Leveraging Social Media for Your Next CPG Product Introduction

Introduction

Social media marketing is the modern-day word-of-mouth marketing. 

When it comes to your next CPG launch, social media marketing is a critical piece in developing brand awareness, consumer engagement, and ROI. 

How can you hone your content strategy to maximize consumer engagement, develop strong influencer partnerships, and measure your success? 

The Essentials of a Strong Content Strategy

Social media isn’t about fluffy advertising. It’s about building engagement through solid content. What are the essentials of a strong content strategy to enhance your social media branding? 

1. Understand your business objectives. How does this latest marketing campaign work into those objectives? 
2. Set specific goals. How do you want to improve consumer engagement and brand awareness? 
3. Do market research, not just in general but specific to the product that you are launching or promoting. Who are you talking with in your social media marketing? 
4. Examine the social media strategies of others in your field. How can you innovate and stand out? 
5. Look at your current social media. What reaches many people and inspires engagement? What does not? 
6. Work on your social media accounts. Find new directions for your content that will inspire your target market. 
7. Get organized. Take your new approach and make it into a content calendar.
8. Review your social media metrics and continue to hone your approach.

Utilizing Influencer Partnerships

With the rise of social media branding has come the rise of online influencers. Influencers have a following that may be your target audience. Working with them, you can build brand loyalty by association. 

Influencer partnerships can be used to promote your CPG launch or build a buzz about products in general. They’re effective because you work with an individual who has already developed a trusting, engaged audience. That audience connects with the influencer’s interests. If you also align with those interests, coming together with an influencer can promote your brand to an eager audience. 

Influencers hold credibility. Work with trusted sources such as influencers and the interest in your products will soar.

Driving Consumer Engagement

It’s one thing to push content out. However, getting consumers to engage with your content is a whole other 

How can you use social media marketing tactics to get consumers excited to comment on your social media platforms and share your content? 

1. Post content that inspires conversation. Bland content generates few comments. 
2. Ask questions. This encourages people to answer, generating more interest and views. 
3. Reply to comments. If people take the time to comment, it builds consumer trust to see that you promptly and effectively connect with those who comment on your posts. 
4. Use images. People are engaged by visual content even more than they are engaged by written content. 
5. Request shares. Sometimes this is all that is needed for your audience to send your content to their friends.

Measuring Your Success: Social Media Metrics

Once you’ve developed a social media strategy, you need to see if it works. Social media metrics matter because they show you how your social media strategy generates engagement, shares, website hits, and sales, among other things. 

Some metrics to track include: 

• Audience size 
• Customer satisfaction
• Content reach 
• Referral traffic
• Brand sentiment 
• Conversion rates 
• Click through rates 

You also need to make sure that you are spending your advertising dollars appropriately. To determine what your return on investment looks like, segment your earnings and costs according to each social channel. The ROI is equal to the earnings-costs x 100/costs. The ROI metric gives you a way to examine your success across different social media channels.

Conclusion

To effectively leverage social media marketing, you need to understand your objectives and develop a marketing strategy that is targeted towards your specific audience. Consider connecting with influencers in your area. After you implement a marketing strategy, be sure to review your successes to hone your marketing even further.

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