Many brands are currently fighting over that coveted top-dog slot as specialists with a savvy social media strategy.
They want to post the type of content that will amplify their brand’s presence and make them a game-changer in the long run. Yet, with all the noise being made in the realm of social media and on its various platforms, sometimes it’s difficult to get a word in edgewise. You don’t want to get swallowed up by brands who claim they’re doing it better.
However, your brand doesn’t necessarily need the flashiest of content to get noticed. A quality presence, one that accurately represents your brand and purposefully utilizes your unique voice, takes time and dedication. And it’s never too late for brands that are just getting started in the social sphere to hit refresh and clean up their content a bit (or a lot, it just depends). After all, social media is incredibly impactful for small businesses too, especially when a big marketing budget is out of the question.
Bring your brand up to the fast-paced speed at which social media operates. Show your consumers that yes, their experiences do matter to you. Give your social media some much needed TLC and eventually elevate your brand’s social status to elite.
Take a crack at incorporating these 3 best practices into your social media strategy:
1. Consistency
Bring your brand into focus with the consistency of your posts. Don’t be shy about how often you post because you want to develop a presence, but do be mindful of clogging up consumer’s timelines with your content. One best practice for your social media strategy is to post consistently and with a purpose in mind for your content. You don’t want to exhaust your resources all at once or saturate everyone’s feed with the same old-same old.
It’s also helpful to understand the difference between the various platforms and what they’re most useful for. For instance, Instagram as a strictly visual platform is typically a better tool for building up the look of the brand; Facebook is useful for educating consumers and driving website traffic.
And yet, knowing how the platforms differ isn’t helpful without understanding your consumers and on what platforms they’re spending a majority of their time. Create a buyer persona to help you understand all the little nuances about your consumers: their preferences, behaviors and habits. It may not be necessary to be present on every platform if your consumers are only truly engaged on a couple of them. A buyer persona can help you narrow down where you need to be. Once you know where to engage them, design a plan that focuses on when and how to engage them featuring creative and consistent content.
2. Reliability
Social media is your direct link to the consumer and their direct link to you. When they have questions, concerns, comments or thoughts they want to share, you can bet your bottom dollar that they’ll reach out to you! So, as another best practice for your social media strategy, be reliable by making customer service a priority.
For small businesses in particular, these opportunities to utilize professional customer service techniques are powerful at building relationships with real product users. Make a good impression from the start by being reliable when someone needs assistance. This will take your brand incredibly far, seeing as peer-to-peer and word-of-mouth recommendations have an incredibly impactful organic reach and level of established trust.
If one of your consumers has a positive interaction with your brand, it’s almost a guarantee that they’re going to let their own followers know too, via a social platform. Brands with a dedicated base of followers often experience engaging product reviews.
3. Creativity
One final best practice for your social media strategy: always be creative! From your brand’s tone of voice to the original content you create, employ creative tactics that best fit your budget and your expertise. For example, creativity can come in the form of contests; they’re a fun, interactive way to engage with your audience, drive traffic and more.
Learn how to create a contest marketing strategy to grow your brand
Creativity may sound like a given for any social strategy, but some brands never sway from the status quo and they aren’t going to see effective levels of engagement. Take a look at what your favorite brands are doing – how are they creative in ways that are unique to their product or service? What is it about their content that draws you in? Take those insights, apply creative tactics to your own brand’s social media and make your content worth coming back to.
Understanding what the best practices are for your social media strategy will make your brand pop in the consumer’s mind. Together, the elements of consistency, reliability and creativity are a strong foundation for your brand!
If you’re looking for guidance on how to follow these best practices, reach out and we’ll talk social media strategy!