How to Boost Your Social Media Efforts

by Alison Goble | March 30, 2016

In the marketing world, social media has become a powerful tool used to increase brand awareness and influence. Most likely, you have already developed a social media platform for your brand, but are you getting the most out of it?

Without realizing it, you could be taking some social media missteps costing you followers and potential business. If you’re spending time and money on social media marketing (and you should be) you want to make it as successful as possible. By making some simple changes to your overall strategy, you can use social media to help boost your business.

Build Relationships With Your Readers

Social media can be an ultra effective tool to reach potential clients because it allows the soul of your business to show. It can give followers a better idea of your voice and allow them to feel connected to your business in an entirely new and more personal way.

This level of audience engagement is reached when you respond to comments, messages, and questions from readers. Publishing a post on your business’s blog is step one, but it shouldn’t be stagnant. A post is meant to begin a conversation; neglecting to do so sends potential clients into the arms of the competition. Consumers expect to be able to interact with you, and if it becomes a one sided conversation then you are sending a message that their business is not important to you.

QUICK TIP: Ask open ended questions at the end of your postings that prompt readers to share their own experiences and thoughts. Respond to their comments in a timely manner and keep the conversation going.

Keep Your Eyes On The Target

Audience that is! Define and do your best to understand who your target audience is and what makes them tick. Research their demographic and study their likes and dislikes. The target audience should determine what kind of content you’re posting and producing. You want to educate and enrich the lives of your audience, not drive them away with content they aren’t interested in.

QUICK TIP: Establish a focus group for example, and spend some time getting to know your audience. Before you post, ask yourself—would my customers appreciate this information?

Bring Influencers on Board

Self promotion of your product isn’t always enough. Working with influencers is a great way to give your brand credibility, grow your network, and give you access to potential clients. Social media influencers are seen as leaders or experts in a certain niche (food, health, finance, etc.), have an established online presence and typically have a very loyal following. If a prominent, independent blog promotes your product or service, their followers are likely to take that recommendation seriously.

QUICK TIP: It is important however to find influencers that have a voice and vibe similar to your own. Remember the target audience—would they read this blog or follow this influencer? If the answer is yes, reach out!

Quality Over Quantity

It feels like every week there’s a hot, new social media platform released vying for your attention. You may feel pressure to be everywhere at once, fearing that if you aren’t, potential clients could be lost. But seriously, who can keep up with that? If you’re on every social media platform, but can’t consistently interact with all of them, don’t be afraid to cut it down. You want to be where your audience is and participate with them.

QUICK TIP: Creating a Pinterest account and then leaving your board empty does nothing for your brand. Figure out what 3 or 4 social media platforms work best for your content and audience, and stick to those.

Mix It Up

The number one reason people unfollow a page is because the content posted is boring or repetitive. While social media is a fantastic platform for self-promotion, it shouldn’t be the sole focus. If you think of the food pyramid, self-promotion is one part of a well-balanced social media diet, but you also need the other food groups—other high quality content. Knowing your target audience comes into play here as well, post things that they will find interesting, innovative and useful. Your postings should be complimentary to your main goal of brand promotion.

QUICK TIP: Highlighting content outside of your brand can also be reciprocal, the “if you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours” mentality is alive and well in the social media world.

The key to improving your social media presence is two fold. First, identify the kind of audience you want to connect with and where they are the most active online, then recognize your own online strengths and combine the two. If there is a gap between your capabilities and social media goals, then consider working with firms that specialize in virtual brand promotion. For a more comprehensive guide to social media, check out Moz’s Beginner’s Guide here.

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Alison is a whiz bang at strategy and social media. She believes in the power of a story and using social media as a channel to share that story. With a fierce attention to detail and a passion for all things pretty, this hashtag-savvy millennial aims to make the world a sweeter place one Instagram post at a time.