To compete with the big fish and make their mark, new brands need to establish a strong social media presence. Social media platforms help brands connect with customers on a deeper level, raising awareness and fostering trust. And with nearly three billion people using social media, it’s no passing trend.
But building a strong social media presence is often easier said than done with new algorithms and platforms being introduced regularly. Social behaviors can also shift.
Research conducted by The Atlantic found that, “Overall, 78.8 percent of people said they were “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the privacy of their information on social media, and 82.2 percent said they self-censor on social media.”
This could potentially make it more challenging for a business to get their foot in the customer door via social media marketing. This makes having a few new social skills in your toolkit critical, so we compiled them for you. Let’s dive in!
1. Have concrete social media goals you want to accomplish
Goals are important, especially in business. But how many business owners don’t have concrete social media goals? Most people simply whip up some content, find an image, and post for posting’s sake. Instead, business owners should have specific business goals they want to achieve, like lead generation, sales, increased website traffic, collecting data, boosting audience base, and more.
Before posting anything on social media, begin with defining goals. For instance, if generating leads is your goal for a specific social campaign, create enticing posts that provide the value your business offers. This could drive a much higher CTR to your lead capture landing page.
2. Know what social channels your target audience uses
This is one of the most important and strategic ways to elevate your social media presence. Why does the social network you choose matter? Different people hang out in different places online, and there are defined B2C and B2B social channels as well. Choosing the right ones let you reach your actual target audience without wasting time and money attempting to attract target customers that simply aren’t there.
Let’s take a deeper look at some of the most popular social networks you may want to leverage to boost your business’ social presence:
Facebook is by far the biggest and most popular among all social media networks. There are 2.3+ billion Facebook users worldwide with over a billion active daily mobile users on the social platform. Facebook is a great place for ads though, giving businesses the ability to really focus ads for better results. (B2B and B2C)
If you have a large female audience, Pinterest is a very good place to elevate your social media presence. The user base is about 80 percent female, and the visual content Pinterest users want really let you engage with them. (B2C)
LinkedIn is a great social media network for B2B marketing. It is the professional’s social space with a lot of opportunities for businesses to generate sales leads and grow their network. (B2B)
Falling under Facebook’s umbrella, Instagram is powerful platform for businesses to connect with customers around the world. This is great for any business that can post a lot of great images, like those in the fashion or food industry, as well as ecommerce. (B2C)
YouTube
Video content is hot, and if your business is not creating videos, then it’s falling behind. The best part about YouTube is that it can be used to compliment other social channels by way of video. It is also the second largest search engine. (B2B and B2C)
3. Develop a social media strategy and stick to it
You now have goals in place and know the social media channels you want to post on. Now it’s time to develop a strategy. A clear strategy will help you stay consistent in posting, as well as maximize user engagement and CTR to achieve those new social goals created. For instance, you need to define your social media audience and have a strategy to tailor each post to entice that specific user. If it is moms who are into yoga, that will help you tailor the posts just for them, like using healthy and spiritual images with language that group identifies with.
Here are a few questions to consider when developing your social strategy:
- Who are the social users you want to target?
- What are they interested in?
- What content needs to be created?
- Where will these posts be published?
- Who will share this content?
4. Automate your social media campaigns as much as possible
In today’s digital age, you can pretty much automate everything. This is good news for business owners, since automation frees up valuable time for them to focus on growing the business and not on daily tasks others can manage. The good news is that automating social media is very easy. You can use a professional social media management company or purchase social automation tools like Hootsuite or Buffer.
5. Engage and be very active with your social media followers
Automating your social media strategy by having posts preset and schedule to post on specific days and times is certainly valuable for elevating your social media presence. It gives your business the consistency of posting it needs to succeed.
But unfortunately, you can’t automate everything. What goes out will come back, such as post comments and questions. To ensure you are increasing your social presence exponentially for the long haul, those comments and questions need to be answered quickly and in-depth. This give your audience that personal touch they want in order to trust your business enough to give you their email or buy something.
A few aspects to consider when it comes to engaging with your social followers are:
- Always comment on posts
- Start and join conversations
- Answer questions as best as possible
- Give your followers love
- Deal with complaints
- Share user generated content
6. Track social media metrics to ensure growth is actually happening
There are a lot of businesses using social media to engage with and sell to their customers. But if you ask a business owner the growth they have had from social media over Q1 2019, they probably won’t have an answer. That’s because not many businesses are tracking social metrics. This is a mistake. To elevate your social media presence, you need to track what is working and what is not. You can also subscribe to an all-in-one tool for full-scale social media tracking like Quintly or common alternatives.
For instance, if you are spending time and money attempting to generate new leads on Facebook, but the needle isn’t moving, it is time to investigate. Having social metrics can help you make an informed, data supported decision. This is a critical part of boosting your social presence, and when in place, can help you create more successful social media marketing campaigns than ever before.
Ready to get social?
The above six ways to elevate your social media presence are among the most important and easiest to implement. In fact, you can begin putting these social tips and tricks into your current marketing workflow today. Social media is an important element in business today. Leverage it for maximum benefit for your business.
