These days, being strongly present on social media is critical for nearly every brand – as I’m sure you’re already aware. But the incorrect approach to social media can disengage followers, resulting in an overall negative impact on your reputation and revenue potential.
Mastering social media might not seem easy to some, but it honestly isn’t rocket science. We’ve listed 6 tips to help you win at social media.
- Don’t just advertise – deliver value
Your social media followers usually initially connect with you because they’re interested in what you offer. They may want to stay up to date on the company news or be aware of future promotions. So, be interesting on social media and mix things up – provide industry related posts alongside promotional offers.
You don’t want to end up pushing away your followers because you only post predictable sales posts and adverts. Instead, stand out and deliver value to ensure your audience stays engaged and interested.
- Leverage the reach of social media influencers
Using social media influencers is definitely the more effective strategy on social media. There are always exceptions now, but almost every brand can use influencers to their advantage.
You should identify the social networks that your target audience uses, then identify potential influencers who would be a great match for your brand. To get started you just simply need to reach out to the influencer and make a deal.
This is big business now, and influencers willing to play ball will have contact information visible in their bios.
- Think beyond organic reach
If you really want to win at social media, you have to be willing to pay to play. Facebook organics reach has changed so much since how it was in the beginning, and now Instagram is developing its advertisement strategies as well.
Combining the massive audience from platforms like Facebook and Instagram can provide you with a huge opportunity to generate instant traffic, leads and sales – with their advertising targeting options. It’s also highly scalable once you develop a winning campaign.
- Post consistently, but don’t overwhelm your audience
There are plenty of online tools available where you can manage your social media marketing, but don’t let extreme automation be your downfall. You don’t want to flood your followers’ newsfeeds with promotional posts; they won’t want that either.
But if you don’t post often enough, how can you expect your followers to always remember you and be familiar with you?
You want to be consistent and keep your brand fresh in the minds of your followers, but without being annoying and overwhelming.
- Address complaints and/or issues immediately
Social media has become a customer-service portal – it’s the easiest way for consumers to get the attention of a company. Sending a tweet or Facebook post takes a matter of seconds, rather than having to track down a phone number, wait on hold or speak to an outsourced call centre.
So as a business, you need to be able to respond, and do it quickly. If a consumer posts something on your social media feed, ask him or her to contact your ASAP to resolve the issue quickly and painlessly. Do not ignore it or delete it – that can set off a complete storm.
Take a look at the social media profiles of any major national brand, and you’ll see complaints and annoying customers – have a read through and see how those brands handle the comments.
- Understand your analytics
There are so many businesses who say “Social media just doesn’t work for us” yet they don’t dive into their social media analytics. Resources like Facebook Page Insights and Twitter analytics provide you with all the information you need to see what’s working and what isn’t for you.
Always check these daily and stay on top of your campaigns and posts – you can’t just throw up random posts and expect results. Consider what type of content receives the most engagement and what types of content drives the most clicks back to your website. Learn how your audience members react on social media and optimise your efforts to cater to their habits.
