Social media. It’s the worldwide neighborhood.
We have been given this huge opportunity to connect with people all over the world. Are you taking advantage of it?
We’d be surprised to hear if you weren’t on social media yet (unless you’re a new brand of course). But if you’re not and you’re looking to dive in and make use of these massive communities, we’re here to guide you through the steps of building a successful social media strategy.
Setting Your Goals
Before you even set up your profiles determine what your short-term and long-term goals are. For those who are new to social media, are you looking to build brand awareness? Maybe you’re looking to gain new customers by directing them to your website. There’s a chance this could even turn into your line of communication with customers who are seeking customer service. Once these goals are established, you’re ready to move on to your social build-out.
Branding and Optimization
For companies and brands alike, it’s important to ensure all your social platforms are uniform in terms of branding. When customers land on any of your channels they should immediately know where they are. This includes uploading bios, logos and taglines, and keeping your voice consistent overall.
Quality over Quantity
Of course you’re going want to keep a consistent flow on content on your profiles but you don’t want to spam your followers with unnecessary and irrelevant content.
Building out an editorial calendar can help you and your brand organize and create content in a timely manner. Begin with planning your content themes for the next 3-6 months and revisit toward the end of that period to analyze what has/hasn’t performed well.
How to Approach Each Platform
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Facebook
Most people, businesses, and brands are now on Facebook. With an overload of content that is consistently being poured into users feeds, be sure to publish engaging photos or questions that will catch the eyes of your followers as they are quickly scrolling through.
Take Facebook Advertising into consideration. If you have the budget to boost posts or run a Likes campaign – even a few dollars – it could expand your reach and further boost your organic strategy efforts.
It’s so important to listen to your followers – on any channel. If they comment, comment back. Always let your followers and customers know that they are important and that you’re grateful they’re there.
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Twitter
Twitter is my personal favorite of the social family. It’s quick, so you need to make sure you are, too (think Oreo, circa 2013). If you missed a social trend, don’t try to back pedal. Instead wait for the next opportunity and don’t miss out on it. Be sure to incorporate hashtags in your tweets to take part in certain conversations – this will ultimately allows users interested in specific topics come across and engage with your page.
With the limited character count allowed in bios and tweets always make every word count for impactful and exciting content.
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Instagram
Despite what you might think, you don’t need a professional photographer to create high-quality, eye-catching imagery. There are so many editing tools within Instagram and other apps that you can utilize. A new favorite in our office is Snapseed.
Keeping to a specific color scheme, content theme, and telling a compelling story in each picture – accompanied with hashtags – are sure to bring high engagement rates to your account.
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LinkedIn
LinkedIn is known for it’s professional atmosphere and network. You won’t want to share the same funny pictures you have on the other social networks here.
Keep LinkedIn content focused on company news, FAQs on a product, career openings, etc. to help build and maintain the appropriate audience.
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Google+
Google+, while not the most popular, is still very important. This network lets Google Bots index your posts – meaning, Google will scan the content that you share to help better position your profile and brand in Google search results.
Keep in mind you still want to write for your followers and not be so technical. Share educating, attractive images and videos just like you would on Facebook.
Monitor and Analyze
Now that you’re setup on all of your social media channels, have been posting consistently, and engaging with your followers, it’s time to monitor and analyze.
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn offer their own in-page analytics that will provide you with a great deal of information such as engagement rates, percentage of increased/decreased followers, page views, and more. Make sure you put these stats to use! When you start creating your next round of content, keep these numbers in mind to ensure you’re producing exactly what your customers and followers are looking for.