Having a strong presence on social media is essential for any business looking to thrive. Social media has become the lifeblood of connecting with customers and community alike. It can also seem like a daunting task to decide which channels you’ll use, figure out what to post and when to post, and how to create messaging that grows your audience.
Should I use one social media platform at a time?
Should I post five times a day or five times a week?
How will I gain followers?
How will I keep my followers engaged so they don’t … unfollow me?
Whether you’re an independent boutique, budding startup or a well-established corporation, harnessing the power of social media platforms can help you reach a wider audience, engage with customers, and ultimately boost your brand’s success. It’s also a helpful pick-me-up to look over what you’ve shared when you want a little confidence boost!
However, before diving headfirst into the social media ocean, it’s crucial to have a well-thought-out strategy. In this guide, we’ll walk through the steps to determine which social media platforms are right for your brand, talk through how to decide what you want to post and how to effectively leverage your content marketing for maximum impact.
Determining Channels
The first and most crucial step in your social media journey is to determine which channels are the best fit for your brand. With numerous social media platforms available, it’s essential to focus your efforts where they will yield the greatest results.
1. Know Your Audience:
Understanding your target audience is the foundation of your social media strategy. Identify the demographics, interests, and behaviors of your potential customers. Are they active on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, or another platform?
Research and analytics tools can help you gather this data. Take a look at your existing website, email marketing or surveys you’ve collected from your customers.
2. Analyze Competitors:
Study your competitors to see where they are most active and successful. This can provide valuable insights into which platforms resonate with your industry or niche. You most likely have shared audiences, and possibly have new leads and potential customers waiting to follow your pages.
3. Set Clear Goals:
What are your objectives on social media? Are you looking to drive sales, build brand awareness, provide customer support, or showcase your expertise? Each platform has its unique strengths, so your goals should align with the platform’s capabilities.
You’ll find the most success in sharing your message, products and services by clearly defining who you’ll be messaging and how you’ll message them.
4. Consider Content Type:
Different social media platforms are known for specific types of content. For instance, Instagram has always been image-centric and has recently become popular for sharing short form video content in reels, while YouTube focuses on long form video. Twitter (now ‘X’) is best utilized for thought leadership in the form of short messages shared with like minded individuals.
If you’re looking into Facebook you’ll have a lot of opportunities to connect with various types of messaging and media, with one of the largest and most diverse audiences available to you on social media whereas Tiktok provides the opportunity to market to niche audiences with a heavy focus on stylized UGC (User Generated Content). Choose platforms that align with your content strategy and abilities.
Creating Accounts
Once you’ve identified the platforms that align with your brand’s goals and audience, it’s time to create your social media accounts. Here’s how to go about it:
1. Consistent Branding:
Maintain a consistent brand identity across all platforms. Use the same profile picture, cover photo, and handle to ensure your brand is easily recognizable. This will help your followers find you across different platforms, and will highlight your brand’s voice within your messaging. If you’re still developing your own branding, visit this previous post to become familiar with Elements of a Brand.
2. Optimize Profiles:
Complete your profiles with relevant information, including a compelling bio, contact details, and links to your website or other social media accounts. The account set-up process will typically provide you with prompts to make sure your profile is up to date with how and where your products and services can be found.
3. Content Guidelines:
Develop guidelines for the type of content you will share on each platform. Ensure your content aligns with the platform’s format and audience expectations. Each platform will have different goals and objectives based on your audience demographics – think to yourself which audience members use the platform I am creating content for and how can I best convey the message to them within that platform?
Content Mapping
Now that your accounts are set up, it’s time to develop a content strategy that resonates with your audience and supports your brand’s goals:
1. Content Pillars:
Identify key themes or topics related to your industry or niche, and that will help your business stand out. These will serve as the foundation of your content strategy. To take this a step further – envision how your content will exemplify what makes your business unique and powerful within your market.
2. Content Types:
Diversify your content by including a mix of text, images, videos, and other multimedia formats. Different platforms may require different content formats, and special attention to what each platform’s audience will resonate with the most.
3. Content Calendar:
Dividing content into pillars and types will already help to organize your posts. To take things a step further, you’ll want to take these pieces of content and organize them into a calendar. Plan your content schedule in advance, considering important dates, events, and trends in your industry. You can find an example of a promotional planning outline in our previous post.
Not only will this make your life easier than it would be to create a new post every day, it will provide you with a library to look back on for inspiration and adaptation as you develop more consistent messaging.
4. Engagement Strategy:
Engage with your audience by responding to comments, messages, and mentions promptly. Social media is a two-way conversation, so actively participate in discussions. Engagement with your audience can come from search, share, and activity between you and your followers. The more engaged your audience becomes, the more likely your account is seen as relevant and the more likely you are to grow that audience.
Management for Growth
Social media is an ongoing commitment, and managing your accounts effectively is essential for sustained growth:
1. Monitor Analytics:
Use platform-specific analytics tools or third-party software to track the performance of your posts and campaigns. Analyze these insights to refine your strategy. These insights can help you clearly define the times your audience is most active, the posts that gain the most reach and engagement, and topics that will be worth creating more content around.
2. Adapt and Evolve:
Stay up-to-date with the latest trends and algorithm changes on your chosen platforms. Adapt your strategy accordingly to maintain relevance. Analytics only work in your favor when you work with them!
3. Paid Advertising:
Consider investing in paid social media advertising to reach a larger audience and promote specific content or products. Many platforms can give you satisfying growth just with organic posting – but in a very saturated market and increasingly active social media climate, you’ll want to use paid advertising to stick out above the rest.
4. Collaborate and Network:
Build relationships with influencers and industry peers. Collaborative efforts can help you reach a broader audience and establish credibility. Creating a product or offering a service in conjunction with another respected business or with an influencer in your niche can get your content in front of new audiences, improve your visibility in search results and build relationships with trusted followers of the individuals you choose to collaborate with.
In conclusion, getting on social media is a strategic endeavor that requires careful planning and execution. By determining the right channels, creating compelling profiles, mapping out your content strategy, and effectively managing your accounts, you can harness the power of social media to elevate your brand’s presence and achieve your business objectives.
PRO TIP: Remember that some of your content can be utilized across multiple social media channels to give you more options for how you post, and who your posts are for. Check out how this blog post functions as a Pinterest post, and Instagram post.
Also remember, social media is not a one-size-fits-all solution, so tailor your approach to suit your brand’s unique needs and goals for each platform. With dedication and consistency, your brand can thrive in the digital landscape.
And if you need some help getting started, you can check out the Portfolio and Offerings sections of this site for inspiration and scheduling a consultation with Aura Branded.
