We might not all be as obsessed with Ed Sheeran as Carlee is (guess who wrote this post), but we do enjoy his music and add it to our playlist from time to time. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Ed Sheeran: his live performances.
When performing live, Ed starts with the guitar, then puts it on a loop. He beats on his guitar for the drums, then puts it on a loop. He sings the backup vocals, then puts it on a loop. And so on. Once everything is recorded for the song, he puts it all together and begins singing, removing and adding things from the loop as needed. It’s really impressive.
Don’t know what we’re talking about? Just watch!
While we all can’t be famous singers like Ed, we can learn from his strategy. By breaking up the song, planning each loop, and then putting it all together, he can easily create a live masterpiece. For small businesses, trying to create a social media marketing strategy AND handle all the implementation can be daunting. But if you break it up, plan it out, then implement, everything can fall into place. So below are some suggestions on how to do that:
Decide on your objective
Each of Ed’s songs has a purpose: sometimes it’s romantic, sometimes it’s sad, and sometimes it’s just to have fun. Before posting to social media, you need to decide why you are posting. Is it to raise awareness of your brand, to sell your products, to encourage your customers to share your post, or something else?
For best results, try to stick to one objective per post. An Ed Sheeran song that’s romantic, sad, and fun just wouldn’t make sense. So, for each post, choose a single objective, then move on to the following steps.
Find your target audience
Just like different songs have different vibes, different businesses have different customers. Once you know who your ideal customers are, everything becomes easier. Start by asking yourself these questions: Who is buying your products or services? What are they interested in? What makes your current customer base buy from you?
Research and decide which platforms are right for you
Your platforms are your instruments when it comes to social media marketing, so choose those platforms carefully. The same way a heavy metal song needs an electric guitar, a clothing boutique needs an Instagram or a Facebook page. Do a little research to decide which platform your customers are using.
Are you serving a younger demographic? Instagram and Twitter may be better for you. If your target market is women, Pinterest is the place to be. Once you know where your customers are, use the platforms that will reach them in the best way.
Think about your content
Your content is like the lyrics of a song. Great content will encourage engagement! If you create content with your audience in mind and add a little personality, you’re on the path to success. Remember to keep the text of your post short and sweet. If you think about it, the most popular songs have a short but super catchy chorus.
Add pictures or videos
Pictures and videos are the backup vocals to a song. A song can be good without backup vocals, but it becomes great once they’re added. Similarly, a post can be good without a picture or video, but it’s much more likely to succeed with a picture or video. Tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than text-only posts and Facebook posts with images have 2.3 times more engagement than text-only posts. Do yourself a favor and add those backup vocals!
Engage with your customers
You know that moment when the singer first appears at a concert, saying “How’s everyone doing tonight?”, and everyone screams? Or later in the night when the singer yells something like “everyone clap!” and everyone does? That engagement is what keeps everyone involved and entertained.
Engagement is the key to succeeding on social media. You want your followers to like, comment, and share your posts. As a company, you should also engage with your customers on social media. Like, share, and do your best to reply to direct messages on social media.
All together now
You’ve got the instruments, the lyrics, the backup vocals, and the engagement to create the perfect social media marketing strategy. Now go out there and be the social media popstar you were born to be!