Posted by Are you struggling to keep your business afloat during the coronavirus recession? The only way out is to cut back on your expenses and maximize your revenues by unleashing the power of social media platforms.
Since the coronavirus lockdown and social distancing, there has been a sharp spike in the average time spent by users on social media. In 2020, the number of active users on social media has crossed 3.5 billion, and the average time spent is 3 hours. After all, social media platforms seem to be the only way to socialize without feeling threatened due to the highly contagious coronavirus.
If you are now thinking of hiring someone to do that for you, then hold your horses because we have a better solution. Social media management services are usually quite expensive, but you can always avoid that expense by spending a couple of hours every week. Yes, a couple of hours every week, and the right social media management tools are all you need to get started.
So, start by picking your automation tools based on the kind of social media campaign you wish to launch. Also, you need to take into account the various social media platforms that you wish to focus on, the size of your current following, potential ad spend, and more. Doing that isn’t easy, especially with the countless options available out there.
So, we decided to explore some of the best social media management tools based on your campaign’s requirements. But before we get there, let us understand why using social media is so important in the coronavirus era.
Change in User Behavior
In the times of social distancing, Social Media is the only safe platform available to interact freely with friends, colleagues, and dear ones. So, you need to gain more visibility for your business on social media, even if it is a new horizon. As of now, leading social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest have a ton of active users eagerly looking out for new products and services. With billions of active users that are highly engaged, neglecting these platforms could prove detrimental to your business.
Cost Reduction
If you run online ad campaigns for your business, then you already know how expensive it is. On the other hand, social media ad campaigns are far more cost-effective as you can reach out to a very specific target audience and generate higher ROI. Also, every dollar spent on social media ads provides you the opportunity to build a community.
So, once you have a certain number of followers, then you can inform them about your newly rolled out products with just a post. Now that sort of a strategy works extremely well for those who wish to offer multiple products or services to the same clientele. So, when you invest in social media, it is a long-term investment that reaps better results.
High Engagement
With remote work culture and social distancing being the need of the hour, people are spending more time on social media than ever before. So, businesses have increased posting content on their social media handles to keep the customers hooked. If you plan to follow the suit, then try crafting product-based posts that are designed to solve a pressing problem. Some Experts recommend being informal and humorous as that helps the readers loosen up during these testing times.
Quick Conversions
Social media users are known for making impulsive purchases, unlike those who navigate through the search engines. Now, making quick sales is any seller’s dream, and that’s a good reason for businesses to be active on social media. With informative and mind-boggling content, improving your sales should be a cakewalk.
How to Manage your social media on a budget?
When it comes to planning your social media budget, there are two major cost drivers that you need to focus on — content and promotion. Social Media content management involved tasks like creating images, infographics, text content, looking up for the best hashtags, managing groups, responding to comments, and more. All of this can be managed using tools such as social media schedulers or posters and hashtag generators.
On the other hand, you need to be extremely cautious when it comes to promoting your product or service. Whether it is social media advertising or Influencer marketing, the key to success is solid research. So, to successfully carry out promotional activities on the social media platform, one must perform in-depth research and allocate funds in the right manner. These research tools are a unique set of tools and must not be confused with social media posters.
Let us now explore some of the best social media management tools that are both user-friendly and pocket friendly.
PowerAdSpy
PowerAdSpy is a user-friendly and powerful spy tool that lets you find top-performing ads and dig deeper into them. You can look for product-wise successful ads on a social media platform of your choice. Analyzing the ad copies and angles of such ads gives you a fair idea of what’s working and what isn’t. You can then plan your social media strategy in a specific direction and are no longer required to spend days or weeks split testing your ads. You can also get a quick peep into your competitor’s landing pages and top-selling products to plan a profitable product-based campaign.
Buffer
The list of things that a social media manager must do is endless. Still, your business may not require all the functions unless you run an established business with a reasonable social media following. In most cases, social media management only requires creating posts, scheduling posts, hashtag research, and responding to comments. You can do all of that and more using this social media management tool that can be connected to multiple platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, and more. So, if you are looking for an all-in-one solution to manage your social media profiles, then Buffer is the best tool available.
Crowdfire
Tired of spending countless hours rethinking content ideas for your blog or social media posts? Crowdfire is a one-stop solution for all your content-related worries. You can use this tool to look for trending ideas, manage all your social accounts, and schedule posts. You can also use it to discover the content, based on the engagement that they draw and keep your account active all the time. This saves your tons of time and efforts.
Ingramer
Ingramer is a social media management tool that’s exclusively designed for Instagram. Ever since Facebook purchased Instagram, it has added on a ton of features like shoppable tags in Instagram Stories, Reels to compete with TikTok, and more. All of that requires a standalone tool like Ingramer, which comes with several useful features that can power up your Instagram campaign. Besides social media posting, Ingramer also includes some stunning features like hashtag generator, customizable direct messenger, story scheduler, and more.
If you are new to social media automation tools, then we strongly recommend Ingramer because it gives you the kind of hands-on experience that beginners lack. Also, this tool is highly relied upon by eCommerce store owners. Such stores swear by Instagram because that’s where the audience is most active. So, if you are targeting impulse buyers, then Ingramer could be the answer to all your social media management woes with regards to Instagram.
HootSuite
Hootsuite is another powerful social media automation tool that can be integrated with all leading platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, etc… However, a user would only be permitted to manage a certain number of social media accounts based on the plan that they choose.
Besides scheduling posts, Hootsuite also offers some amazing research capabilities. It allows users to find the right hashtags, optimize ads, monitor posts that matter, and respond to them quickly. You can also track the performance of your posts with the analytics tool and pull out post-wise data to find the top performers.
Coupled with the right strategy, the abovementioned social media automation tools give you a head start in your campaign. So, make it a point to use the right tool at the right time and use that knowledge in the right direction to scale your business.
How to Adapt Your Brand’s Voice to the Current Market?
According to Twitter, there is at least one tweet about coronavirus every 45 milliseconds. After all, it is one of those rare never-before situations that has affected everyone’s lives in one way or the other. While some are grieving the loss of a dear one, others are struggling to cling to their jobs as the global economy slows down. That explains why your social media campaigns require an altogether different approach in the coronavirus-hit economy.
With that said, let us now look into some of the Dos and Don’ts while promoting your products and services on social media.
Dos
- Use a tone that is filled with empathy and compassion.
- Post content that is informative in nature, such as guides and how-tos.
- Organize webinars because people have the time to attend them.
- Craft content that displays preventive measures adopted by your business.
- Show your customers that you care about them and the world at large.
- Post content about coronavirus only from highly trusted sources like the WHO and the CDC.
- Highlight the change in your business activities, such as operating hours and procedures.
Don’ts
- Do not create content that links coronavirus to discount sales.
- Avoid posting content about coronavirus cures unless it is approved and published by the WHO.
- Coronavirus is not a marketing opportunity, so do not treat it like one.
Also, your content strategy must address the unspoken expectations of the masses. People across the globe are craving for a ray of positivity, so make it a point to live up to their expectations by publishing some positive news updates. This could be anything from La Liga’s updates to a human-interest story highlighting that humanity exists. Although this type of content cannot be monetized, it draws attention and can help build a following. You can then use other posts to market your products or services to your newly acquired followers.
Final Conclusion
As you get started with social media management, you will realize that there are too many things to be done at once. It may seem a wee bit difficult at first, but things become easier as you get accustomed to the above-mentioned tools. Also, it gives you better control over your finances and provides an outlet for your creativity. Finally, to succeed in the COVID-19 economy, you must highlight the problem-solving abilities of your product or service. So, go ahead and create content that tells people how your newly launched free home deliveries can help them shop without leaving their home.
This is a guest post by Sumit Ghosh. Renowned performance marketer, user acquisition expert, and a product fanatic from Bangalore. He is a prominent speaker in masterminds and events in the performance marketing space. Sumit is the Founder of Socioboard, which owns products like PowerAdSpy, Socinator, Gramboard, DominatorHouse, and mobile apps in the social media automation space which have millions of users.
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