Having a social media presence has become necessary in running a business in the digital age. Micro to small enterprises employ social media to share their brand content and solutions with an online audience. By doing so, they can market themselves more authentically and openly engage with their consumers.
However, building a brand online does not come easy, especially if you do not commit to it. Here are the essential steps to take as a business to create an enduring and recognizable social media identity:
Choose a Platform
There are multiple social media sites on the internet today. Selecting one could prove to be a daunting task for anyone that’s just starting out. That’s why it’s best for you to compare and contrast each popular platform before deciding what’s the site for you.
Some things to consider would be how adept are you at coding and navigating through websites. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are easier to use as they require no coding skills and entail a quick setup. Social channels such as Tumblr, WordPress, and Wix havemore of a learning curve but are more flexible in terms of designing and managing blogs and social pages.
Note that the majority of social media sites are free; however, there may be paid features. Depending on the budget, sites that have subscription fees and service fees will also play a crucial part in your decision-making.
Define Your Audience
In social media, creating relatable material for your target audience helps build a strong foundation of followers. These followers will most likely engage with your content, especially when you have a good grasp of who they are, what their goals and desires are, and what they want to see.
Choosing a target audience for your work will largely affect the tone and content of your posts. Of course, it is also important to market topics of interest or matters to your brand, but your audience and their pain points will ultimately dictate what and how you write.
For example, a finance and investment social media feed will contain articles concerning its products, the current market, and maybe a little bit of industry gossip. However, a more personal approach of a local art film shop might have opinion columns, reviews, and first impressions of the latest movies to hit the cinema. What these feeds have in common is that they target a specific audience.
Curate Your Content
Once you know your audience and have your platforms ready, it is time to fill up your feed with content for your followers. What can set apart a great social media presence from others is a solid content strategy or editorial calendar.
Social media specialists come up with topics that interest their target audience while also knowing the keywords that can produce high amounts of clicks, page visits, and activity on the site. Great keywords would be the ones that are searched a lot yet have little to no competition.
Aside from that, a content calendar will do wonders for your marketing material. Planning and tracking your topics, articles, and other posts ahead of time will make it easier for you to map your content. Content calendars provide additional insight on your social media’s timeline and can help keep you organized.
Engage Your Community
Once you have a following, do not forget to keep their attention. This can be done by tracking which posts interest them the most. Making related posts or followups to your most engaging posts can sustain your audience’s interest.
Aside from that, listen to what your market is saying. Whether it’s comments, questions, or feedback, it is advisable to address them and have effective social “listening posts” to know how you can best deliver or fulfill their needs.
Continue to Research and Grow
After publishing your first post, it may become easy to get lost in the flow of things. However, it is important that you keep expanding and improving your social media presence. Find new relatable topics, keep up with trends, and think outside the box so that your content never gets stale.
Write about what’s important to your audience, but remember not to bore them with the same cycle of content. Do not be afraid to mix things up and have fun doing it! Training programs in social media and digital marketing can also offer a good foundation for you to implement your vision and achieve online growth.
