With over 4.3 billion people using social media worldwide, it’s not a surprise that businesses have leapt into the digital marketing world. These online communities are the fastest way to spread information and connect around the globe, regardless of popularity. As a result, 71% of small and medium businesses advertise their products on social media. Here are a couple tips on how to grow your business on social media.
Choose your platform
Rather than stretching thin over countless social media apps, focus on cultivating your presence on a few platforms. While some of the most popular ones for businesses include Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, don’t feel limited to them. Instead, examine your targeted audience first before selecting your platform. Find out who your demographic is (age, gender, income, etc.) and where they’ll likely be. For example, if your main demographic is teenage girls, TikTok might be the wiser choice as opposed to Facebook.
Additionally, think about your product and which platform would be best suited to display it. If it’s a more visually focused brand, maybe pertaining to art or design, Instagram or Pinterest might be most appropriate. On the other hand, a B2B company would fare better on LinkedIn. Therefore, a more niche product may only be suitable for a few platforms while scopic brands can span across several.
Make sure to consider the features each platform has to offer, as well as the amount of time required to maintain an account. Studies found that brands should ideally post only once or twice a day on Facebook but as much as possible on Twitter. Therefore, choose platforms with your managing availability in mind.
Create Content Consistently
Of course, the most important aspect of a brand’s social media account is what they post. Start off by deciding what type of content you want to share. Will it be mainly images or video, long or short form, educational or entertaining?
Choose content formats that best showcase your product and keep an eye out for trends on your platforms. That’s not to say to jump on every fad that sweeps through, but staying aware of what your audience gravitates towards will allow you to create content that may receive more exposure. Keep in mind what your platform’s algorithms seem to be pushing out and see if it’s applicable to your brand.
Don’t feel constrained to only one type of media, but remain consistent on whatever you decide. A regular posting schedule not only showcases professionalism on the company’s end, but ensures that consumers are regularly engaged with your brand. To make sure you don’t fall behind on your accounts, plan your posts ahead. Most platforms offer features that allow you to schedule posts in advance so that they automatically post at your preferred time. Remember, posting too much and too little are both damaging, so choose a frequency that is suitable for the platform.
Build an audience
Once you begin posting regularly, make sure to interact and listen to your audience. Monitor viewership, comments, and likes to gauge what content or products they prefer and adjust accordingly. If you notice a certain post receiving much high engagement, for example, analyze why and incorporate those aspects into future content. There are a variety of social media tools that can help track engagement and customer reactions, such as Agora Plus or Sprout Social.
One of the major benefits of social media is that you’re able to directly interact with your followers. Reply to comments with helpful or friendly messages, host giveaways, address questions and concerns. Social media allows businesses to be more playful and inviting. For example, when TikToker Emily Zugay began her comedic series of reviewing and redesigning brand logos, many companies jumped on the joke.
It’s a way to not only get involved with your audience, but also solve issues immediately and reassure consumers of your dedication to their satisfaction. Showcasing some personality and humanity will endear customers to the brand and make your company more approachable. Just make sure you don’t go too overboard! Play around to find a balance between sociable and professional.
Collaborate
Once your brand begins to gain more traction, start reaching out to other creators on your platforms. Influencers have a wide reach on social media, which can help expose your brand to an even wider audience. This can include endorsements or sending products for them to test and review, depending on your goal.
Choose creators that are in the same or related industry. For example, if your brand is focused on cosmetics, try working with beauty influencers. Research their content, what demographic they cater to, their engagement, and general presence on the platform. Make sure that all these aspects align with your brand and that you feel comfortable in letting them represent or speak about the company. Having an influencer speak to your credibility will further assure and attract more customers.
Photo by Carlos Muza on Unsplash
