How to Ensure a Successful 2024
As the year is coming to a close, we’re sure that marketing isn’t very high up on your to do list. While everyone is busy setting up their tree and decking the halls, it is all too easy to lose sight of the finish line, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing!
The Holiday Season is perfect for unwinding and spending quality time with your loved ones…hopefully stress free, but we all know that is not always the case. To alleviate the little voice in your head echoing carols of filling your business books and capitalizing on holiday sales, we’ve created a checklist of must-do’s in order to set yourself up for success when the clock strikes midnight on December 31st.
Putting in the work ahead of time will be one less checkbox on your laundry list of saying goodbye to 2023 and ushering in a prosperous new year. So while you pick out the bows and the wrapping paper, let us help you narrow down your “marketing gift guide” to yourself. Trust us, when it comes time to put away the ornaments and stow away the light-up reindeers you will be grateful not to hear the words “ROI” and “social media strategy”…
Before we jump in, take a look at this blog post about a few predictions we have for 2024! All set? Great, let’s go!
Starting with the basics, these are a few “makeovers” you can, and should, make to your profiles and social accounts:
Profile Optimization: Update and optimize your social media profiles. Ensure your bio, profile picture, and contact information are current and aligned with your brand.
Engage with Followers: Show appreciation to your followers by engaging with their comments and messages! Consider running a Holiday sale or a New Year themed contest to get your community excited with you.
Refresh Visuals: Update your profile and cover photos, as well as any other visuals associated with your brand. Keeping visuals fresh can attract attention and signal that your content is current. You can add a festive wreath to your profile picture, or update your account banner with holiday buzzwords.
Review Hashtags: Evaluate the effectiveness of the hashtags you've been using. Research and update your hashtag strategy to align with current trends and optimize discoverability. Psst… this is something we have built into our packages because we know the importance of staying up to date with trending searches and local queries.
Promote User-Generated Content: Encourage your followers to create content related to your brand. Repost and celebrate user-generated content to strengthen community bonds. Not only does this take the weight of content creation off of your back, but it also gives your followers to get involved with your business/brand which will create a sense of trust and familiarity within your community!
Though these may seem like small cosmetic changes, they promote consistency and timely relevance which keeps your name forefront of the consumer mind.
Now for some “behind the scenes” changes and modifications you should make ahead of 2024!
Adapt to Algorithm Changes: Stay informed about any algorithm changes on your chosen platforms and adjust your strategy accordingly. Stay flexible and responsive to shifting trends, they change on a dime! The blog post linked above will give you a glimpse into a few upcoming changes, but be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to stay fully in the know about algorithm adjustments! With a social team like ours, you are in good hands when it comes to changing tides. If you are running your socials yourself, this is a major player contributing to your success online.keep your eyes peeled and your head on a swivel!
Content Audit: Review your most successful and engaging content from the past year to identify patterns and understand what resonated with your audience. This does not only mean your like counts or your amount of comments… take a closer look into your impressions, especially your reach and engagement. These numbers will signify how many people interact with your content, regardless of if they follow you. Metrics ike these are essential for expanding your brand awareness and unlocking clientele you haven’t reached before.
Content Calendar Planning: Plan your content calendar for the next year…duh! Outline key themes, events, and campaigns to keep your social media presence organized and strategic. Here at TJ we work in 2 week batches, but it is a smart move to draft a general outline of your coming year. This is especially important if you have a social team who needs to be aware of events, sales and promotions to boost throughout the year in order to make the most efficient use of your socials.
Goal Setting: Set clear and measurable social media goals for the upcoming year… AHEM! You should consider metrics like follower growth, engagement rates, or content production targets when you are setting these goals. For more information about goal setting, we have a plethora of blog posts and podcast episodes for you…it’s kind of our cup of tea. Setting smart goals is the most important and crucial step of your strategy and success!
Platform Analysis: Analyze the performance of your content on different social media platforms to determine which platforms were most effective and focus your efforts accordingly. Relating back to your content audit, diving into platform specifics will help guide you into areas of opportunity and also strategy modification. We like to push the idea of consistency across platforms so it is important to be present everywhere your audience and clientele may be. Take a deeper look into how your performance varies across different channels and this will help you narrow down your content pillars and also provide more guidance when you are in creation mode!
Learn from Analytics: Dive deep into your social media analytics to understand audience demographics, peak engagement times, and content performance. You can use these insights along with your platform and content analyses to refine your strategy in the upcoming year! It is one thing to track your metrics and it is another to actually LEARN from them. These numbers are not for nothing, learn them…live them…love them!
For more information or guidance to set yourself up for the new year, send us a message or fill out our contact form below and we will be in touch!
Here’s to the most successful year yet, cheers!
XO, TJ Team