Successful Social Media Strategy

As the third installment of our BRANDING BEHIND THE SCENES WITH HELLCAT, we’re detailing our work with social media guru BB Liggett of Hazel: A Creative Collective and her ongoing efforts to help us expand our digital footprint.

While you may not have built a website or designed a logo from scratch, chances are you’ve set up a social media page, even if it was for personal use. However, it’s important to remember that setting up a business page is an entirely different ballgame from those for personal use. Social media for business requires a more strategic approach that doesn’t begin with slapping your logo up as your profile pic and creating your first post.

As with any new marketing endeavor determining what success looks like and how you will measure it is a fundamental place to start. Typically, this is done by developing a goal or set of goals that identify what you want to accomplish in broad terms. For example, do you want to bring awareness to a specific cause, or are you using the space to sell products?

“The goal of Hellcat Hangar’s social media was always to bring awareness to the Pensacola arts and media community, highlighting the people, places, and things that make up the Pensacola artistic landscape,” Hellcat’s Social Media Manager BB Liggett shared. This strategy is focused on community rather than a “hard sell” approach, which has helped us establish a solid connection to those we want to serve.

This is also reflected in our attitude related to how we would measure success on these platforms. “We always believed in organic growth, so our metrics are focused on increasing followers’ engagement with minimal paid effort,” BB noted. However, that’s not to say that sponsored content/boosted posts are not valuable to businesses. They are, without question, an effective tool to amplify your organic messaging. Paid content alone rarely, if ever, sustains a brand long-term.

Additionally, BB cautions others against relying solely on vanity metrics to gauge success. According to Content Marketing Institute, these are stats that look great on paper but don’t correlate to business outcomes. “It’s not how many views we get on a reel (even though it feels terrific) that’s important; it’s how many of those views turn into paying customers. The reel or static post that gets the most views might not be content that generates the most impactful return,” BB added. 

Once you know what you want to accomplish and how you will measure it in a meaningful way, the next step is to identify your market and segment it into specific target audiences. For example, your business may cater only to other businesses, otherwise known as B2B marketing. Your company may have a service to help social media specialists develop content, but you might also have a service that helps marketing directors track and report analytics. Those two separate audiences could potentially be reached differently due to their age, job function and experience level, etc.

From there, you can select the social platforms most likely to reach your target audiences. If your goal is to increase sales among male retirees 65 and older, Snapchat may not be your jam. Let’s be honest; while the thought of someone your grandma’s age opening up the app and turning herself into an anime character would be amazing, it’s probably not very likely. In an April 28 update, social media management platform Sprout Social posted 2023 social media demographics to help inform your strategy and select the right place to reach those you need to share your message with.

Once you’ve identified the right social media platforms for your business, you can determine how your brand will be represented in everything from the profile pic to the posts. “Overall, social media is an integral part of any successful branding strategy, allowing organizations to build a strong brand identity, engage with their audience, and differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace. Compelling copy and storytelling via still images and video are at the heart of all successful social platforms,” BB concluded.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the third article in our BRANDING BEHIND THE SCENES WITH HELLCAT series. If you missed the previous two posts, check out Our Logo Journey: From Concept to Creation and Websites and Building Trust here on our Blog.