It can be difficult when starting out in social media if you’re new to this particular marketing and engagement technique; especially if you have already seen a host of other businesses who already have thousands of followers and a successful history of interaction. It’s important not to compare yourself with any other businesses in the first instance, and work on building your own brand and success rate.
Here are some great tips for mastering social media to benefit your business.
Commit to a Social Media Schedule
In order to build prowess within social media, it will take time and dedication. As with any other area of marketing, it should never be considered an afterthought or simply when you have time to fit it in. Social media requires a strict schedule, not only to ensure that it isn’t being neglected, but also to make sure that your content and posts are being made at the right time for your consumer target market.
If you have a marketing team, designate social media as a task area to be fulfilled on a daily basis. If you are an entrepreneur taking care of social media yourself, make sure that you find time in your schedule to implement it.
Protect Yourself
It isn’t just about promoting yourself and your online activity; it’s also about protecting your business whilst making yourself public within the social media world. You need to be aware of malware and hackers, and those who can use your business profiles for their own advantage. Be sure to take steps such as strong passwords, logging out of devices where necessary and being aware of fraudulent accounts.
Services like FraudWatch International help you to protect your brand while maintaining an online presence.
Seize the Opportunity to Create Your Voice
Social media is a fantastic platform for finding your own unique voice and personality, and expressing that. Authenticity is important on social media, and each item of content you post needs to reflect your voice. This personal tone can be what makes you stand out on social media compared to other businesses offering the same service.
Even with promotional posts, find a way to make it show your personality rather than seeming like an automated, toneless post.
Use Social Media for Engagement and Support Rather than Promotion
You’ll always want to promote your business in the best light, whatever you do, but your sole purpose for using social media shouldn’t be outright promotion. Followers and consumers won’t react well to a business account which constantly tries to sell.
Instead, consider social media as a platform to get to know your consumers, engage in important conversations, learn from other businesses and to form essential relationships. Most of the time, you’ll make sales this way regardless because people will grow to trust and love your brand and therefore want to buy from you.
Embrace Various Content Methods
Social media is alive with content, which means paragraphs of text simply won’t cut it. To optimize your postings, you need to embrace a variety of methods, including:
- Videos, whether personal or instructive
- Photos
- Text
- Infographics
- Giveaways and competitions
