When it comes to social media marketing, much of it can be done on a budget, or sometimes even for free. It costs nothing to create an account and start posting, but there are other aspects of social media that are likely to require an investment. And whether you’re working with limited resources or have a much wider budget at your disposal, choosing the right areas of social media marketing to spend the majority of your budget on can ensure you’re on the road to success. .
To determine which areas you think deserve the most attention, consider the following recommendations from members of: Council for Young Entrepreneurs. Below, they share 10 areas of social media marketing they feel deserve the most of your budget and why.
Members of the Young Entrepreneur Council recommend that your social media marketing money be spent on these areas.
Photos courtesy of individual members.
1. Quality Photos
So much of social media marketing is visual based, with Instagram being the most notable example of a photo based social media platform. Good photos that show your company’s competitive advantages or your pleasant work environment can do more for your business than a page of customer testimonials. If you want to use testimonials, make sure that they are accompanied by a good photo. A well-written photo caption is a powerful marketing tool and should complement the quality photo it’s centered on. People don’t read social media as much as they scroll through it, so you have to really engage users visually and then use almost poetic photo captions to get the message home. No one has the time or inclination to read a long essay about your business. – Kyle Michaud, Carolina Bulldozer
2. Social Engagement
Companies are brilliant when it comes to social listening, automation and social tools, but most take social engagement lightly. You can only reach your customers on social media if you communicate with them, sometimes in real time. Customers respect this and feel much more connected to your brand if you are easy to reach and communicate with. There are other areas to spend money on, such as content creation, management tools, and design, but all these efforts only count when you’re ready to engage with your customers on social media. Authentic communication has much more impact on your customers than good social content. – Vikas Agrawal, Infobrandz
3. Analysis Tools
If there was one thing I would prioritize in a social media marketing budget, it would be analytics tools. It’s important to know how your business stands in terms of what does and doesn’t reach your target audience. Analytics can help you determine the direction you need to take to develop your marketing strategy and stay relevant to your target audience. If companies don’t track where their success or failure came from in a marketing strategy, they won’t know what steps to take to continue to engage with their audience. – John Hall, Calendar
4. Advertising Spend
Most other areas of social media marketing can be tackled with fewer dollars. Advertising spending is not an area you want to cut corners on. The impact is more exposure if you execute your strategy correctly. – Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance
5. Strengthening Current Customer Relationships
So many companies are only targeting new customers and new sales. Your loyal customers are the ones who keep coming back for more. By making them feel special and valued, your campaign will do more than just target new customers. Your trusted and loyal customers are the ones who already love your product and are more willing to share it with their network than a new customer who hasn’t tried the product yet. They’ll rave about it, show others how to buy it, give them the chance to try theirs, and speak highly of the company. Make sure you spend resources on showing appreciation to your current customers and earning new sales. – Mary Harcourt, CosmoGlo
6. Live Social Media Events
If you’re wondering where to put most of your social media marketing money, I’d say live events. Webinars, giveaways, and AMAs (Ask Me Anything) are all helpful for expanding your lead list, building trust, and securing sales. What I love most about live events is that they give you a unique opportunity to increase brand awareness and engage with users in real time. I believe that the impact of these strategies far outweighs any other potential uses for your social media marketing funds. – John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC
7. YouTube Videos
Today, videos are easier to digest than paper copy, as evidenced by the growth of social media platforms like TikTok. Our short attention spans benefit from clips that provide information quickly and concisely. Investing in someone who makes quality videos of you, transcribes those videos and then uses the content across all your platforms will help you reach your audience and provide valuable information for consumers to view when the time is right. Evergreen content (information that stands the test of time) is even more valuable via video on YouTube. Or you can also respond to current events by associating them with the types of services you offer and your view of events as a professional. – Givelle Laman, Law firm Lamano
8. Influencer Marketing
I would spend most of my social media marketing budget partnering with medium-sized influencers. Influencer marketing is a successful social media marketing strategy that is becoming increasingly popular. Mid-tier influencers generally have a following of 50,000 to 500,000 on their social media pages. Since these influencers are not big celebrities, people can empathize with them a bit more. Partnerships with them expand the brand’s reach exponentially and help it gain popularity through social media. People rely on the reviews and recommendations of others to make certain purchasing decisions, especially if those recommendations come from the people they follow. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable shapes
9. Live Customer Support
One thing I think you should spend your social media marketing budget on is live support. You may be surprised to learn that many people contact you on social media but don’t bother to visit your website. However, if you have an enthusiastic and energetic team to help users with their questions or problems, you can convince and convince a large percentage of these people to try your product or service. – Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights
10. Content Creation
I would spend most of my social media marketing budget creating content best suited to the social media platforms my business operates on. Every social media platform has a different audience and a different dynamic; therefore, not all content types perform well on all social media sites. So I would prioritize sourcing tools and resources needed to create relevant, higher quality content. For example, if I’m active on YouTube, I’d invest in a top-notch camera, audio equipment, editing tools, and more. The same goes for other social media platforms. For me, quality content would always be a priority. – Jared Atchison, WPForms
