1. Identify your Audience
Before we begin, know that ‘everyone’ is not a target audience. Breaking down your audience will help you figure our which of your social media sites you should be active on, how often to post, and what type of content to publish.
Many companies get stuck because they don't post content that speaks to and resonates with their defined demographic. Spend some time looking at your audience personas, learning about their difficulties and the businesses they already like on social media. This type of analysis will assist you learn how to differentiate your own social media presence from the herd.
2. Seek Followers and Relationships
Some marketers debate if your following count is a vanity statistic. However, having 100 followers who consistently connect with you and your work is incomparably more useful than having 10,000 who ignore you.
Although cliché, don't leave out the "social" in your social media presence. The beauty of social media is that you can create relationships with people from all around the world in an instant.
3. Refrain from Automating Social Media
Marketing automation is hot right now, and for good reason.
You can't, however, expect to leave your social presence on autopilot and withdraw. For example, widespread autoreplying has become extinct since it is perceived as disingenuous. However, automation in the form of scheduling or curating material is completely acceptable. Just avoid that when answering inquiries from genuine consumers or followers.
4. Prioritise Helping Over Selling
Although social marketing is on the increase, your social media presence should rarely be about the "hard sale." Yes, it makes sense to push discounts and deals to your followers if you're in ecommerce. What is more crucial, though, is responding to followers' inquiries, whether through answers or content marketing.
If your followers seem to be buzzing about a certain issue, you should create material that addresses it directly. Instead of constantly pushing your items, give answers to issues to establish your organisation as an authority and maybe acquire a lifelong customer.
5. Get Visual
Photo and video material are killing it right now, no matter where you publish.
Instagram's image-based platform is growing rapidly. According to Facebook, live videos receive six times the engagement of any other sort of content.
For individuals trying to increase their Twitter followers, pictures and videos receive far more shares than text-based updates. Consider using images such as team photos and videos, photos of customers, event photos, quote image, and infographics.
6. Stay Active
Inactive social feeds are just a negative image for companies. Rather of allowing your Facebook or Instagram to accumulate dust, you must "show up" with new material.
Staying engaged on social media doesn't have to be a time-consuming chore. You may post material and reply to customer problems without wasting time by scheduling or just blocking out 10 to 15-minute chunks throughout the day. You may also try to plan your activities around the optimum times to post on social media to increase interaction.
7. Piggyback off Trends
Brands can always stay relevant with their content, whether it's breaking news, popular hashtags, or the newest meme. This is a fantastic chance to not just capitalise on the excitement of an established trend, but also to showcase your brand's uniqueness.
Understanding the ins and outs of hashtags, for example, may help you come up with time-sensitive subjects to piggyback on. Of course, avoid anything overly provocative that might alienate your readers.
8. Use Tools to Monitor Activity
When people complain about the lack of ROI from social, it's likely that they're not taking social seriously.
Marketers must apply the same level of attention to social media as they do to Google Analytics data. There are several analytics tools available to assist you in identifying your top-performing content, performance patterns, and breaking down your social media presence by the statistics. These data points might help you approach social media as a science rather than a guessing game.
9. Create Content People Want to See
You can't just copy the stuff that everyone else is sharing on social media if you want to stand apart. This entails really producing material. Whether you want to establish yourself as a thought leader or differentiate yourself from your competition, unique material is the way to go.
You should attempt to offer information that causes your followers to pause. There's a lot of noise on social media: make it your objective to cut through it.
10. Make Your Presence Known
If you've worked hard to build your social media presence, you should let the world know.
Anyone who encounters your brand should be merely a click away from becoming a long-term follower, from homepage feeds to symbols in your site footer or email signature.
Feeds from Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram can all be readily linked to your site with only a few lines of code. Cross-promotion on your website and other social media is a proactive method to build your audience over time.