Marketing isn’t a cakewalk! It can be a real slog at times, and you might wonder if all your hard work is really making a difference. Plus, all these new ways to market… it’s not like the old days where you just stuff some mailers, lick envelopes, and say a few Hail Mary’s!
Good thing, too. Licking envelopes? Yuck.
Granted, in today’s crowded and bustling marketing is still tough. But now you have so many tools to help you do it; it’s almost criminal not to use them! Especially tools like social media, which is so saturated throughout our current culture, you’d really be hard-pressed to escape its effects.
However, we know using social media can seem a little daunting, especially if you’re old school. You might even wonder if it’s really worth it. We assure you it is indeed. Not only can social media help foster a community with your target audience and raise brand awareness, but it can also help you grow your bottom line too.
Tips for Using Social Media to Your Advantage
There are a lot of ways to utilize social media for your business and multiple platforms to choose from. The best way to get started is to simplify things as much as possible.
Step 1: Determine Where Your Audience Hangs Out
You obviously don’t want to waste your time using platforms that aren’t relevant to your business. If your customers aren’t there, what’s the point? Do some market research and figure out the main demographics for the platforms you’re considering using.
Step 2: Choose Your Top Three Platforms
There’s just no way to keep up with social media profiles on every platform, unless you plan on hiring a team to help you do it. The best way to get started is to pick your top two or three platforms and focus the bulk of your attention on those. You can still create profiles on other platforms but think of them more as place holders that point to your more active social media accounts or your business website.
Step 3: Speaking of Profiles…
Your social media profiles need to be in tip-top shape. If they are ugly, boring, or worse, devoid of all personality, you’re only doing yourself and your business a disservice. Your social profiles are prime branding real estate that you can use to pimp your skills, optimize for your market, and raise awareness for your brand.
Step 4: Be a Real Human
No one likes dealing with bots. Using social media is an opportunity to humanize your brand and connect with your target market on a more personal level. That means you should be afraid to show glimpses of the real you behind the brand. Sure, being “all business” can work for some, but if you don’t already have a large following, you’ll grow it better by being personable than by never letting your guard down and being professional 100% of the time. People like to know they are dealing with real people when they engage with your brand, not just a computer system.
Step 5: Focus on Consistency
One of the biggest keys to a successful social media presence is being consistent. Even if you suck at memes, even if you suck at writing beautiful prose, even if the last thing you want to do is post another post… consistency is vital to your success and to grow your audience organically. People like to know your business is not just here for a day, gone tomorrow. Come up with a posting schedule and create a plan of attack for your social media posts. Make sure your schedule is centered around when your target market is most active, so that you can gain maximum visibility with everything you post.
There are other tactics, of course, such as creating a stellar blend of branded visual content like photos, memes, infographics, and videos, running contests and polls to boost engagement, and super important, not being a spammer. Need help building and implementing a strategy and creating visuals? Let’s chat. Happy socializing!
See Also:
8 Ways to Boost Your Visibility and Discoverability for Any Size Business
Creating Brand Personas Lets You Target Your “Victims” With Killer Content
