10 Tips for Making Your Social Media More Effective
Consistency, visuals, engagement, analytics, schedule.
Social media impacts almost every aspect of today’s world. Whether it be for personal or business efforts, social media seems to consistently emphasize one factor: Getting the most “likes.” Regardless of what purpose your social media accounts are used for, all the likes, comments, retweets, and mentions are a great way to heighten audience exposure to your personal brand, which in turn can yield more business and conversions. Here are some tips to help you make the most out of your social media.
Whether it be for personal or business efforts, social media seems to consistently emphasize one factor: Getting the most “likes.”
Come Up With Original Content to Post
What better way to come up with interesting topics than to think of them yourself? Your originality is part of your brand, it’s what makes you different from your competitors. Original content will show audience members why you’re worth talking about. Remember, no one is better at being you than you!
Stay Relevant
Keeping tabs on viral trends, jokes or “challenges” will help you understand what people are currently the most interested in or inclined to watch. By incorporating current online trends or patterns into your social media posts, people will be more likely to spend more time on your various profiles and directly engage with your posts, as these posts mirror their current interests.
Implement a Call to Action
Don’t just guess what your audience thinks, ask them! Implementing a call to action in your social media posts is the best way to receive direct feedback. A simple “comment below!” at the end of a Facebook status can make all the difference in engaging your audience and encouraging them to participate in online discussions.
Be Consistent
Social media can serve to strengthen your personal brand. That’s why it’s important to be consistent on all the different social platforms you use for your brand or business. Post similar content on all social media accounts without being redundant. Stay true to your “theme” when brainstorming pictures, articles or statuses to promote your brand on social media.
Check the Time
Social analytics is your friend. Several social media outlets, including Facebook and Instagram, have social analytics tools that can help you evaluate the performance of your posts. By using these tools, you can even identify what time of the day your profiles receive the most exposure and gain the most views. By analyzing when your profiles perform best, you can post exactly during these times to gain the most audience exposure.
Give Your Audience What They Want
The best way to engage your audience is to provide them with content they want to see. Pay attention to their comments. See how people mention your brand or business and take their opinions, both positive and negative, to heart. By posting content that directly caters to their wants and interests, engagement levels will increase, and audience members may be more inclined to repost your content and share it with others.
Plan Ahead
Creating original content is essential to making social media efforts and campaigns effective. However, to avoid scrambling last minute to come up with a post, caption or imagery that’s interesting to your audience, plan ahead. Come up with a few week’s or even a month’s worth of material and an outline of when you plan on posting to your different social media accounts. By having pre-planned content, you won’t have to worry about your different accounts being inactive for large periods of time and can change posts on the spot if needed.
Be a Team Player
If you, your brand or your business uses the products of another company or simply likes another brand or business, let them know! Mentioning other brands (that are not your competitors) and tagging their profiles on social media in statuses or pictures is a great way to engage viewers that may not necessarily be part of your target audience. Additionally, the brand or business you mention will most likely appreciate the exposure you are providing for them. By mutually supporting other brands or businesses, more exposure is sure to be gained for all parties.
Incorporate Contests
People love free stuff. A great way to increase your social media reach, engagement and effectiveness is to host a small contest for your audience members and followers. Try running a low-cost contest, such as a t-shirt or giftcard giveaway, and ask audience members to enter by carrying out tasks that will boost the exposure of your social media accounts, such as commenting with their names, tagging other people, liking the post, or reposting.
“IMPLEMENTING A CALL TO ACTION IN YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS IS THE BEST WAY TO RECEIVE DIRECT FEEDBACK.”
Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously
Remember, while social media is a great way to raise exposure for your brand and interact with audience members, it’s not something that should be unenjoyable. Social media is an amazing tool because of how it facilitates communication with others and engages audience members from around the world. Your brand is what makes you unique, so as long as you’re staying true to your brand values and communicating what makes your brand or business extraordinary, you have nothing to worry about!