5 Ways to Make Social Media Work for You

 

Social media is forever growing and is one of the most effective forms of communication between companies and customers. With so many different platforms providing so many different ways of communicating, from twitter allowing quick updates to Instagram letting you share images, there is too much opportunities available to turn it down! Although a big downside to social media being so popular is the competition. You want your brand to stand out against your competitors and really make the most out of social media marketing.

 

Below are 5 easy changes you can make to ensure you’re getting the most out of your social media accounts:

1. Make sure your personality stands out.
When using social media you want to build up a personality for your brand and establish your brands tone of voice. You can do this by sharing opinions which can help to spark conversations with your followers. Having a personality lets customers feel more connected and trusting of a brand, relating them to being real people with real thoughts and feelings. More than simply having personality you want yours to stand out, you can do this by making your posts more personal. For example sharing photos and snippets of life in the office as well as your own individual opinions and feelings. This allows people to connect with you as people rather than just a company and works particularly well for smaller brands.

2. Don’t overdo your hashtags
Hashtags can be key in letting people find your content but nobody wants an overloaded tweet. Make sure to pull out only the most important key words to hashtag. Overusing hashtags can make your post confusing and hard to read, as well as coming across like spam. By only drawing attention to the keywords you only target people who are specifically interested in the topic, therefore you have a higher chance of reaching the right people.

3. Choose your platforms carefully.
Sometimes it can seem like a good idea to join everything and thinking that you will reach more people and really get your brand out there. You may also be tempted to post the same content on all platforms, with the idea that more people will see and engage with it. But in reality, different platforms should be used differently, each playing to their strengths. And sometimes less in more, and useing only a few platfroms can be better. For example, LinkedIn should be used for reaching other companies or finding new employees as it is known as a networking platform with many of its users aiming to find work through it. On the other hand, Instagram is a photo sharing platform and is best used to share photos of products, designs or goings on around the office. By using the relevant platforms correctly you have a much greater chance of reaching the right audience and sparking conversations.

4. Pictures are attractive to the eye.
Facebook posts that contain a photo or video get an 87% increase in engagement. That's huge! Including media can make your posts look much more visually appealing and attracts attention. When people are scrolling through hundreds of posts daily the ones that stand out the most include vibrant interesting images that attract their attention and cause them to stop scrolling and click or read the post. Therefore adding a simple photo or video to a post is one of the easiest and quickest ways to increase the effectiveness and reach of your posts.

5. Use blogging to share your thoughts and opinions
A blog can be a great way to produce high quality original content about topics relevant to your business. There a numerous benefits to having a blog alongside your social media, from projecting your brand as knowledgeable and important within your field to sneakily creating links back to your brands website by sharing blog posts on social media. Blogging allows you to share your expertise and opinions again creating opportunities for conversation with your customers and others in your field. If you’ve got time and space within your marketing strategy, starting a blog is a definite must.

The most important thing to know when using social media is to show personality. You can track the success of your marketing through a number of tools while tweaking your posts, but most of all, your audience just want to get to know you a bit better and see who you really are. Show them!