Social media marketing can get quite complicated. With that in mind, there are some common elements that remain true no matter what kind of business or industry you are in.  
Below, we highlight eight elements that all successful brands incorporate into their social media strategy.  

They understand their audience 
Knowing your audience is an essential key factor of setting up a successful social media presence for your business. Brands using the audience insights to gain deeper understanding of their target market. This means everything from what time they are online, to what types of content resonates with their target audience to what links they are most likely to click on. 

They know which platforms work best 
You have probably noticed that most brands are not on every social media platform. Using time and resources on a network that doesn’t generate as many results is just not a good use of energy. Test and experiment where they can, but it’s more useful to spend time further developing the networks and campaigns that offer a return on your activities.

They study their competition 
By watching what your competitors are doing in the same space will also give you important insight into what is working for them and resonating with their audience. Start with analysing the social media strategy of three to five competitors within the same industry as yours. The idea is to use their content and tactics as inspiration, not to copy. 

They have clear and consistent branding 
Brands that have the most successful social media presences take the time to create a visual experience and journey for their customers. This is done by incorporating brand colours, fonts, logo and the same editing style for all the photos and videos they publish online and offline.