By Madison Imoto
With over half the world’s population on social media, it is no longer an option for companies to have an online presence – it is a necessity. Businesses both big and small utilize social media to grow their online presence, gain followers and connect with their audiences. However, the sheer number of platforms available and their different uses can make building your online brand feel like a daunting task. But even if you are just getting started or are a pro at this, there is always room for improvement. So here are 5 simple tips to up your social media game and successfully market your brand.
1. Create a Strategy
Each platform needs its strategy. Every platform is different in some way and it is important to understand what works best to create targeted content and generate engagement.
Some questions to consider are:
- Why am I using this platform?
- Who is my target audience?
- What brand message am I trying to push?
- What content works best on this platform?
- How can I make my content unique
2. Be Consistent
While posting consistency depends on the platform, posting content regularly is always a good rule of thumb to follow. Also tying into a social media strategy, creating a content calendar for each platform is another way to keep things on track. This calendar will lay out what kind of content to post over a long period.
Regardless of your business size and what platform you are using, be conscious of keeping these aspects consistent:
- Brand image
- Brand message
- Posting frequency
- Hashtags
And if your business is just getting started on social media, sometimes quality is better than quantity. Don’t stretch yourself too thin. Dedicate to posting good content on 1-2 platforms, instead of being inconsistent across 5 platforms.
3. Create Engaging & Interesting Content
With social media feeds and timelines being saturated by millions of people, it is important to stand out from the crowd by creating good content.
So what is good content? While that term is subjective and depends on the platform, here are some general tips for good content creation:
Newsworthiness
- Anything that is considered newsworthy is a good idea to generate content around. The pillars of newsworthiness are timeliness, proximity, conflict and controversy, human interest, and relevance.
Media
- Static images should have a clear visual and not include a lot of words (that is what the caption is for).
- Using gifs or videos is excellent – the movement attracts the audience’s attention and is more interesting to look at than just an image.
- Include your staff! It is a great way for your audience to get to know the faces behind the brand.
Storytelling
- Use storytelling as a way to engage the audience and develop a brand voice.
- It is a creative way to convey your message without seeming like you are trying to sell a product.
Trends
- Current digital and societal trends are important to stay relevant, but always make sure that it aligns with your brand.
4. Engagement
Engaging with your followers is important in building a community and feeling more personable. Ways to do this include:
- Liking and responding to comments
- Live streaming
- Creating polls and quizzes
- Post content that starts
5. Track and Analyze Metrics
Diving deep into social media analytics is one of the most important steps to do when building your brand online. Thankfully, most social media apps already track your metrics, as long as it is a business account. With the data and statistics, you can effectively analyze your strategy and continue to drive performance.
Bottom Line
Creating a targeted and effective social media strategy will improve your performance online. Utilizing unique ways to interact with your audience will increase your reach. And most importantly, analyzing your metrics will help you determine whether or not you are on the right track. Social media is constantly evolving and with seemingly new trends every day, these tips will help you to craft your strategy and grow your audience.
