No matter what your business is, people must know about you and your products or services before they can buy.
Promoting your company and goods is what marketing is all about, in the broadest terms. With the plethora of technological advances available today, along with the internet, you have many options for telling people far and wide as well as locally who you are.
Social media promotion is a brand strategy many businesses use to target potential customers and connect with them.
Having a social media presence matters today for content marketing. Statistics published by Bop Design show that 80% of consumers will turn to brands they follow on social media first.
However, managing your presence is just as important as being part of the social media scene.
Why Is Social Media Management Important?
When you are building a brand and using social media as part of that process, managing your presence online is essential.
Effective social media management can help you in several important ways.
- Gain more followers
- Stay relevant to the followers you already have
- Convert click-throughs to sales, which helps you grow your business online
Social media management is the process of monitoring and following up on comments, questions, posts, and discussions in real-time on various social media platforms and other places where people gather online to share information and opinions.
Managing these mediums includes collecting data, listening, evaluating, analyzing, and engaging.
Social media is an effective tool to help build a powerful brand image. A well-executed social media promotion can ultimately lead to increased sales and business growth.
Examples of Social Media Engagement
You can liken social media engagement to a long-term relationship. This connection takes dedication, hard work, adaptability, and a goal of trying to keep the other party happy far into the future.
Below are examples of how companies can engage with the public.
- Start conversations. Let your brand open discussions. Interesting Tweets with relevant links to your website can get people talking. You can also organize chats on Twitter or Q&A sessions. Give people valuable information.
- Use and mention topical subjects and events, being careful to avoid distasteful connections, such as influencers who promoted themselves in the face of the California wildfires.
- Actively respond to customer and audience questions and comments. This will let them know you are interested in what they have to say and will develop a connection with them.
- Post content that is user-generated and includes a hashtag related to your brand. This is especially effective in visual media such as Instagram.
Part of an effective social media branding strategy involves quality, proactive social network involvement that is consistent and authentic.
Today’s consumers are increasingly savvy as well as cynical, and they quickly spot dishonesty and falseness.
Best Practices for Social Media Engagement
To make social media management, well, manageable, follow these best practices.
- Choose the right networks for your business and brands. It takes time to develop and maintain a social media presence. If you try to cover all the available networks, you could water down your message as well as your effort. Instead, narrow down your choices by studying your target audience and the social networks potential customers use most often.
- Stay uniform across every social network. The reason you are on social media is to establish a strong brand. Be surer to present the same image on every social network with which you are involved. Using the same tone and voice in your content, featuring similar images, including an easy-to-read “about us” company description, and employing the same logo and tagline are all great ways to promote your brand and help it stand out.
- Set definable goals. Before embarking on a social media campaign, define precisely what you want these networks to do for you. Do you want to boost brand awareness? Do you want new customers? Do you want to keep current customers through engagement? Your priorities should define the nature of your social media presence. Setting your goals helps you measure the effectiveness of a campaign.
When you engage with people on social media thoughtfully and authentically, you will find that social platforms work for you rather than against you.
Social media networks can be valuable tools for establishing your brand and getting your message out to more people as well as taking good care of the customers you have.
However, the social environment can quickly get out of hand and backfire if not managed well. Before setting out on social media, take the time to plan and organize your efforts. When you do this, chances are you will have smooth sailing ahead.
