I dare you to go out there and search for a brand that has no social media. I am willing to bet that there is probably a close to zero chance that you will find one brand without any form of social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. The truth is, social media is a crucial part of any brand’s success and has become the holy grail for marketers.
Nevertheless, merely owning a media account does not equate to success. Not all brands have an active, thriving, loud social media presence. Several of them are just out there with a random post, a rare hashtag, and a monthly update. However, for your social media to be of any real value, you need to have a social media strategy.
If you are a brand and are just sort of posting here and there, hoping for some miracle, worry not. We have put together a list of things to do to tune up your social media presence this November. Are you ready?
1. Be SMART
Your social media presence should follow the principle of SMART goals. When designing your social media strategy, your goals must be:
SPECIFIC = identify the specific social media platform you will use
MEASURABLE = identify the method you will use to measure your platform’s response rate
ACHIEVABLE= identify an achievable response rate
RELEVANT= find a goal that is relevant to your social media presence
TIME-BOUND = make sure that you have a time frame to achieve your goal
What SMART does is help you set the path for your social media presence. It establishes a clear purpose and a measurable method to assess its success. More importantly, SMART enables you to avoid the trap of aimless and random posting.
2. Who’s Your Audience?
You have used SMART; you have outlined your goals; you have your timeline to achieve these goals. Now what? Well, now, you sit down and identify your audience. Because your audience is not everybody, and everybody is really not the same.
Unfortunately, many brands make the mistake of posting content that does not resonate with their audience, simply because they do not know their audience. You need to look at your audience personas and go beneath the mere demographic information. Take the time and invest the energy to get to know your audience, understand their concerns, dreams, and worries. Find what makes your audience tingle and create social media posts that will tingle them.
You need to clearly identify your audience because it will help you set the parameters on your posting schedule and the information you share on your profiles. Moreover, knowing who you are posting for will define the type of content you post and help you shape your brand’s voice. Give your brand a voice that will help it stand out from the crowd.
3. Don’t Be Afraid To Open Up
Your social media presence should allow you to open up and connect with your audience. Do not make a mistake to use your social media platform to promote your brand in an impersonal, corporate way. Your audience wants to get to know the person behind the corporation. Coming off as a faceless, impersonal, distant business will do more harm than good.
The beauty of social media is this: it allows you to show your human side, crack up jokes, admit to struggles, share dreams and aspirations. Do not confuse your social media platform with your About Us section of your website. Your social media should show the person and give the unique voice of the brand in doing so. Share photos of your team working or your team enjoying a team-building activity together. Share inside jokes and perhaps even ask your audience’s input on individual minor decisions regarding your brand. Show your humanity, include your audience, and make them feel that you are all a part of one big happy family.
4. One Big Happy Family
You need to understand this: your social media presence should target at making you and your audience one big happy family. You should not aim for a crowd of followers. You should aim for meaningful relationships.
Followed by 100.000 followers who ignore your posts and pay no attention to what you are saying is no good. Instead, aim for 1000 followers who interact with you, read your posts, post comments, and @mention you and your brand. Take the time to respond to each comment, get to know your top fans, and perhaps mention them from time to time in your posts.
It takes a village to raise a child and a dedicated group of followers to nurture and grow your brand.
5. Use Calendars
Ah! The beauty of editorial calendars, that often gets ignored. If you own more than just one social media platform, it is easy to get distracted and lose track of what you post, which platform you post it on, and when.
Editorial calendars help tune up your social media presence. When planned at the beginning of each month, editorial calendars can help you space out your posts evenly between platforms. They also serve as a reminder and give you a heads up to create your upcoming post’s content. A detailed and thorough editorial calendar will make the effort of juggling multiple social media platforms appear seamless. It will also prevent you from posting the same content across your platforms and guide you to time your posts to achieve maximum audience engagement.
Now What?
It is easy to get lost in the intricate world of social media. Striking the perfect balance between just being out there and overbearing your audience with a bombardment of posts is a delicate task.
For your social media presence to be of any real value, it is perhaps time for a tune-up this November. Set SMART goals, define your audience, show your brand’s human side, aim for real relationships and not followers, and always use editorial calendars.
So what are you waiting for? Tune-up your social media presence now and reap the rewards this November.