So you want to build a social media presence for yourself or your business, but where do you start? It can seem daunting to build everything from scratch.
What is a social media presence?
Social media site visibility refers to how present your brand is on social media site systems. It’s not just about how visible your brand is on social media channels but also how a company presents itself on social media. This type of presence is essential for your brand’s growth because it helps establish your company’s identity and makes your brand seem more trustworthy and credible. With more trust, you can build a long-lasting connection with your audience as a social media site influencer or entrepreneur.
Ask yourself, “Why am I on social media?
Everyone and their dog seem active on social media today, so you may think, “Well, if everyone else is active there, I should be too.” However, you should be asking yourself, “Why am I here? What do I want to accomplish with this?
Setting goals and clearly defining the type of content you want to share is an excellent place to start. Think about the direction you want to take your platforms, set SMART goals, and gather the content you want to publish. That will give you a goal and prevent you from aimlessly sharing content.
Make sure you’re using the right platforms for you
Choosing the right platform is just as important as setting goals. If you’re in the business world, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn may be best for you, while if you’re a photographer or artist, you may want to use more visual platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. Avoid overwhelming yourself by trying to become famous on every platform.
If you require help figuring out where to start, focus on Facebook and Instagram. Both platforms are the most widely used worldwide and have over a billion monthly users on Facebook alone.
Let your audience know you have a social media presence
Every successful platform starts with a following, and it cannot be easy to get one when you’re starting from scratch. While some platforms invite your friends to like your page, you should also tell your customers where they can find you.
Including your social handles in email campaigns or print materials can be a great way to get the word out about your online presence. You can easily link your social profiles to your website, and if you’re in a physical location, such as a store or festival, you can always post a “Follow us!” message.
Optimize your profiles
The word “optimization” sounds like a lot of work, but it’s a simple and necessary action to make your brand stick out on social media sites.
Ensure your pages contain all the correct information and are consistent in branding. A half-baked Facebook page with good images will attract little attention. It’s crucial that anyone who stumbles across your page recognizes who you are and thinks, “These people look professional and know what they’re doing.”
Keep an eye on algorithms and updates
As we all know, Facebook was the first company to introduce a wizard-like algorithm that seemingly reads your mind and decides what content to show you. Now, most platforms use some algorithm, and harnessing the power of the algorithm can give your presence a considerable boost.
For example, Facebook favors visually appealing content over less visual content, such as plain text. Adding a photo to your status update can significantly affect how many people see your post. For this reason, you’ll see many more videos in your Facebook newsfeed than weird status updates from your estranged aunt.
The same goes for sites like Twitter, which tend to be more chronological. Knowing when your audience will likely see your tweet can differentiate between ten or 100 retweets.
Create an editorial plan
Now before you think this isn’t important, hear us out. Nothing is more critical to a successful social media presence than posting regularly and on time, which can be difficult if you don’t plan it. By creating an editorial schedule, you’ll refrain from repeating yourself or forgetting to post.
When you create a schedule, you can plan what you will post and when. You can set important dates, compare different platforms, and see exactly how often you post (or don’t post). That gives you time to create content and, more importantly, take care of your business instead of panicking about what to post.
Keep it fresh
Don’t be the one who posts the same link repeatedly. We’ve seen it before and don’t need to see it again.
Audiences want to see fresh, new, and exciting content that stands out from the noise and competition (and believe us, there is a lot of competition). Try to create content tailored to you and your business, something that will keep the reader from scrolling past and make them want to engage with you. Opt for something visual like a video or a well-designed photo montage when in doubt. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
It’s also vital that you share only a little of one thing. If you have an important message you want to get across to as many people as possible, think about different ways. You could write a blog or share an interview with someone. There are multiple ways to spread a message, and social media platforms know this.
Refrain from the Hard Sell
If there’s one thing to remember when posting on social media, it’s this: People don’t like it when you try to sell them something. Think about how you feel at the Lush drugstore when salespeople pressure you into buying a bar of soap or when you get a call saying they want to sell you window insurance. That can feel pushy and discourage you from contacting that business again.
As we mentioned earlier, there’s more than one way to say something, which also goes for sales. The same goes for social media. It’s an excellent opportunity to get creative and not make your sales tactics too obvious. Instead, leave that to your email campaigns.
Jump on the bandwagon
We’re all familiar with the current hashtags on Twitter and the companies that jump on them to promote their products. While it can be awkward sometimes, joining a global conversation and showing off your brand’s personality is a fantastic opportunity.
It’s also the best way to get your name out to new followers interested in your business. Consider using popular, specific hashtags like #CharityTuesday or #WorldMentalHealthDay to promote yourself to a specific audience.
Be careful about making up hashtags or using the wrong ones. Not only will you not reach the right audience, but you may also give the impression that you must be up to date.
Connect with your target market
The idea remains in the name: of “social” media. Don’t be a faceless profile that appears to be talking to an anonymous crowd. Not only should your content inspire conversation and be engaging, but it’s also okay to interact directly with your audience.
Respond positively to comments, reply to messages, and encourage conversation – these are all ways to let your audience know who you are and make them feel like you care about them. If they feel like you’re thinking about them, they’ll be more willing to continue interacting with you and may even encourage their friends to do the same.
Learn from your mistakes and successes
An essential part of building a robust social media presence is knowing what works and doesn’t work for you as a business. By taking advantage of the platform’s built-in analytics systems or using tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, or SumAll, you can gain insight into what your audience likes best and measure the goals you’ve set.
Why a social media presence is vital for your business
In an age where ⅓ of the world regularly uses social networking platforms, a social media presence is the order of the day for businesses. With more people joining social media platforms daily, they are poised to become the largest and most convenient source of all types of communication shortly. To put things in point of view: The number of American adults using social media rose from 7% in 2005 to 69% in just ten years.
What does all this mean? Hundreds of people scroll through their feeds daily to discover new content and connect with their favorite brands.
It means that as a business, you need to build a presence on social media to attract attention and, more importantly, keep that attention.
90% of marketers admit that social media marketing has significantly increased brand awareness. Having a presence on social media helps you generate more business but also helps you connect with and better understand your customers.
Reasons why every business, no matter how big or small, should establish a presence on social media:
1. A presence on social media increases brand awareness
Social media constantly changes how we communicate and connect with people, especially brands. The Pew Research Center found that 72% of adult internet users use Facebook, 28% use Instagram, 25% use LinkedIn, and 31% use Pinterest. These are numbers you must pay attention to.
Having a social media presence gives you access to all of these users. It can help you connect with new audiences and give you a chance to be discovered by potential customers. You can increase your brand awareness more efficiently with just one post than with a physical marketing campaign.
Below are some tips on how to grow your social media presence and increase your brand awareness:
A. Choose the right platform
Before you start advertising or communicating online, finding the right platform to spread the word about your products/services is essential. To do this, you must clearly understand your target market. Once you have outlined your target market, the next step is determining where your target market is most active. For example, if your target audience is young adults and your product is handmade soaps, Instagram or Facebook might be your best choice.
B. Create valuable content
Now that you’ve found a place to connect with your target audience, you can create valuable content to engage with them. Your content should be concise, engaging, and creative. It’s vital to attract attention from the crowd and create a niche for yourself online, and your content will help create your brand identity. Don’t be afraid to try new things to showcase your best material. However, make sure that the quality of your content is consistent. That will increase engagement rates and dwell time with your audience. Create images and videos to help you grow your social networks, increasing brand awareness.
C. Connect with your audience
The best thing about social media is that you can interact with your audience (use analytics to find the right audience for your product or service) and engage them directly. You also have the opportunity to listen to them. Use this space to engage and communicate with your target audience by replying to their comments, reposting, mentioning, and asking them questions.
D. Track your efforts
It would be best to track how well your content is received to improve your social media presence. All social media platforms offer tracking tools for businesses. These platforms will help you improve your content and place your efforts in the most efficient places online. In addition to these, you can also use third-party tools like Google Analytics and Unbox Social to understand where you should optimize your efforts.
When you take active steps to improve your social media presence, you increase your brand awareness and impact the overall growth of your business.
2. Social media promotion increases inbound traffic
- When you update your blog or website, it can take some time to show up on Google. That means very few people know that you have published new content, and the only real audience you reach for your blog or website is limited to people actively searching for your content.
- When you distribute your content on social media platforms, people already interested in your brand can access it with a single click. When you share your content at strategic times of the day, your links are shared much more frequently and reach a much wider audience, which can drive traffic to your website.
- Having a social network’s visibility for your service will help you reach a more significant, previously untapped audience that will expand your customer base. That is important to build your brand’s authority in the niche.
This additional traffic is also necessary if you want to appear on the first search results pages. Remember that search engines consider how much traffic your pages receive before classifying them as relevant.
The idea is to create and share valuable content on popular social media channels at specific times to attract maximum-quality traffic.
3. You get to know your audience better
Customers and the audience are the most critical aspect of any business. Knowing them will allow you to design your campaigns or products better.
Build social media visibility for your business so you can interact more effectively with your customers and target audience. You can then start answering questions like:
- What products do they use/purchase?
- What type of content do they like to read?
- What kind of posts do they like to share?
- What websites do they visit?
- What influencers are they interested in?
When you understand your audience better, you can more easily connect with them and build lasting relationships that will ultimately help your business grow. By interacting with them, you will understand who they are. You can then create content that will resonate with them and attract the most visitors. Ultimately, this will improve conversion rates and product strategies.
4. Build valuable customer relationships through the proactive use of social media
Having got to know your audience, the next step is to connect with them.
Why is this important? Because your audience doesn’t just want to read about your products and services or hear about your marketing. They want to engage with you.
30% of millennials engage with brands on social media at least once a month. So you can see how essential it is to engage with your audience to connect with them, rather than simply using social media as a channel to sell products.
Social media has made it tremendously easy for you to interact directly with your audience one-on-one. Use that opportunity to:
- Ask your audience questions.
- Respond to comments made on your posts.
- Entertain your audience with relevant content.
- Bond with users who share common interests.
- Repost/retweet your posts whenever possible.
- Participate in trending conversations.
- Connect with industry leaders and influencers.
Doing these things will promote your brand and create a sense of community. And people love to be part of a community.
These interactions will increase awareness of your brand and attract new leads. Followers become loyal customers and eventually become brand promoters themselves.
5. Good social media presence management helps improve customer service
While it is challenging to acquire new customers, it is relatively easy to retain existing ones. Therefore, excellent customer service is something every business needs to survive.
While social media has made it easier to connect with customers, they can also contact you directly without making tedious customer service calls. That means prompt customer service is no longer an option but a must. Customers expect you to solve their problems and respond to their questions immediately.
Respond quickly on social media to keep customers. Research shows how users reward brands that respond quickly to customer requests and complaints on social media. In addition, 72% of users are likely to recommend a brand to others after having a positive experience with that brand on social media.
Now that you know the importance of social media in customer service, here are some other aspects to keep in mind when aiming for customer satisfaction
- Monitor conversations about the brand by tracking mentions of the brand.
- Hold regular question-and-answer sessions to clear up any doubts about the product or service.
- An excellent social media presence management team can respond immediately to complaints and queries.
- Give each user individual attention and provide personalized solutions.
- Proactively seek feedback from customers to improve the brand image.
6. Social media presence helps your brand stay relevant
In today’s fast-paced digital world, you can’t predict which trend will catch on and become the next big thing. And if it does, you don’t know how long it will stay in the spotlight.
A social media presence means your content may appear in the news, or an influencer may tweet your brand. Only if you know what topics are hot right now will your content have a chance to go viral. Be on the lookout for current conversations you can join. Memes or pop culture phenomena that fit your brand can be used strategically to reach a larger audience.
You can jump on the bandwagon and participate in stories while everyone else talks about them. That will bring you an increase in traffic, press coverage, and visibility.
Since trends tend to fade quickly, it’s essential to participate in them when they’re current. That means you must be active and constantly follow new trends and current events, which you can then react to.
7. You must pay attention to the social media presence of your competitors
In case you have not noticed, your competitors are already present on social media and most likely on multiple channels, with 83% of marketers actively pursuing social media marketing initiatives. That means your competitors are making extensive use of social media marketing opportunities. So what are you doing?
The best thing about social media is that the information is free. With a bit of research, you can track almost anything, from the success of your posts to how your competitors are building their social media presence.
You can learn much by observing how established brands manage their social media presence. Monitor their social media marketing efforts and monitor their campaigns’ performance. If they’re successful, they’re doing something right, and you can take some notes.
Here are a few concerns to ask yourself:
- How often are they posting?
- What kind of content are they posting?
- How are their followers reacting to their posts?
- Can you draw inspiration from your competition?
- How many people are talking about your competitor on social media?
- Who is comparing your brand to your competitor on social media?
Once you can answer these questions, you can improve your social media presence and even work on your marketing strategies. For example, if your competitor needs to post more regularly or engage with their audience, you can take the time to develop a better social media strategy. You can even avoid mistakes that your competitors have made.
8. Social media presence for business means using targeted advertising
Regarding the importance of social media presence, there’s one thing you absolutely cannot ignore: Advertising on social media. There needs to be more than having a large social media following. Your ultimate goal is to increase sales; you need a strategic way to promote your products or services on social media.
On social media platforms, you can create highly targeted ads that you can adapt to the needs of your target audience. With Facebook Ads, for example, you can target your customers by age, gender, education level, location, and even user behavior. That’s why most digital marketers, 84% to be exact, use Facebook Ads.
Here are more reasons to invest in social media advertising:
A. Lower advertising costs
Investing in social media advertising is not only convenient but also much cheaper. Compared to the resources required to run a traditional media, print, or outdoor advertising campaign, the expenses for a social media campaign are much lower.
Plus, you have the opportunity to grow at your own pace before deciding to convert a post into a paid advertisement. Take Instagram’s Promoted Posts, for example, which allow you to convert posts you’ve already shared into Promoted Ads.
B. Real-time performance analysis
Analyzing your performance is much easier when you run an ad on social media. Most social media platforms and third-party tools allow you to track and analyze your campaign as it runs. This way, you’ll have all the data you need to know if your campaign is getting the results you want or not.
Knowing if your ad is performing well is essential to improve your campaigns.
C. Targeted Audience
With traditional advertising, you can’t target your customers the way you can with social media advertising. It’s more like flying blind and hoping it will reach your target audience.
With social media campaigns, on the other hand, you can be sure that your investment is being made in the right place and reaching the right people, which ultimately leads to better conversion rates.
Wrapping Up
In conclusion, having a social media presence is essential for any business today.
It gets you much-needed attention and helps you increase your brand awareness efficiently. We have helped you outline the first steps to building a social media presence.
You need to find your target audience on your chosen social media platform, create valuable content that your target audience is likely to be interested in, engage with your audience, and finally, know whether your efforts are working by tracking them.
Social media also helps you drive inbound traffic by directing your audience to your website or blog. When you post a link on social media, you get traffic from your followers and others who might not have reached you otherwise. Increasing traffic is also crucial for the search engine optimization of your blog or website.
You can learn more about your audience through social media by tracking their demographics and behavior. That can help you develop better campaigns in the future. By having active visibility on social media, you also have the opportunity to build lasting, valuable relationships with your audience.
When it comes to customer service, managing your social media presence well is essential. Improving your customer service by listening to your customers on social media and responding to their complaints and questions can improve your brand image.
Social media lets you monitor your competitors and their latest campaign strategies.
Finally, social media advertising can help you convert valuable leads into sales because it’s cheaper and more efficient than traditional advertising when targeting customers and analyzing performance.
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