Keeping Social Media on Your Side: 5 Do’s and Don’ts for a Powerful Social Media Presence
Your goal in social media marketing is to build a relationship with your target audience. To make your company seem as attractive and credible as possible, you need to offer highly relevant, engaging content on a consistent basis — but that’s not always as easy as it sounds. Indeed, the informal nature of social media sometimes leads companies to take it less seriously than they should.
Bottom line? The quality of your posts matters. If you’re crafting subpar posts just to build a social media presence, all that work isn’t doing your brand any good. Trust us.
To assist you, the team at Prose Media has put together a few tried and true methods for creating effective social media posts. We’ve also included a few definite don’ts. Here are our five top tips for using social media to grow your audience — and your business.
1. Think about timing
In the rapidly changing social media landscape, posting regularly ensures that you keep your readers invested. Consistency is key, because fans respond to fresh content — and you want loyal, if not rabid, fans. Post to social media platforms at least once a day. Many businesses also track exactly what times their posts have the most impact. For example, some businesses find it most effective to post at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
2. Test, test, test before you decide on a strategy
Don’t just assume that you know what kind of content your customers will like. Instead, test different types of headlines and content to see which they prefer. Try an A/B test. Here’s how to do it. First, choose two headlines for an article. Post the first headline, and then post the second headline about an hour later on the same platform. Now, see which one performed better. Once you see which type of headline style most appealed to your audience, you can imitate the preferred style in your next posts.
3. Don’t forget your manners
You can write the strongest posts in the world, but if you don’t appreciate and respect your followers, they’re not going to stick around. If someone shares or favorites your post, follow that person to show appreciation. If someone asks a question on your social media page, answer it. And if someone hates on one of your pages, respond to that negativity, too. Don’t be aggressive; instead, be friendly, and ask how you can change that person’s attitude toward your business.
4. Coordinate your efforts across multiple platforms
You get the most engagement when your various social media platforms work together. Tweet a link to your latest white paper or case study, add a website link to your Facebook post, or share a photo from your Pinterest board on your Facebook page. Even if you post different content on each site, you can still leverage the power of social sharing to drive traffic from one platform to another.
5. Don’t get sloppy with your content
In the world of social media, quantity is no substitute for quality. So make sure that you give yourself reasonable goals and sufficient time to craft high-quality posts. Random stock photography, grammatical or spelling errors, sloppy research, useless messages, poor writing, and outdated information actually damage your public image and brand status. If you’re going to commit to a social media strategy, commit to doing it well.
With so much to remember, launching and overseeing a successful social media campaign can feel like an overwhelming burden. Although you can leverage your own expertise and that of your staff to generate a consistent flow of quality content in-house, it’s often more cost effective to get outside help. Prose Media has the talent and expertise you need to exceed your social media marketing goals. The more you know about us, the better we look. Sign up today to gain free access to our platform, and let’s take it to the top together.
