The Ultimate Social Media Guide for NZ Businesses

Social media is a boon for businesses of all types, large and small, local and global. It’s the ideal marketing channel for connecting with your customers in real time and staying up-to-date with their interests as they change over time. 

What is Social Media?

Social media is a term for websites and apps that let people create and share content or connect with other people. It usually lets people share information, thoughts, and content like text, images, videos, and links with other people over the internet.

Examples of popular social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Social media has changed the way people communicate and share information. It has become a powerful tool for businesses, organisations, and individuals to reach out to and connect with others.

Top Social Media Platforms in New Zealand

According to Statista, almost 89% of the people in New Zealand were active on social media in 2022. The number of people using social media is increasing as the country becomes more digital.

Social Media Platform	Penetration Percentage
Facebook	72%
YouTube	69%
Instagram	49%
TikTok	Growing rapidly
LinkedIn	42%
Twitter	21%

This blog post covers everything you need to know about using social media in New Zealand today as part of your business strategy. Whether you’re just starting or looking to take your social media presence to the next level, we have tips that should help!

Why Is Social Media Important for Businesses?

Having a presence on social media is important for your business because it allows you to reach potential customers and maintain a connection with your current customers.

You can also build an online following and trust in what people say about your business. Your online reputation is how other people see your business, so it must be credible and trustworthy. 

And finally, social can be a powerful tool for businesses to generate leads by directing people to their website or turning viewers into potential customers. These methods are often more successful than traditional advertising methods like TV, radio, or print media. One of the key benefits of using social media is that it allows businesses to track their progress and measure their results while being cost-effective.

See also What is Social Listening? Expert Guide with Examples, Benefits & Tools.

Getting Started With Social Media Marketing

The first step to social media marketing is getting started. You may not have the time, resources, or expertise in-house to manage your social media presence on a day-to-day basis. If this is the case, you might consider hiring a digital marketing agency that offers social media marketing services like Adverb.Digital.

Once you’ve taken care of the basics, like choosing the right social media channel and developing content, it’s time to get creative with your tactics. Here are a few tips for getting started with social media marketing for your business.

1. Define Your Target Audience

Clearly define your target audience and understand their needs, interests, and behaviour.

This means identifying the specific group of people who are most likely to be interested in your products or services. Understanding your target audience is crucial for creating effective social media marketing campaigns. You can tailor your content and messaging to appeal to them by understanding their needs, interests, and behaviour.

You can conduct market research, analyse your current customer base, and use tools such as Google Analytics and Facebook Insights to define your target audience. Once you clearly understand your target audience, you can create buyer personas and fictional characters representing your ideal customers.

It’s also important to consider demographics such as age, location, gender, income, education level, and interests while defining your target audience. This will help you create a more accurate picture of your ideal customer and tailor your social media marketing strategy accordingly.

2. Choose the Right Platforms

Selecting the social media platforms on which your target audience is most active is important for effective social media marketing. Different platforms are better suited for different types of businesses and industries.

For example, if you are a B2B company, LinkedIn may be the best platform for you, while if you are a retail business, Instagram and Pinterest could be great options. It’s important to consider the type of content and messaging you want to share, your target audience’s demographics, and each platform’s features when choosing which platforms to use.

3. Create a Content Calendar

Planning and scheduling your content in advance ensures consistency and keeps your audience engaged. A content calendar allows you to map out the content you want to share and when you want to share it.

This can help you to stay organised and avoid gaps in your content.

4. Use Visual Content

Using images and videos in your content makes it more engaging, visually appealing, and easily remembered.

Visual content is more likely to be shared and generate higher engagement than text-based content.

5. Optimise Your Profiles

Optimise your social media profiles by including relevant information, keywords, and links to your website. This is important for several reasons,

• Visibility: Optimising your profiles with relevant information and keywords will help your profiles show up in search results, making it easier for people to find your business.
• Branding: Creating a consistent brand image across all platforms will help you to create a strong and recognisable brand. This includes using similar profile pictures, cover photos, and bios across all platforms and ensuring that all your profiles are complete and up to date.
• Audience Engagement: Optimising your profiles with relevant information and links to your website will make it easy for your target audience to find and engage with your business. This includes adding a clear call to action, such as “Visit our website” or “Contact us” to your profiles.
• Consistency: Having complete and up-to-date social media profiles will help to build trust and credibility with your audience. It also shows that you are active and engaged, which can increase the likelihood that people will follow or engage with your profiles.
• Analytics: Optimising your profiles with relevant information and keywords will also help you to track your performance and make data-driven decisions. This will help you to understand which types of content resonate with your audience and where they are most active.

6. Engage With Your Audience

Responding to comments and messages and encouraging customer feedback and reviews helps to build a relationship with your audience and improve your relatability, brand image, and overall customer satisfaction. But this also involves understanding, responding, and adapting to consumers’ needs and feedback.

7. Use Analytics

One of the biggest advantages of social media is the ability to leverage analytics to track your performance and make data-driven decisions. Analytics tools such as Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, and YouTube Analytics provide valuable information on audience engagement and demographics, which can help you to optimise your social media strategy.

8. Consider Paid Advertising

Social media advertising can reach a wider audience and drive traffic to your website. Platforms such as Facebook Ads, Instagram, and LinkedIn offer advertising options that allow you to target specific demographics and interests.

See also How to Use Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising to Drive Sales.

9. Collaborate With Influencers

Collaborating with influencers can enhance your brand’s visibility and credibility, promote targeted marketing, boost conversion rates, create opportunities for long-term partnerships, and increase user engagement. This results from the ability of influencers to open up their well-established audience to your brand and the potential to harness their credibility with followers for quicker market penetration and acceptance. However, it’s important to partner with influencers who resonate with your brand values and engage genuinely with their audience.

10. Continually Evaluate & Adapt

As part of your digital marketing strategy, you should always evaluate your social media marketing plan and make changes as needed to improve performance and get better results. Use analytics tools to track your progress and make data-driven decisions to optimise your social media marketing strategy.

Social media can help you target an audience that is interested in your business niche. It can also give you the visibility to build an online following and gain trust from what people say about you. If used well, these channels can generate leads for your business, increase brand awareness, and drive new sales.