In the modern era, when customers rely on their friends and family to choose the best brands, and read online reviews of previous customers to get to know a brand’s reputation, every business needs to invest heavily in its digital presence. A significant portion of that presence is devoted to social media, as these complex channels enable us to communicate, exchange experiences, and establish meaningful relationships. However, while they used to be only marginal in terms of digital strategizing, they now affect every brand’s bottom line.
With that in mind, every business needs to invest and ensure proper returns on said investments for the sake of their long-term success. How well you plan and allocate your budget towards the latest social media trends will shape your brand’s ability to outgrow its competition, grow its customer base on a regular basis, and establish itself as the leader in your industry.
Consider the necessary social tools
Let’s assume that you don’t have at your disposal an infinite amount of money to invest in your social media efforts. With that in mind, you need to discover what the best and most effective areas of social media will be for your particular brand and your specific goals – because every business is different.
To avoid overspending on certain aspects, you can use social media tools that help you narrow down the most desirable, ready-to-buy candidates, as well as your pain points that need addressing. You can use these tools to collect data, communicate, follow your social media mentions, and keep track of any trends on the rise, all of which will help you allocate your budget more effectively.
Invest in influencer bonds
This particular social media strategy has been in the spotlight of experts for years now, and for a number of excellent reasons. While it’s still difficult to measure exact ROI for working with influencers, brands know well that working with a single person can get them in front of an audience comprised of hundreds of devoted followers, many of them ready to make a purchase upon seeing a brand approved by this influencer they love.
That is why marketers are planning to invest even more in this particular strategy in the upcoming years, so it’s safe to say that you could benefit from the practice if you are wise with your budget and focus on a long-term commitment, and not a one-off collaboration. That way, you can grow your exposure, awareness, reputation, as well as sales, all thanks to a single relationship.
Ensure a steady influx of funds
As businesses focus on allocating money to different departments, they often underestimate their funding needs for social media. From the very beginning, you need a sound funding plan to enable your brand to grow without compromising your cash-flow or other working parts of your complex business.
There are other financing methods that help with these situations, such as invoice finance that can help with managing late client payments and cash-flow troubles. By utilizing these alternatives, you can make sure that such an approach would help you invest in your social media strategy without interruptions, without disturbing your other campaigns, or tapping into other budget sources within your business. It’s essential to stay informed on the latest funding strategies in order to determine which one suits your business model the best.
Ongoing management needs
Another social media pocket that needs funding is the person, or people, who would be in charge of monitoring, implementing, and suggesting adjustments to your ongoing social strategy. While we’re already relying on tech to a great extent in order to boost the effectiveness of our social efforts, people still play a vital role in this marketing realm.
You need someone who knows how to utilize the aforementioned social media tools, in order to focus on relevant information collected on social networks, help resolve customer issues, and offer solutions to any gaps in your current strategy. Depending on the complexity of your social strategy, the person in charge would need a competitive salary, as well as regular training to stay updated on the latest trends, so make sure you can cover these expenses with your social media budget, too.
Paid advertisements
There’s only so much you can do with organic reach, and we all know that social networks heavily depend on those paid ads that target your audience. However, balancing organic with paid efforts will depend on a multitude of factors, so make sure that you take all of them into account before you either disregard paid ads altogether or you pour all of your funds into this one, albeit necessary basket.
Take into account well-known and reliable parameters such as pay per click campaigns and cost per a thousand impressions, depending on which goals you’re reaching for, whether it’s conversions or brand awareness.
Content production
This might be a part of a long list of responsibilities of your social media manager, but it can also be outsourced to an expert, a freelancer, or an entire agency. Whatever your final decision may be, producing engaging and versatile content remains one of the key pillars of social media success, on which all of your engagement relies.
From ensuring quality in production, regularity and brand consistency, it’s also necessary to go as diverse as possible, measure success, and adapt on the go. You also need to make sure that you utilize the content on your website and disseminate it across all social channels to increase your exposure, so combining your manager’s efforts with your social tools will help you get the creative output worthy of a sizable portion of your social budget.
Brands will only increase their use of social media to connect with their audience, build their image, and turn a profit. How you allocate your funds in this department will heavily influence your ability to reach all of these and many other goals, so make sure to constantly learn from the best in the industry and apply best practices to your own budgeting approach.
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Bio:
Victor T. Miller, a Sydney-based business and marketing specialist who has expanded businesses over 5 years. I am a person who loves to inform people about the latest news in the marketing industry also as sharing tips and advice based on my professional experience and knowledge.
Featured image credits: Photo by Tyler Franta on Unsplash
