Managing your business’s online presence through social media is crucial for brand awareness, customer engagement and growth. Here are some effective strategies to help you make the most of your social media presence.
Set SMART Goals
SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.
Set objectives for your goals like how many followers you want. Views and shares are also important, however comments are even more valued. Your objectives should be relevant to your brand.
Choosing Platforms
Once you have your goals set, you need to choose the right platform(s) for your business. Every business is not the same. Choosing the platform is an important part of your social media marketing.
Hoot Suite says, “Globally, people spend an average of 2 hours and 20 minutes per day using social media.” Getting your message out on social media is becoming more important each year.
Every social media network has different strengths and weaknesses. Each also has a demographic that is unique to the platform. Knowing your business’s demographics when you define your brand, helps with choosing which platform will be right for you.
Sprout Social says, “Facebook remains the most popular social media platform among consumers and marketers. For the first time, it hit 3 billion monthly active users, making it the first social media platform to do so.”
“As far as social media age demographics go, Instagram maintains a firm hold on both Gen Z and millennials. These groups make up roughly two-thirds of their base.”
“Gen Z is driving this growth in popularity [using TikTok], with 78% of US Gen Z using it in 2023.”
“After rebranding to X [formerly known as Twitter], the platform saw a 13% decline in daily active users during the first year. Some reports note a spike in activity while others note a migration away from the app. eMarketer predicts that X’s user base will drop to 335.7 million in 2024.”
“YouTube’s popularity has grown among Gen Z users, particularly in the United States. It’s now the most frequented online platform among U.S. Gen Z adults.”
“Comscore reports a 53% increase in the platform’s [LinkedIn] reach within the 18-24 age group. This makes it the second fastest-growing platform among Gen Z, following the relatively new, BeReal.”
“Number of monthly [Pinterest] active users: 498 million with the largest age group being 25-34 (30.9%). Gender distribution: 76.2% female, 17.2% male, 6.6% unspecified (no data on other genders).”
“Snapchat is still huge with the younger crowd. In fact, it has the highest number of Gen Z users among leading social media platforms putting it ahead of Instagram and TikTok. Statista predicts that Snapchat will have 49.6 million Gen Z users in 2024.”
Create Engaging Content
So, once you know which platforms to use, you have to make your content engaging so people react positively to it.
Make your posts targeted to your audience. Use well-written text with eye-catching visuals, either images or video. Infographics are also effective in attracting attention to your post.
Give people a call to action, asking them to respond in some way. “Call today!” is an example of a call to action. Or “Visit our website for more information,” is another one. Give them a reason to respond.
Contests, polls and questions all encourage engagement from your viewers and followers.
Post Regularly
Mark time on your daily calendar for posting on social media. You need to be consistent to get any kind of results. Some social media sites allow you to post-date your content. Some people like to do a week all at once, it seems easier. Then you are finished for the week. But, if your posts are often timely and relate to events happening that day, you might want to do it daily.
Spotty posts, once a week or now and then, don’t keep your brand in someone’s mind. If you post daily, people see your brand and begin an association with your excellent posts. Then, when they need your products or services, you immediately come to mind. That’s what social media is all about — brand recognition.
Monitor and Engage
Visit your pages, don’t just post. As the social media manager, you will need to check and see if you have comments. Respond to them as soon as possible to keep the conversation going. As you respond more and more, you build relationships, and that is so important to small businesses.
Visit other pages that relate to your subject and make relevant comments on their pages. This is another way to get your brand out there in front of people.
Keep Evaluating Performance
Keep an eye on your analytics, sometimes called “insights” on social media platforms. See which posts are doing the best and which have little or no interaction. Gear your upcoming post content toward the ones that rank the highest for you.
In Conclusion
A strong social media presence requires strategic planning, consistent execution and engagement. Social media is ever-changing and you will have to adjust to keep your posts relevant and effective.
