Is your business brand slowly sinking on social media, or settled at the bottom of a noisy lake? It’s time to shake off the sediment and start swimming again.
Photo by Jeremy Bishop from Pexels.com
In today’s marketplace, all businesses, no matter their size, will have a social media presence of some sort, even if it’s only a Twitter account used for a monthly promotion.
But just having a social media presence doesn’t mean that it’s serving the business, there are thousands of companies who don’t benefit from their accounts simply because they don’t have the right ideas about how to use it.
It’s a bit like taking the sign down from your shop so that people drive by without seeing your brand. They might remember that you’re there if someone happens to mention you, but in general, there is no sign of you anywhere.
Luckily, there are some tried and tested strategies that you can implement today to kick-start your journey back to the surface.
Get SMART and set goals.
Goals are vital to the success of any business. Without them, your business will lack direction and purpose. A social media strategy is just the same; setting goals will allow you to monitor the success of your strategy and make the changes necessary to improve it along the way.
SMART goals are an easy way to frame your ideas for future success. An example of a SMART goal might be; to increase Facebook followers by 25% by the end of the first quarter.
Specific – facebook is identified as the social media platform to focus on.
Measurable – there is a figure of 25%, based on analytical data.
Achievable – the 25% figure is challenging but realistic.
Relevant – revitalizing the brand on Facebook will improve conversion rates and boost other campaigns.
Time-bound – the 25% goal must be met by the end of the first quarter.
Applying this simple strategy to your brand will automatically improve your social media presence.
The Human Connection
Social media is different from traditional forms of advertising because it is interactive. The dynamic is different, and the ‘hard sell’ doesn’t work. Businesses that over-promote often do less well on social media than they would offline.
There is a need for transparency in today’s world of advertising that wasn’t around in the past. People nowadays are more likely to respond to a company that is active on social media but is not always promoting its services.
In general, stick to the 80/20 rule. That is 80% entertainment and audience engagement, 20% promotional material.
When you are promoting your business, try to make your content more visual. Our brains process visual information 60,000 times faster than plain text. Use online tools like free brochure templates to consolidate your business information and make it visually appealing for an online audience.
Don’t Be Content With Your Content.
A content calendar is another vital component in your social media strategy; to keep your brand relevant, it’s essential to post content often and at appropriate times of the year.
If you have all of your content planned out in advance, it is much easier to monitor, use analytics tools and adjust to make them more relevant to your target audience and, therefore, more effective.
Today, there are loads of content management tools to choose from, so stay active, stay relevant, and you won’t get that sinking feeling.
