Social media is forever growing, and with platforms like TikTok storming onto the scene, it can feel hard to keep up. But these platforms are now the perfect place to grow your small business so it’s important to stay on top of your game to boost your social media platforms and online presence.
In this blog, we will explore three key marketing tips for growing your online presence on any social media platform. Whether you prefer to keep your brand on certain platforms or if you’re open to trying out everything, here you can find some tips best suited to you.
1. Create a structured plan
The first and most important tip is to create a plan and strategy.
- Who are you?
- What is your brand?
- What are you trying to get out of your social media?
- Are you trying to increase your brand awareness or drive sales?
Without a plan, you will most likely end up posting a random mix of content without any purpose behind it. Although some things may look aesthetically pleasing and you will get some likes, people could still be exiting your page not fully understanding your brand or being interested in your services.
If you’re first introducing your brand to social media you’re best starting off with a personal post. You should include photos/videos of you with your brand along with an explanation of who you are and why you decided to set up your business.
This is an excellent way to build brand awareness as it gives the audience an instant humanised feel, a person scrolling through their feed can easily see who you are and what your brand is about. Without seeing the face behind the brand people may be less likely to trust what you’re selling and therefore whilst they might see your posts, they may not go on to find your website or store.
If you have already gained a large following but lack engagement it can be an idea to change the type of content you’re posting. If you’re currently posting a lot of image-heavy content it may be a benefit to start posting more videos. People often engage better with something they can watch rather than a static image. Try changing some of your content over a week and see if there are any changes in the engagement. If certain content performs really well you can implement the same type of style into your upcoming content to give you a better chance of driving similar levels of engagement.
Moreover, if you’re looking to boost your profile and require a lot of engagement quickly, a great way to get people involved is through giveaways. You can ask people to follow, like, comment and repost in order to win a prize and it can grow your audience within minutes.
2. Remember that consistency is key
Once you have a solid plan of what content you want to start creating in addition to which platform and media you want to use, the next step is to stay consistent with your content. At first, you might put the time and effort into creating engaging content and therefore drive a good amount of engagement and followers. However, if this enthusiasm and frequency diminish through fewer posts and lower quality content, your audience is likely to become less interested and your posts will begin to be shown to fewer people.
An easy way to keep consistent in your uploads can be by creating a social media calendar. This way, you can keep track of what you’re posting each month in addition to how often you post. Moreover, you can use this calendar to get organised for the upcoming month so you can then schedule everything in advance. By spending some time on this at the start of each month, you won’t have to worry about forgetting to post. Social media tools such as Brandwatch are designed specifically for this purpose.
In addition to having a consistent upload schedule, it is also important to keep your content engaging. For example, if you write blogs you can repurpose the information from your blog posts and make fun graphics to deliver this information on social media. Or if you’re still struggling to find new ideas, you can always search #smallbusiness on TikTok for fresh inspiration. More often than not there will also be a trend on the platform that you can join in with.
3. Don’t be afraid to engage with your audience
When first introducing your brand to social media it might feel a bit daunting when you see a comment appear on your post, however, this is often a good thing and can allow you to increase your brand awareness in a really positive way. If someone comments that they love the video or your product, even a simple thank you as an acknowledgement can go a long way. Other people viewing your posts can then see your replies and automatically determine what kind of business owner you are based on your interaction.
By personalising replies with the user’s name included in your message, you can show people that you’re not a robot going through replying to everyone but an actual person taking the time to read their messages. People see this as much more considerate than a quick reply and appreciate it much more, this in turn helps build a stronger relationship between your brand and your clients.
If you find a lot of negative comments appearing on your posts, figure out what the problem is first before reacting. If someone comments letting you know they have had a negative experience with your service or product, don’t instantly reply negatively. Remember that potential customers will also see your replies and your behaviour could affect whether or not they want to use your services or buy your products. Instead, be polite and ask for more details about the customer’s issue, if this was an honest mistake on your part you could offer a refund or a replacement.
If the problem was in fact the customer’s fault you could kindly invite them to direct message you with more information to see what you can do about it. This way it saves you from having multiple people replying in the thread so you can sort out one problem at a time.
In summary, when beginning your social media marketing journey the main three things you should remember are: create a plan to keep track of what you want to post and when, stay consistent with your content (if you begin to become lazy so will your audience), and finally, remember to keep engaged with your audience. If your brand is active and engaged, your audience will want to engage with you personally a lot more.
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