Building a revenue-generating SMM (Social media marketing) strategy from scratch is a challenge in itself, but running it for might look like an almost impossible task. a completely new product in an unfamiliar market A year ago, we launched the educational platform Refocus in the Philippines and Indonesia, regions that were, at the time, completely new to us. Simultaneously, we started to build our SMM strategy with the main goal of generating and warming up leads. After a year, we can say that we did succeed: social media content creation and communication alone brought us directly around $500K, which is around 10% of our total revenue. And in a week of creating our media profile with 100 followers, we made our first $1,000 worth of sales. Though we were focused on increasing sales, we also gained some popularity. To illustrate, we have recently become the 7th startup on the Internet in the Philippines and gained more than 100,000 followers on most influential Facebook. Tips for Launching a SMM Strategy from Scratch 1. Conduct an ongoing, thoughtful client analysis Carefully studying your audience is, of course, essential for every SMM strategy. But suppose you’re going to launch social media campaigns in a country with a completely different culture from what you’re used to. In this case, the analysis should be several times because its people could be using social media platforms that are unfamiliar to you or using known ones differently than you expect. But there are far more serious risks. more precise You may offend or even deeply insult your audience by just using the incorrect color or number. For example, when creating the characters for our universe, we made all of them male. However, we didn't consider how powerful the concepts of feminism and girl power are in the Philippines. So, when we created several female characters, we started getting more positive feedback, and our conversion rate increased. But even if (or as soon as) you already know your client’s market and culture, it’s vital to study the of your target audience. From our experience, the best way to study an audience properly is to conduct various types of customer development using the J . This involves learning the top 3 jobs that people are trying to get done with the help of your project. pains and desires obs-To-Be-Done methodology Moreover, more informal interactions with the target audience can be priceless in terms of knowing them better: what they think about, what phrases they use, and so on. You can do this by chatting naturally with the people who sent you direct messages — not trying to sell something but just asking how their day went. Surely, there would be some people who would be happy to talk, so you will be able to get valuable insights easily and for free. Apart from that, it’s crucial to have a look at open-source data of any kind: aside from reports or studies, it can be movies and even memes. It's almost impossible to understand your audience and without interacting with these types of content. Ideally, the materials you create should "speak" just like your target audience does. That's why I always ask our SMM managers to read the text as clients would to avoid terms no one would use. "speak the same language" 2. Become a trendsetter Another step in creating a strategy from scratch is analyzing your competitors: what they do online, which triggers they use, and so on. However, if you decide to launch in developing markets, the competitors’ strategies may be poorly developed, and you mostly won’t gain any insights from them. If this is the case, one has to follow their own creativity and not be afraid to stand out. It's essential to have a creative person on your team who can help develop content that will make your SMM stand out among the rest. Trusting your own abilities and ideas can lead to more successful results. Here’s a secret tip: it's crucial not to rely too heavily on what your competitors are doing, as you should aim to create something better. However, you can still find inspiration from competitors. For example, we analyzed the social media accounts of successful EdTech companies and noticed that they incorporate motivational quotes and memes. So, we decided to follow suit and saw positive engagement from our audience. One way to find inspiration is to analyze trends worldwide and combine them with your own preferences. There's an enormous number of sources to take ideas from: Global news Latest shows Advertisements of large companies outside your area Memes Films and cartoons Pinterest Basically, that’s what we decided to do – so we chose as our symbols and visual identity elements. Throughout the year, we have tested the craziest and more subdued designs. Still, even though we’re kind of a “serious company” with a pretty expensive product and grown-up audience, the acid-colored visuals showed better results because they were completely different from what our target audiences were used to. The same worked out about more creative content: people follow the media to have fun, so one should give them the opportunity to do so through creative techniques. acid colors, cyberpunk, and cats However, thinking outside the box is not only about crazy design and entertainment. For example, we decided to create several social media profiles, each dedicated to a particular product, which is a pretty rare thing – even for EdTech companies with complicated products. So, each time we have something to launch, we would create new profiles: both on Instagram and Facebook. As I described above, our main goal is to to buy a pretty expensive and lengthy educational product: a course that would help them acquire a new profession from scratch. So, it’s crucial to deliver all the benefits of the profession and help overcome fears differently for each product. When a person is interested in data analysis, they may open your Instagram and read closely about it without being distracted by other promos. And, of course, because you have an account dedicated to it, you immediately know what another “How much is it?” message pertains to. warm our clients up enough Through analyzing the social media funnels of successful EdTech giants, we found that they were not as focused on social media as we were, which confirmed the importance of our approach. Because social media can be a powerful source of sales, it's crucial to take it seriously and dedicate the necessary resources to develop a strong strategy. A successful SMM strategy requires creativity, differentiation, and a deep understanding of your target audience, along with the confidence to trust your instincts and ideas. This approach, which involved appealing to clients’ pains, both through content and communication, allowed us to increase conversion dramatically. And no, it’s not harder than keeping it all in one profile because you have to cover all your products anyways. Actually, it’s even more convenient. That can be true for anything, and we’re sure: when launching social media marketing campaigns, you should experiment as much as you want. You never know which distinctive idea will pay off before you try, and who knows? Maybe that’s what will make you a trendsetter. Plan SMM strategies carefully Once you know your audience and your competitors, it's time to create a monthly content and communication strategy. To increase your conversion rate and, consequently, revenue, each stream needs to be improved constantly. We look for growth opportunities every month in every dimension of social media: Communication Text Design Content production To conduct such an analysis, it is crucial to track the source of each client It allows you to see how each interaction or piece of content actually works and from which of them did each particular lead convert. We are only able to make decisions on what we can improve by collecting this information. Here’s how we do it: using UTMs. In our case, the main metric is the conversion rate: the percentage of people who left their contact details after interacting with the content. Collect the metrics of each piece of content you produce. . A helpful way to do this is to look at it from the inside: what did you appeal to, what was the format, and so on. At Refocus, we have a table where we mark what was in the post and how well it converted. Every week, analyze each piece of content in terms of metrics The green cell means this trigger was used in this particular post, while the post itself is highlighted in yellow if it was published this month. Moreover, we order them starting from the highest converting to see what strategies are the most effective. why they think they got the results they did. This kind of analysis is vital because it teaches the team to take a break, think about the best and worst practices, and identify the reasons. Moreover, this provides ideas on what to follow next month based on the best practices of the previous month and what 1-2 hypotheses to test where we don't have data yet. Each month, ask the SMM managers to write a report explaining Even the slightest changes can have a drastic impact on conversion. For example, we once increased the CR of our communication scripts by 60% by simply incorporating what we answer to the question about the price into the question about how to enroll! So, the area for improvement must be determined every month and cover everything. Now, we conduct A/B tests for scripts, and the new ones are 50% more effective than the previous and even already improved ones. After doing this, review your materials and update them. Don’t underestimate your SMM! A well-developed SMM strategy would become a great source of leads and purchases. If you’re not afraid to stand out from competitors, your “crazy” content will bring you thousands of dollars and help you build a unique brand. A strong SMM plan can be a powerful tool for generating leads and driving sales. By creating unique and engaging content, businesses can distinguish themselves from competitors and build a strong brand identity. Test every hypothesis you have, analyze your target audience, and constantly plan, update, and improve your materials – and with a certain degree of creativity, you wouldn’t have to wait long before it pays off. By staying up-to-date on the latest trends and constantly refining your approach, you can build a powerful online presence that drives great results for your business. So why wait? Start developing an SMM strategy today, and see what it can do for you!

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