You only need to look at the social media demographics across platforms to know that social media is here to stay! But that doesn’t mean you have had the chance to put in the time or effort necessary to create a proper presence on the right networks. Even if you haven’t optimized your social media presence, there’s still time, and the benefits will be worth the effort! There are many advantages to creating your brand on social media. It can help improve your brand’s social customer service, allow you to communicate with customers, help engage and reach new audiences, and drive traffic to your website. In short, creating a practical social media strategy can drive growth for your business.
1. Set a Goal
The first step in growing your social media presence is to identify your goals and objectives. This means make sure you know what you are going after before you start posting. Ensure you know how each platform works, what audiences you can reach where, and what your objectives are and you will be off to a great start. Being active on social media has a number of benefits for your business, and there are many things you can accomplish with a social presence. This includes performing customer service, engaging customers, generating leads, expanding your audience, driving sales, increasing web traffic, gaining insights and feedback, and much more.
2. Create a Strategy
Having a goal for improving your social media presence is great, but it’s only the beginning. Once you know what you want to achieve, you have to come up with a plan to get there. Designating people for specific jobs is usually most efficient. You should also be able to answer this questions: who is your audience, what interests your audience, what content you’ll need to create, when and on what platforms you will be posting on, and how you plan on engaging with them? Understanding what your audience needs will help you be able to interact with them on a more intimate level. Knowing what they want to read about and what they believe in will help you understand what you need to give to them. Once you understand this, you can give them everything they want which means bringing them to your website to see what your business is all about.
3. Actively Engage With Your Audience
Knowing your audience is critical when it comes to finding success with social media engagement. Although content is important on social media, it’s not enough to just post your content and walk away. You have to create content that excites and entertains to drive engagement! You want to engage with those who post on your social media pages. This means when someone posts something, talk back to them. Let them know you are reading what they are posting and you are listening to what they want. Then, give them more of what they want to keep them posting on your pages.People who visit your social media page or website are asking ‘What’s in it for me?’ Show them by giving a product away for free, something designed to draw them into your business by building trust or sparking interest. Consider giving away a short trial, a free book, a discount code, or even liking their page back. This will help you earn valuable followers who will stay engaged!
