- By Kat Zimmerman, BSN, RN
Content marketing managers face many challenges in the world of social media marketing. Learn how to effectively use customization to overcome these hurdles.
Social media has revolutionized content marketing, enabling companies to reach wider audiences than ever before. There is a learning curve involved, though, as each social media platform values and prioritizes different types of content.
As a content marketing manager, you’ll tackle several challenges when creating a social media marketing strategy. Fortunately, you can rely on a powerful tool to help overcome these obstacles: customization.
Understanding the Importance of Customization in Social Media Marketing
The potential landscape for social media marketing is vast, with LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook leading the pack. Customization plays a key role in this type of marketing because what works well on one platform can flop on another. For instance, short videos with trending audio thrive on Instagram, while LinkedIn favors videos paired with longer, more in-depth articles.
Additionally, the saturated social media market leads consumers to skip over anything generic in favor of content that speaks directly to them. Craft your message to resonate deeply with your target audience by speaking to their specific preferences, pain points, and desires. A one-size-fits-all social media marketing approach often fails because it tries to speak to everyone but actually connects with no one.
Identifying Common Challenges in Social Media Marketing
Content marketing managers must be aware of the specific challenges that arise in social media marketing. The first is that you must tailor content to each platform while maintaining overall consistency in brand voice and messaging. With this in mind, get really clear on your brand voice, values, and goals. Your aim is to create platform-specific variations of your content based on clear brand foundations.
You must also develop an eye for trends and learn how to use them to maximize engagement and not appear outdated. Trends tend to come and go quickly, especially on TikTok and Instagram. It’s important that you stay tuned in and consistent, though this effort can become time-consuming.
You may find it challenging to predict which types of content will perform well for your company. Analyzing your social media marketing performance is an essential skill that allows you to continually tweak your messaging. By honing your content, you can potentially increase your ROI (return on investment). However, measuring and demonstrating this can be difficult, especially if your content is somewhat generic.
Strategies for Customizing Social Media Marketing Campaigns
Customization is one of the most powerful marketing tools you can use. The key is understanding how and where to implement it.
Platform-Specific Content
Customization solves most of the challenges that social media marketing poses and helps maximize your impact. You first need to consider who your audience is and get as specific as possible.
- What are their desires and pain points?
- What words would they use when discussing products like yours?
- What demographics apply to them?
Next, consider what platforms this audience would frequent most. Would you more likely find them hanging around on Instagram or LinkedIn? Once you’re clear on these answers, you can ensure you post content to the most relevant platform and tailor it to excel there, using language that resonates with your intended audience.
Audience Analytics and a Flexible Marketing Strategy
Understanding your audience’s expectations helps you create content that will grab their attention. Be receptive to what is working in real time and build a flexible marketing strategy around that. A tactic you could include in your social media marketing strategy would be to research current trends weekly and choose several to participate in. That way, your content stays relevant, and the algorithm will be more likely to push it out to a broader audience.
You can also improve your marketing strategy by trying out different kinds of content (long-form vs. short-form, video, infographics, etc.) and seeing which garners the most audience engagement. You can choose from various tools to help you gather and analyze this data and put it to good use in your marketing efforts.
Tools to Help Customize Social Media Marketing Efforts
Content marketing managers can become overwhelmed by the world of social media marketing if they don’t take advantage of the available tools that help manage content planning. As mentioned above, data analysis is a major foundational tool for informing your marketing efforts. You can customize your content according to the best patterns, trends, and engagement levels (likes, shares, comments, click-through rates, etc.) identified by tools like Meta Insights or Google Analytics rather than spending time guessing what content will be most effective.
Additionally, once you identify what posting frequency best engages your audience, you can use content scheduling tools like HootSuite or CoSchedule to automate posting and help you plan out several weeks of content at once, saving you time. Bonus: these two sites also include analytics, so everything needed for your social media marketing strategy is in one place!
Next time you use social media, pay attention to which posts resonate with you and get curious about why. Chances are, the post touches on something that is very specific to a desire or pain point of yours. Customization that does this is the backbone of effective social media marketing. Utilize customization—informed by audience demographics and data analysis—to capture your audience and increase the effectiveness of your content marketing. If you’re in the healthcare space and need assistance with your social media strategy, Write RN can help with precisely that.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How can I determine which social media platform is best for my brand?
Get really specific about who your target audience is. Once you know their demographics (age, gender, occupation, etc.) and desires, consider what platform they are most likely to spend their time on and focus your efforts there.
What metrics should I focus on when measuring the success of my social media marketing campaigns?
Important metrics to focus on include follower growth, engagement rate (likes, shares, comments, saves, etc.), click-through rate, lead conversion, and ROI.
How often should I post on different social media platforms to stay relevant?
The answer to this question depends on your preferred platforms and audience. Start by posting at least three times weekly. You can then try posting more or less often to see if that affects your audience engagement positively or negatively. This method will lead you to your posting sweet spot.
What are some ways to handle negative feedback or comments on social media?
Address negative feedback head-on. If possible, respond to the comment by letting them know your company is always open to feedback and looking to improve. Provide them with an avenue for giving feedback directly, such as a company email address.
What are the best tools for managing multiple social media marketing accounts efficiently?
Coschedule, Hootsuite, and Sprout Social are widely used social media management tools that can help in this arena. You may wish to trial them to see which feels like the best fit for you and your company.
References
Walsh, S. (2024, September 18). The top 10 social media sites & platforms. Search Engine Journal. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/social-media/social-media-platforms/

About the Author
Kat Zimmerman, BSN, RN
Kat Zimmerman, BSN, RN, is a Registered Nurse, trained copywriter, and breast cancer survivor turned freelance nurse writer. She aims to blend the best of three worlds when writing content: the knowledge and credibility of an RN, the skills of a trained writer, and the firsthand perspective of being a patient. She has two years of experience as a breast care nurse navigator, and she specializes in writing on topics such as breast care, breast cancer, and oncology.