How to stand out and stay top-of-mind on social media
Are you looking to improve the effectiveness of your social media marketing strategy?
Social media is one of the fastest paced industries that I’ve ever had the pleasure of working in; new tools are introduced on a weekly basis.
In order to stay effective in your social media marketing efforts, you have to constantly fine-tune your strategy.
You have to pay attention to the analytics to ensure you’re giving your audience what they want, when, and where they want it.
Here are a few tips to help you stand out, and stay top-of-mind, on social media:
- Connect: Spend time creating meaningful connections with your audience. Thank those who endorse and support your brand and creative campaigns, and engage those who are looking to learn more from you. Social media isn’t a soap box; it’s not about talking TO your audience, it’s about talking WITH them. In order to connect, you need to get clear on the types of people that you want to build relationships with. For example, Buffer does a great job at rewarding their brand ambassadors with hand-written notes and stickers.
- Be intentional: Think before you post. If you want your brand to become valuable and lovable, you need your content to be purposeful. Don’t just hop on trending hashtags; use hashtags that make sense for your industry. It seems like there’s a holiday every day; from National Cat Day to National Chicken Wing Day. Don’t post a photo for every stupid holiday, especially if that holiday is in no way related to your business. Your fans will appreciate you posting meaningful content; that’s what will keep them coming back to your social profiles again and again.
- Showcase your fans: Always be on the look-out for ways to engage and incorporate your fans into your social media content and campaigns. For instance, you can ask fans to post a photo of your product and re-post those images across your social media. User-generated campaigns are a great way to show your fans the love and make them feel valued. These types of campaigns incentivize to your audience to engage with your brand in a positive way.
- Collaborate: Don’t be afraid to partner with other brands and businesses to share important information, or valuable giveaways, online. Find brands with similar target audiences that are willing to partner to provide greater value to your fans. Collaborations are a great way to humanize your brand and expand your reach online.
- Stay clear: Don’t stray away from your core mission and purpose for using social media. While you want to be creative and engage in worthwhile collaborations, you ultimately should be using social media to move the needle on specific business goals. Staying clear on your mission will help your fans understand your purpose; this will translate into an awareness from them on how to best support you.
- Analyze and adjust: Last but not least, you need to pay attention to analytics. Diving in to the data will help you see exactly what’s working; you should use this data to adjust your strategy moving forward to ensure you’re giving your audience what they want. For example, if you post a ton of links and they don’t get clicked, start posting more imagery and see the response. Responding to your audience’s preferences will lead to more engagement.
Regardless of which of the tips above you apply, there’s no doubt that social media is social.
You need to connect with people and provide them with value if you want to inspire them to support your brand.
Using the tactics above will keep your fans smiling and your stats growing.
Do you have a tip to add to the list?
Leave it in the comments below!