If you want to be great at basketball, you need to practice the game, stay in shape, and perfect your ability to work as a member of a team.

Similarly, if you want to be successful at social media marketing, you need to practice all the skills and habits of a successful Internet marketer.

Below you’ll learn about four simple tactics you can use to hone your own skills, give your campaigns an edge, and ultimately take your game to the next level.

1. Understand Customer Desires

To be a marketer is to be in the business of customer information.

That means whether you succeed or fail often depends on how close you’re able to pay attention to the constantly changing wants and needs of your target audience.

To stay in the loop with this kind of information, you should use tools like Facebook’s Audience Insights to collect vital consumer data.

Audience Insights can help you gain insight into the way that customers interact with your business.

After you’ve compiled the necessary data, analyze it to determine what’s working and what isn’t. Then incorporate the delivery of the successful bits back into your daily routine.

2. Building Relationships

The fuel of social media success is relationships. If you want to keep your pages working for you, then you need to work on building meaningful relationships with consumers and fellow business owners alike.

Getting involved in building these types of relationships is simple.

You can begin by compiling a list of some of the relationships you’ve developed, and how they matter to your business.

Set up a list of your top 100 contacts, including prospective members.

That list will give you a concrete idea of where to begin each week.

Schedule 30 minutes or to an hour each week to connect with the people on that list, whether through email or social networks.

Above all, make sure that your time, experience, and resources are available to help these people whenever possible.

By repeating these steps weekly, you can be sure to gradually build strong and lasting relationships.

3. Passion and Purpose

If you want your customers to become advocates for your brand, you need to appeal to both their heads and their hearts.

The former can be done by offering useful services, but the latter isn’t as simple.

One of the best ways to manufacture those emotional connections is to try giving back to your community, whether local or online.

For example, Toms Shoes has honored a commitment to donate one pair of shoes for every pair that a customer purchases.

To date, they’ve donated nearly forty million pairs.

The end result isn’t just a better world through philanthropy, but a stronger brand as Toms’ customers grow loyal.

Start by creating a calendar that incorporates ways you to give back to your fans.

Identify any means that you already provide for your customers and community, whether through donations, volunteering, or the like.

From there, you can begin to think about what other opportunities you might begin to pursue.

You could also set up a day to give back each week. It could be one post every Friday on Facebook, or one blog article each month highlighting your contributions.

4. Collaboration and Teamwork

Master marketers are only masters because they never stop being students. When it comes to your industry, you need to be a sponge for new information, trends, and studies.

One of the best ways to stay on the bleeding edge of your niche is to network with other professionals like yourself.

Establishing this habit is easy. You can begin by using social media tools like Sprout Social to help you engage with peers that have the same goals as yourself.

You can get started by researching the hashtags that you and your peers are using most. Then monitor them in order to join in on the ongoing conversations occurring online surrounding your industry.

With the advent of hashtags, this process is incredibly simple.

While you’re at it, it’s often worth keeping tabs on the conversation of the most influential people in your niche.

Preparing for Action

The difference between being fit or out of shape is often just the accumulation of daily habits.

Likewise, it’s your day-to-day activity as a marketer is what ultimately accounts for your successes and failures.

Spend a few minutes considering which of these skills and habits would be most beneficial to your effort. Then make a concrete plan to incorporate them into your schedule.

Although it may take time and diligence to implement these tactics into your own routine, after a few weeks time, you should be more than pleased with the results.