Is joining social media a viable strategy for your business or brand? There are over 3.5 billion active users across different social media platforms, which represents a significant market base for any business. By going online,you will be able to take advantage of the large follower numbers to generate interest in your brand. This will help make it easier for you to reach your goals, with a global possibility for expansion. (Image Credit: PixelKult/ Pixabay)
You will not be a guaranteed success on social media. The platform can be challenging for new brands, and may carry potentially harmful effects if done wrongly. Your social media activity could shape user perception surrounding your brand, which could affect your performance offline. While joining social media is recommended, following these social media best practices will help ensure you increase your likelihood of success on the avenue.
Make regular posts
You need to have the capacity to manage social media pages before going online. Creating dormant social media pages could be even worse for your brand as this could affect user trust and confidence levels. When setting up online, remember to understand how and what you can share across different platforms on which you are active. This will make it easier to reach and attract users, who will be more likely to take interest in your page.
Always interact with your followers
Brands that do not interact with their social media followers are more likely to miss out on the personal selling offered by social media. Users will explore your pages for interaction with other people to find out how trustworthy and credible your brand is. They may also seek customer service and support for products they may have already purchased or show some interest in. They could even get online to review their experience with your brand. You should offer a timely response to all your followers, regardless of the nature of their post. This will help you win over more followers, and could boost your ability to build relationships with your current followers.
Invest in a social media team
You should invest in a social media team to allow for distribution of labor and better management of your social media activity. Brands are very popular online, with users taking advantage of the personal interaction offered by social media to engage with brands. This can be overwhelming, particularly if you are set up across different social media platforms. You need to invest in a social media team to reduce your workload and increase the efficiency of your responses.
Create a social media policy
Having a team will help reduce the workload, but may increase the difficulty of maintaining your brand image. As more people join your social media team, the amount of work can be divided for easier management. However, it is also much more difficult to naturally present a unified brand image with so many personalities on board. You can reduce the risk to yourbrand by setting up a social media policy, which will dictate how and what to post, as well as how to respond to clients. It can also dictate how they may be able to dissociate their personal social activity from their company activity, which will reduce any confusion and protect your brand from any consequences that may arise from your employees’ posts without limiting their freedom of speech and expression.
Turn on your notifications
You should be alert for all new engagements and interactions with your followers in order to provide a timely response. If you ignore user engagement online,you will not be able to build relationships which can be leveraged for influence and higher conversion levels. If you want to stay ahead of the game, you should turn on your notifications. This will allow you to know about comments, wall posts and shares quickly and to react in good time. You may need to add working hours to help your clients know when to expect a reply if you are not available for 24 hours.
Quote experts and add links to your site
Aside from diversifying your content on social media to increase your brand’s appeal,you may also consider attaching links to your own website and those of leading figures in your industry. You may also add quotes from experts on different topics. This will add a sense of authority, and could go some way to helping you raise trust levels in your brand.
Invest in paid ads
You will have a difficult time getting the right kind of traction on social media if you are a new user. Even brands which are relatively well-known might have some trouble building up follower and engagement numbers, which will affect the rate of growth. You can invest in paid advertising options, which are available through different social media platforms, to increase your rate of growth on social media and help you achieve your business goals quickly. For instance, using a working Instagram likes app could help you grow on Instagram, and working with a Facebook advertising agency can greatly increase the reach of your business.
Be original
Just because a social media marketing strategy has worked for a brand in the past doesn’t mean you should employ it for your own use. You should not even consider using old ideas from your own social marketing strategies. On social media, originality will win you points. You need to develop original posts and content to stand a chance of reaching your audiences and remaining appealing to them.
Use sample groups
You cannot predict how your target audience will react to a social media campaign or post. You could hurt your brand’s reputation if users react badly to your social media activity, which may be too difficult to overcome. Instead of putting your brand at risk with every post shared, you should consider using a sample group to try out your posts. This will help you understand how people may react, and to tweak it to meet your expectations.
Avoid overly marketing your brand
There are more ways to market your brand than simply setting up online and bombarding your followers with information on your products and services. Marketing online requires a gentle touch, whereby you build and leverage relationships to increase sales. You will be better able to make sales through personal selling to your followers and constant interaction than you would through constant marketing. Instead of advertising your brand, try getting to know your clients and helping them find out more about you.
