If your business has been posting on social media with little response and fewer clicks on links posted, it is most likely due to a lack of a social media branding strategy. If you don’t know where you are going with your social media campaign, how can you expect social medial users to follow? Here are some tips for a solid social media strategy.
What is Your Company’s Voice?
Before you start posting on social media, you need to know who your company is, what it stands for, and it’s brand identity. Knowing these details is essential to find your company’s voice. What do you want to say and how do you want to say it on social media? The voice you use should be appropriate to your business; if your company owns a line of funeral homes, a joke of the day is not the voice you want to use. You also need to know who your audience is on social media. Going back to the funeral home example, you are likely to have middle-aged customers who are seeking to bury a parent or elderly customers who are burying a spouse, so a
Another example is Wendy’s who’s core customer skews from young to old, but have used social media exceedingly well to reach their customers. Their voice is a humorous and mischievous one that “roasts” both competition and customers. Whatever voice you chose, sincerity is vital. In a recent survey by SproutSocial found that 86% of the people surveyed said honesty is the thing they want the most from brands on social media. Your voice should reflect your company’s culture, but do it in a way that isn’t cliched or mechanical.
Use the Right Social Media Platform
The first thing that you should consider in choosing a platform or platforms to use in your social media campaign is to understand where your core customers spend most of their time on social media. Do they use Facebook or Twitter? Are they visually inspired and use sights like Instagram and Pinterest? If you have been using the wrong platform for your core demographic, you probably haven’t been getting many clicks or re-posts.
Use Engaging Pictures or Videos
A host of social media studies have shown using striking images or interesting videos are much more likely to get clicks than social media posts without them. Make sure the imagery used falls in line with the guidelines outlined in your company’s branding style guide. Use approved colors and suggested subjects for your images or videos to convey your brand identity. Using your branded color pallet helps make your brand recognizable. Include your company’s logo when appropriate to help make it instantly recognizable to your followers.
Stay on Target with Social Media
Don’t post things that are out of line with your company’s brand and vary wildly. Post things that are relevant to your company, but don’t post something that has nothing to do with your brand whatsoever.
Don’t Just Post About Your Company
If you only post things about the products your company makes or about a sale you may be having, your followers will begin to feel as if they are being spammed. Post about events in the news that are relevant to your product, but try and stay away from politics. Posting about holidays is another safe way to engage your followers without spamming anyone.
Include Links
Make sure to include links to your website in posts about your products or services. The more shares a post with your link in it has will cause search engines to take notice, and it can help your search results return page rankings.
Following these tips will have your company on its way to an improved social media presence.