Time to See Results of Social Media

This article will tell you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about social media marketing strategy, including how long it will take for you to see results.

Social Media Marketing Strategy 

According to Social Media Today, people are spending more and more time on social media. In 2017, teenagers were spending up to nine hours a day on various social media platforms. Therefore, it is crucial that you create social media accounts for your business. Social media marketing uses various social media platforms to increase brand awareness, connect with people, and increase website traffic. Social media marketing has grown into so much more than simply publishing content. Now, businesses use social media to track what others are saying about their brands on social media, understand and analyze their social media sales, publish targeted social media ads, and anything else that can help them improve their business.

In this article, you will learn about various social media marketing services, and how social media marketing agencies help your business thrive on social media. 

Timeframes and Expectations

Understanding Realistic Timeframes When implementing a social media marketing strategy, it’s crucial to set realistic expectations for results. Different goals require different timeframes:

Brand Awareness (3-6 months):

• Follower growth: Expect 5-10% monthly growth in the first 6 months
• Post reach: 2-3 months to establish baseline engagement
• Brand mentions: Gradual increase over 4-6 months

Lead Generation (6-12 months):

• Click-through rates: 3-4 months to optimize
• Lead conversion: 6+ months to establish consistent patterns
• Cost per lead: 3 months to benchmark, 6 months to optimize

Sales and Revenue (6-18 months):

• Social commerce: 6-12 months to build trust and conversion
• Return on ad spend: 3-6 months to optimize
• Customer lifetime value: 12+ months to measure accurately

Industry-specific benchmarks show that B2C companies typically see faster results (3-6 months) compared to B2B companies (6-12 months). These timeframes assume consistent, strategic effort and regular content posting.

Social Media Marketing Services

Social media marketing agencies should offer a wide range of services to their clients. Here are some components to think about when starting your social media journey. 

Current Social media Trends and Hot Features

Emerging Social Media Trends

Video Content Dominance:

• Short-form video (Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts)
• Live streaming
• Video shopping
• Behind-the-scenes content

Social Commerce Integration:

• Instagram Shop
• Facebook Marketplace
• Pinterest Shopping
• Live shopping events

Emerging Platforms:

• TikTok for Business
• Discord communities
• Emerging metaverse opportunities
• Audio social platforms

Which Social Media Platform Will You Use?

Before deciding which social media platforms you are going to use, research each platform. You want to know which platforms attract the most traffic for your particular business.

Facebook is the most popular social media network with over a billion users. Other influential networks are Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, and many other platforms, depending on your audience.

Twitter is useful for messages that are short and to the point, since you can’t write more than 280 characters in a single tweet. Tweets tend to perform better if they have an image attached.

Facebook posts can include more information than a Tweet; however, people tend to overlook posts full of long text. Instagram is an image-based social media platform. Therefore, you need to post photos and videos that are relevant to your company. You can also utilize the Story, Instagram Live, and Instagram TV features to increase your social media visibility.

Similar to Instagram, Pinterest is also an image-based social media platform. Pinterest is the perfect platform to showcase your products. LinkedIn is a professional, business social media platform.

You need to make sure that your posts are professional and suitable for a work environment. No matter what social media platform you use, you need to focus on your clients’ needs. 

Platform Specific Best Practices

Maximizing Platform Performance

Facebook:

• Optimal posting times: Tuesday-Thursday, 9 AM-2 PM
• Best performing content: Video (3-5 minutes), carousel posts
• Ideal posting frequency: 3-7 times per week
• Content ratio: 70% value-add, 20% promotional, 10% personal

Instagram:

• Stories: 4-6 per day
• Feed posts: 4-7 times per week
• Reels: 4-7 per week
• Best times: Monday-Friday, 11 AM-3 PM
• Caption length: 125-150 characters for optimal engagement

LinkedIn:

• Posting frequency: 2-5 times per week
• Best times: Tuesday-Thursday, 9 AM-12 PM
• Content types: Industry insights, company news, thought leadership
• Text posts: 1,200-2,000 characters
• Articles: 1,500-2,000 words

Twitter (X):

• Posting frequency: 3-5 times daily
• Thread length: 3-5 tweets
• Best times: Monday-Friday, 9 AM-4 PM
• Media mix: 40% images, 30% videos, 30% text
• Hashtag usage: 1-2 per tweet

Goals

You want your goals to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound). If you follow the SMART method, you are more likely to achieve your goals. Some goals might be to increase brand awareness, amount of customers, or sales. Your goals will heavily influence your actions and marketing strategy. For example, if your goals are focused around increasing sales, you should monitor the number of Clicks. By tracking Clicks, you will have a better idea of what is causing people to want to buy your product. No matter what your goals are, make sure that they are realistic and achievable.

Plan

It is crucial to have a solid plan for social media marketing. Creating a content strategy will give you a good sense of what you will be achieving through social media. Some things to include in your plan are creating SMART goals, researching your target audience, and creating a content calendar. You must have a clear plan because it will help guide you on your social media marketing journey. 

Investigate Your Competition 

You always want to know what your competitors are up to so that you can be a step in front of them. What are they focusing on? Who is their target audience? By knowing everything about your competition, you can find their weak spots. For example, maybe they are very active on Facebook but have not been as influential on Instagram. You can use that to your advantage by targeting Instagram more than Facebook. That way, you will not be directly going against them on a platform that they already have a lot of influence on. Sometimes it’s all about working smarter, not harder. Once you know more about your competition, you will have a better understanding of what you are up against. 

Content Creation

Content creation is exactly what it sounds like. It is the production of the content that you will be posting to your social media accounts. Social media content needs to engage your audience. You want to encourage them to buy and promote your product or service. Some examples of content are photos, videos, written posts, or any other type of content that will help you reach your goals. Also, don’t mix your personal account with your business account. Basically, don’t let your own account influence what you post on your business account unless it has to do with your business. On your personal accounts, you most likely post content that interests you. On your business account, you want to post content that interests your target audience. In general, you want your content to fit in with your brand and make people want to learn more about your product or service. 

Publishing Content

In the beginning, it can be hard to find the time to post social media content. You might struggle with coming up with concepts and ideas, or just figuring out when to post. A good way to organize your content is to create a content calendar. A calendar will help you tremendously when figuring out what works best for your company.

Research and Analysis

The most important aspect to take note of is your audience. You want to know everything about your customers in order for your social media strategies to be successful. In addition, you want to know what your competitors are up to. There are many tools that track how well you are doing on social media. It can tell you how successful your social media campaigns are, or if you are reaching your targeted audience. These tools can also help you figure out what hashtags or topics people value the most in relation to your brand. Once you collect and  analyze your data, you can use that information to make adjustments to your social media marketing strategy. 

Measurement and Analytics

Essential Metrics and Analysis

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

• Engagement Rate = (Likes + Comments + Shares) / Total Followers × 100
• Click-Through Rate (CTR) = Clicks / Impressions × 100
• Conversion Rate = Conversions / Total Link Clicks × 100
• Cost Per Click (CPC) = Total Spend / Total Clicks

Analytics Tools:

1. Native Platform Analytics
   • Facebook Insights
   • Instagram Insights
   • Twitter Analytics
   • LinkedIn Analytics
2. Third-Party Tools
   • Sprout Social: Comprehensive social media management
   • Hootsuite Analytics: Multi-platform tracking
   • Buffer Analytics: Content performance analysis
   • Brandwatch: Social listening and sentiment analysis

Interpreting Metrics:

• Track month-over-month growth rates
• Compare against industry benchmarks
• Analyze peak engagement times
• Monitor sentiment trends
• Measure share of voice

Social Media Marketing Agency 

Most people assume that a social media marketing agency only assists businesses with creating, scheduling, and publishing content onto social media.  A social media marketing agency does so much more than these tasks. They have to fully understand everything that has to do with marketing and digital. According to a survey by The Manifest, 28% of businesses work with social media marketing agencies to improve their social media practices. 

Common Pitfalls and Solutions

Avoiding Social Media Marketing Mistakes

Common Challenges:

1. Inconsistent Posting Solution: Content calendar and scheduling tools
2. Poor Engagement Solution: Community management strategy
3. Unclear Brand Voice Solution: Brand voice guidelines and training
4. Inadequate Crisis Management Solution: Develop crisis communication plan

Recovery Strategies:

• Immediate acknowledgment of issues
• Transparent communication
• Action plan implementation
• Regular updates to stakeholders

Why Should You Hire a Social Media Agency?

Business Marketing

Business marketing is a key aspect to social media marketing. Your main goal is to promote your business. Using various social media platforms will help get your name out there. Once more people become aware of your business, you will gain new customers. 

Brand Recognition

Similar to business marketing, brand recognition is all about getting people to know your brand. When people talk about a service or product that you produce, you want your business to be the first one people think of. A social media agency will help take your brand to the next level. Most likely, they know a lot more about the constant change in social media trends than you do. When in doubt, leave it to the professionals and you are sure to have a successful, booming business. 

Increase Customers

Once you are active on social media, people will start to see your name. They will recognize your company and want to buy your product. Your posts should make people want to know more about your business. Once someone buys one product, you want them to spread the word and keep coming back for more. Through posts, you are constantly reminding customers who you are and why they became your customer in the first place. 

Save Time

Overall, hiring a social media marketing agency will save you time. They know what they are doing when it comes to social media marketing. If you leave the social media up to the professionals, you can focus your time on coming up with new business concepts and ideas. 

How to Find a Social Media Marketing Agency 

Track Record

Obviously, you want to work with an agency that is known for making businesses successful. Do your research on various marketing agencies before committing to one. A good place to start is looking at their clients. Doing so will help you see what they are capable of. Ideally, you want an agency that will work well with your business by taking your ideas and making them into reality.

Budget

Before signing on with an agency, make sure that you can realistically afford to work with them. Don’t worry if you have a tight budget. Social media marketing agencies come in a wide range of prices depending on the specific services. 

Cost Considerations

Understanding Social Media Investment

Agency Service Average Costs:

• Basic Management: $1,000-$3,000/month
• Comprehensive Management: $3,000-$7,000/month
• Enterprise Solutions: $7,000-$20,000+/month

Platform Advertising Costs:

• Facebook/Instagram: $200-$1,500/month
• LinkedIn: $500-$2,000/month
• Twitter: $300-$1,000/month
• Pinterest: $200-$800/month

Budget Allocation:

• Content Creation: 35%
• Paid Advertising: 25%
• Analytics and Reporting: 15%
• Community Management: 15%
• Strategy Development: 10%

Specialization 

Every business has different needs. Some agencies might specialize in working with small startup companies, while others work with huge corporations. In addition, some agencies might specialize in more than just social media marketing. Services might also include SEO, content creation, or digital advertising. No matter what your business sells or does, make sure to hire an agency that specializes in the services that you are looking for. 

Team Structure and Management

Building Your Social Media Team

Essential Roles:

• Social Media Manager
• Content Creator
• Community Manager
• Paid Social Specialist
• Analytics Manager

Team Structure Options:

1. In-house Team
   • Direct control
   • Brand knowledge
   • Higher initial cost
2. Agency Partnership
   • Expertise access
   • Scalability
   • Cost-effective
3. Hybrid Model
   • Strategic control
   • Tactical execution
   • Balanced approach

Compliance and Legal Considerations

Legal Framework for Social Media

Essential Policies:

• Social media usage guidelines
• Content ownership rights
• Employee advocacy rules
• Crisis management procedures

Compliance Requirements:

• FTC disclosure guidelines
• GDPR compliance
• CCPA requirements
• Industry-specific regulations

Copyright Considerations:

• Image usage rights
• Music licensing
• User-generated content permissions
• Influencer agreements

Steps to Successfully Work with a Social Media Marketing Agency

Prepare

You don’t want to sign on with a social media marketing agency if you are not prepared. Before working with an agency, create a plan. What do you want to achieve through social media? Are you more focused on brand awareness or increasing customers? You need to know your intentions before approaching an agency. If you are prepared, you will have an easier time communicating with and understanding the agency

Hire an Agency

Follow the steps above to find a good, reputable agency that will work well with your company. 

Communication

After hiring an agency, create an effective and efficient line of communication. In other words, who will be in charge of any communication between your business and social media agency? Coming up with a communication plan will ensure that your business relationship runs smoothly. 

Integration with Other Marketing Channels

Cross-Channel Marketing Integration

Digital Marketing Synergy:

• Email marketing coordination
• SEO content alignment
• PPC campaign integration
• Content repurposing strategy

Automation Integration:

• CRM system connection
• Marketing automation platforms
• Analytics integration
• Lead tracking systems

Content Distribution:

• Cross-platform adaptation
• Channel-specific optimization
• Consistent messaging
• Performance tracking

Now that you know some social media marketing strategies and how to look for an effective social media marketing agency, it’s up to you to decide your next steps. Do you want to use these marketing strategies yourself, or do you want to work with a social media marketing agency? 

Contact SEO Design Chicago today if you want to take the next steps in your social media marketing journey.