By simply adding a relevant image, your audience’s retention rate grows to as much as 65%.
That’s why Tailor Brands leverages posts and visuals to break down complicated business topics like what an LLC is and how to combat inflation. They also publish informational videos on their Instagram account that seem to be quite engaging to many.
Here are some specific tips for creating engaging visuals in your social media marketing for beginners:
- Use high-quality images and videos.
- Keep your visuals simple and easy to understand.
- Use eye-catching colors and fonts.
- Tell a story with your visuals.
- Be creative and experiment with different types of visuals.
8. Have A Social Media Scheduler
A social media scheduler is a key tool in your marketing arsenal for all beginners who want to succeed with their social media marketing efforts.
A social media scheduling tool can help you plan and schedule posts in advance, providing a steady flow of content, even during busy periods.
For example, you can schedule posts about a new product launch or upcoming event. This can help build excitement and anticipation for the launch or event.
Furthermore, a scheduler tells you when your target audience is most active, guaranteeing that your posts reach the right people at the right times. Using this automation, you can maximize visibility and engagement.
However, a common challenge regarding social media marketing for beginners is organizing content, captions, and hashtags in one place. Luckily, there’s a free social media scheduler that you can use to help you out.
9. Stay Up-To-Date On Social Media Trends
We know there’s a lot on the internet about how focusing on trends isn’t the right approach when starting social media marketing for beginners.
However, realizing that the social media landscape is constantly evolving is important. What worked yesterday may not be relevant anymore today or tomorrow. Therefore, staying on top of trends can help you learn new ways to reach your target audience and engage with them meaningfully.
For example, Match does an excellent job keeping up with current dating statistics and incorporates these details into its social media strategy.
And when they showcase marriage statistics that couples who met online report higher marriage satisfaction, it’s additional proof that their service works. In other words, it’s a simple way for them to build trust with social posts.
So, if you want to connect with your audience on a deeper level, you must be aware of the latest trends. It shows that you understand their interests and preferences, which can enhance engagement and trust. It also helps you spot emerging opportunities to reach your target demographic.
Of course, it’s important to remember that not every trend is right for your business. You should carefully consider your target audience and marketing goals before jumping on every new trend.
However, staying up-to-date on trends is an effective strategy to achieve success with social media marketing for beginners.
Pro Tip: You can use AI social media listening and monitoring tools to stay on top of the latest industry trends and build a content strategy based on real-time insights.
Final Thoughts on Social Media Marketing For Beginners
Mapping out your social media strategy isn’t a one-time thing. You need to track your results and optimize your strategy across social networks. The strategies in the above blog are a great place to start with social media marketing for beginners.
Remember, social media is meant to be a dynamic and engaging platform, which should be reflected in your approach. Don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and experiment with different content formats and strategies to find what works best for your unique brand and audience.
That’s the secret recipe for achieving your social media goals. Even the most seasoned social media marketers put it to the test, turning potential customers into loyal followers.
But, most importantly, have fun! Social media should be enjoyable for both you and your audience. So relax, get creative with your social media marketing plan, and enjoy the process.