Social Media Strategy for Your Software Site
Social media can be a great tool to promote your software company. It may not be the fastest way to get new customers, but it's an effective way to reach a wide audience. There are many ways you can use social media to promote your business and get your message to potential clients. Here are some tips to help you create a successful social media strategy for your software site.
Create a Social Media Marketing Plan
While you can post on social media without a specific plan, it's more effective if you have a content marketing strategy. This is especially true if your software business has a product or service that needs to be promoted in different ways. If you want to promote one specific service, then it may be more effective to promote that service on a specific platform than promote your entire software site on every social media platform all the time. You should have a plan on what specifically you want to promote on which sites and when.
Think About Your Audience
Before you create posts, it's important to think about your audience. Do you want your site to be exclusive to B2B executives or accessible to a wide range of consumers? Do you want to be seen as an expert in the industry or a resource for consumers? Identifying what your audience wants to see can help you create better content.
Share Your Company Blog on Social Media
One way to help people find your website and to increase traffic is to create an internal blog that will also be shared via social media. Not only will this make your brand and website more memorable, but it will also help you gain more customers, benefit from SEO best practices, and position yourself as an expert.
Choose Your Social Media Platform
Before you even think about making a post on social media, it's important to think about the platform that you want to use. This matters because some social media networks are more focused on a particular niche than others. For example, LinkedIn and Twitter are great for business owners who want to connect with potential customers. Who is your market and what social media platforms do they use? Aim to be where customers are.
Share the Right Content
The content that you choose to share on social media is very important. If you are a software product developer, make sure you use content that is directly related to your company and its product. Don't share content that your audience may find offensive or controversial. If you do, you risk having your message criticized or even attacked. Too often, it’s easy to share personal beliefs or politics through social media. Sometimes, this happens unintentionally. It’s better to create a neutral page focused on the content that your audience wants to know more about.
Build a Loyal Following
Loyal followers tend to spread the good word about your software products. This can be especially important if you sell software that’s specific to a niche. Since these customers often know each other, a share or a positive review from one of your loyal followers is significant since potential customers may wonder if you will deliver on your promises. Make sure you use a social media marketing strategy that keeps your followers loyal to your software and encourages them to spread the word. Responding to customers, posting great tutorials, and offering exclusive follower discounts are some ways to do this.
Use the Right Hashtags
It's important to choose the right hashtags on social media sites. Avoid using too many hashtags. The best hashtags are the ones you see on a wide number of platforms that your customers actually use. You want your customers to find your software across multiple platforms. You can use brand and software-specific hashtags, as well as make use of popular hashtags already in use.
Creativity is Key
While it's important for you to stay relevant with the latest trends and social media platforms, this should not completely dictate your social media marketing strategy. You want your posts and marketing messages to be creative and original, even if they are a slight departure from the current digital trends. This way, customers will recognize you and view your software as a product that is unlike anything else in the market. Show use cases for your specific software, as opposed to only sharing generic information about the software in general.
Be Authentic
In the social media age, customers don't just want to buy from a company. They want to do business with real people they can relate to and who they know will be able to deliver on what they promise. In order to build a loyal fan base, you need to be relatable and show customers that you have their best interests at heart. Showcase your team and your innovative office environment. Let them know that you're the real people behind the software.
Use Calls-to-Action
When creating social media posts, it's important that you use calls-to-action with them. This is because customers may only share your post or visit your site if you ask them to. Not all customers will respond to a call-to-action, but it's important to try because the ones who do respond will be more successful in growing your business.
Be Professional
To be professional when creating posts for social media, use correct grammar and spelling. If you want to add a picture to illustrate your post, make sure you choose one that represents your software and brand. Your profile picture should show something about your brand and not something random or unrelated.
Use Video
Use video frequently on social media sites. When you create a video, you should create something that is clear and easy to understand. Make sure your video presents a clear message and has a purpose. Videos are an effective way to communicate with your followers because they are often more visual than text-based posts. You can also add a picture or a link in the video as a call to action. This makes it easier for followers to do what you want them to do once they have seen the video.
Ask for Customer Feedback
Customers are the basis of your software company's profit. Regularly ask your customers what changes they would like to see for your software product. This also gives customers the opportunity to be heard and to give you feedback on what they think you could do better. You don't want them to believe that you are only interested in charging them more for upgrades. When you listen to their suggestions, you can create something even more useful, giving them a reason to come back again.
Join the Conversation
One of the quickest ways to build brand awareness for your software business is to get involved in the conversations people are already having on social media. Sometimes people are just looking for someone to talk to about their software needs and you can use social media to build your personal brand. If you can resolve their technical challenges, it can go a long way toward developing your business.
Publish Regular Updates
As you grow your social media following, posting regular updates is important to keep people engaged. Many of your customers may not use social media to connect with you, but they may follow your company because of your updates. If you have a blog or a newsletter, be sure to update the community using those channels regularly.
Create a schedule for publishing updates on social media so people know what to expect from your social media marketing strategy. Your customers may get frustrated if they see that you have posted on social media one day and then nothing the next. This can be a big turnoff, especially if they have seen only negative comments from others. It is also important to post frequently enough that people do not get bored with your page and unfollow it.
Turn Your Customers Into Brand Ambassadors
A great way to get customers to use your software is to give them the opportunity to be brand ambassadors for you. Offer discounts to your customers that give them away to spread the word about your business to their friends. You can have customers use your software and give reviews. Allowing people to use your software gives them a way to share how the software works with people they know.
Give Back to the Community
Make your social media marketing strategy even stronger by giving back to the community. If you are active on social media, you may be able to help other people who are having problems or who simply want to know more about what you do. You can offer suggestions, articles, and even product discounts. This will encourage others to follow your business and give them a reason for that loyalty.
If your software company can offer a free demo or trial, this is an excellent strategy to give to the community. It comes across as generous and gives social media users a reason to follow your page. It also provides them with a chance to use your software. Once they use it, they’ll understand it better and might be more likely to buy a full version of the program.
Monitor Your Analytics
A critical step to successfully using social media to promote a software is to have a good understanding of what is working and what isn’t. Use social media analytics to help you measure your results. You can assess statistics for each of your social media platforms to get an idea of what you can change to achieve better results.
Visit your Facebook dashboard to see which posts performed the best in terms of shares, comments, and reach. Carefully analyze what similarly successful posts have in common. By replicating the strategies that work, you can make the most of your time spent on social media marketing.
Generally, discounts, promotions, giveaways, and special offers perform the best. Aside from these strategies, every audience is different. Test new ideas and measure how well they perform to know what works best. A B2B software audience will want different content than a B2C audience. Experimentation is really the only way to know for sure.
Use Social Media to Build Community
Creating a community around your product or service is a great way to build customer loyalty. Take advantage of sites like Kickstarter to provide opportunities for your customers for new software projects. This can help you build customer loyalty. You can even create a rewards system that encourages customers to become engaged and excited about your software.
Social media is a useful tool for marketing your software site, but it is only one part of your marketing plan. Implementing a good social media strategy is also important. You may not attract a huge audience just from social media alone. However, it is a great way to drive traffic to your website with other marketing efforts. It is up to you to create a marketing strategy that works for you and your software company. Fortunately, Scripted writers can help. Browse our writers to get help with all of your content marketing needs.
Published by Ciara Antolini on Friday, January 14, 2022 in Marketing Agencies, Content Marketing, Software.
