When it comes to social media, everyone wants to be a part of the action. From Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, you’ll find millions of users, influencers, and brands vying for everyone’s attention. After all, gaining social media recognition means more followers, higher popularity, and even sponsorships. Some even establish their fully branded community platforms to launch, grow, and monetize their community of followers.
Despite millions of social media users, small businesses are struggling to establish a strong online presence. Despite the fierce competition, entrepreneurs are no longer intimidated by social media. According to the Social Media Marketing Industry Report, most business owners are using social media channels for their marketing campaigns. These platforms are helping small businesses expand their customer reach and establish a brand reputation.
On the surface, social media management may seem easy. You just simply upload a new post, respond to followers’ comments, and call it a day. But you can’t expect much from social media by simply posting random stuff and interacting with followers. The truth is that social media growth demands time, money, effort, as well as monitoring, strategic adjustment, and ongoing execution. If you’re brave enough to handle the pressures of managing your social media page, here are ways to establish a strong social media presence.
Use consistent content
Brand consistency is a must across social media platforms. With millions of users and brands, it’s essential to be easily recognized and to stand out from the crowd. Sadly, many small businesses are content to leave their pages with mismatched photos and logos that are improperly sized and blurry. Carelessness can ruin your reputation by making you look unprofessional and cause unnecessary confusion to users.
You have less than five seconds to capture the audience’s attention, so be sure to make it last. One of the keys to having a successful social media presence is to craft unique, consistent, and engaging content. Posting random links or taking the one-size-fits-all approach won’t get you anywhere. Invest time and effort in building a strong, consistent brand identity across all platforms and optimize your content according to the network’s specifications.
Being consistent with your content also sets the audience’s expectations about when to see a post from you. People think that posting numerous posts every day strengthens your presence, but that’s no longer the game anymore. The secret is to stay present on times or days when many users are online and having a consistent schedule.
Follow a schedule
As mentioned earlier, consistency is an essential factor in building media presence. It’s not a set-and-forget marketing approach, but it requires regular monitoring.
One of the common problems brands commit on social media is the lack of consistency. Although social media provides you the freedom to post anything you want, you have to be responsible for every content you post. This won’t affect only visibility but also your traction in search engines.
Content expires fast, so your opportunity to build connections and be remembered is limited. This particularly applies to Facebook, where it prioritizes engagement in identifying which content shows on the news feed.
A social media editorial calendar is a critical part of social media management. This won’t only help you post timely and consistent content but also develop an integrated strategy when posting content. It also allows you to map the posting schedule, attend business-related events and promotions, and brainstorm content ideas to provide valuable content to your audience.
A great tip is to track the progress from planning to implementation to know how long it takes to create different types of content. You aren’t only brainstorming the topic, but you also have to research, write, and edit the content and find the right image to complement the text.
Inform people you’re on social media
A successful social media presence always starts with a strong following, but it’s hard to gather a community of followers from scratch. Over time, you have to build and grow your reach to appear on organic searches.
This is why having a social media marketing campaign isn’t enough to grow your presence. You need to optimize your digital marketing strategy to boost your numbers. Incorporate your social media handles on your website, email campaign, mobile marketing, and also traditional print advertising. These are great ways to let people know they can reach you through social media. At the same time, make sure to optimize your profile to stand out.
Developing a strong social media presence for your business can be daunting, time-consuming, and stressful. The good news is there are strategies to build a social account prime for engagement. The tactics we outlined above are the top techniques brands use to get ahead of the competition. With time, consistency, and creativity, you’re on your way to creating a successful social media presence.