We don't have a choice on whether we do social media. The question is how well we do it. - Erik Qualman
Having a social media account is one thing and standing out in the sea of already established brands is an entirely different thing.
Jumping into the world of likes, pins, snaps, and tweets can feel overwhelming with brands like Starbucks, Spotify, and Wayfair already dominating the social space.
But how did they manage to get there in the first place? Was it only about spending thousands of dollars, or was it an amalgamation of a few smart moves that lasted them long enough to get where they are?
The good thing here is that you don't need advanced IT skills to build a robust social media presence.
If you are ready and willing to put in consistent efforts, these 15 tips will put you on the path to making social media deliver greater business value for your brand in 2021.
Table Of Content
Tip 1: Know & Engage With Your Target Audience
Tip 2: Keep Track Of What's Trending
Tip 3: Keep A Social Eye On Competitors
Tip 4: Focus On Eye-catching Visuals
Tip 5: Make Video A Part Of Your Content Strategy
Tip 6: Choose The Right Time & Balance Of Post
Tip 7: Don't Hard Sell But Tell A Story
Tip 8: Identify & Use The Right Hashtags
Tip 9: Try Your Hands On Chatbots
Tip 10: Get To Grips With Negative Comments
Tip 11: Don't Be Afraid To Pay For Social Ads
Tip 12: Collaborate, Partner, & Find Your Influencer
Tip 13: Consistency Is Everything
Tip 14: Build A Content Bank & Schedule Post
Tip 15: Deep Dive Into Social Media Analytics
You can directly jump to a section of your choice or keep scrolling.
Tip 1: Know & Engage With Your Target Audience
Multiple brands are churning out the same content on social media every day, then why should your audience read your post when they are getting the same information from somewhere else. It's because of the value you provide.
Before creating any piece of content on social media, ask yourself, "what will my audience get today from my post that they won't get anywhere else?", "how useful will this information be to my tribe?" and "will this piece of content keep them coming to my platform again?" Ensure that every content you post attempts to answer one of these questions, if not all.
The goal is never to get as many followers as possible but to cultivate an engaged audience tribe that likes and comments when you post.
Know more about Audience Targeting for Facebook & LinkedIn
Companies With Best Social Media Presence - Netflix
In 2020, several brand's social marketing strategies revolved around the coronavirus pandemic, but the one that really stood out was Netflix.
Netflix used its social media presence to connect with its audience in a more meaningful way. They started conducting Instagram live sessions where people could interact with mental health experts to ask questions and share their problems.
They were not promoting themselves; instead, they built strong relationships and a loyal customer base with this move.
Tip 2: Keep Track Of What's Trending
One of the best ways to ensure that you land up in your target audience's feed, including those who don't follow you, is to jump on what's trending. Popularly known as trend jacking, this technique refers to cashing in on something in the social media space that already has a buzz around it.
While implementing this tip, the only point you need to ensure is to tie the trend back to your core brand message and the goal of social media presence.
When you compromise on relevance, you lose your audience.
Protip: If an audio or video clip is trending on any social platform, try creating content around it to gain a boost on your reach.
Know more about Top 5 Instagram Marketing Trends For 2021!
Companies With Best Social Media Presence - ASOS
ASOS provides the best example of how trend jacking is not just limited to your specific industry. An image of an EasyJet passenger went viral in 2019, sitting on a backless seat and questioning the airlines' safety.
Hey @easyJet we love your funky new backless seats... possible uniform upgrade to compliment? ? #EasyJet #BacklessBoarding pic.twitter.com/CGta2PBK4D
— ASOS (@ASOS) August 6, 2019
The fashion brand, ASOS, hopped in by introducing their latest summer dress arrivals matching EasyJet's iconic orange color. This tweet brought in a lot of appreciation for their social media presence. Several people were also being inspired by the message and asking for the purchase.
Image Source: ASOS Twitter
Tip 3: Keep A Social Eye On Competitors
Social media's wide availability and unlocked accessibility make it easy to find, track, and analyze competitors of any level compared to traditional marketing methods.
While planning out strategies to better your social media presence, look out for valuable insights for your competitor's page. See what kind of content they are publishing out of these, which ones are performing well, and which ones are not performing well.
Dissect their well-performing content to optimize your campaign with these insights aligned parallel to your brand message. This will eventually increase the likelihood of your brand becoming successful on social media.
Know more about How To See Your Competitor's Facebook & Instagram Ads
Tip 4: Focus On Eye-catching Visuals
LinkedIn found that images generally result in a 98% higher comment rate.
Social media is primarily an aesthetic platform, and graphics are more eye-catching than the written word. They also bring the most engagement from your audience.
So, ensure to incorporate necessary visuals when creating your content. While including visuals, check the specifications of every social platform to avoid your visual from being cut out.
Know more about Social Media Image Sizes Guide 2021
Companies With Best Social Media Presence - Headspace
The meditation app Headspace features a cheerful and soothing color palette that instantly brings joy to their Instagram page. Their color theme also delivers the mission of a meditation app, i.e., less stress and more joy.
With charming illustrated characters and inspirational quotes, they ensure a cohesive experience with every content.
Image Source: Headspace Instagram
Tip 5: Make Video A Part Of Your Content Strategy
Try once including videos in your content posting strategy, and you won't regret it ever. Video marketing has seen an insane boost since its inception, and the trend continues only to go upwards.
Today's social media users find it more convenient to watch a few minute's videos on a specific topic rather than reading a long article that takes more time to read and still leaves with the same information. Videos can be used to serve several purposes, such as promoting a new launch, connecting with your followers through live sessions, showing behind-the-scenes clips, etc.
Know more about Video Marketing: Everything You Need To Know
Tip 6: Choose The Right Time & Balance Of Post
Social media isn't what it used to be earlier. Today it has become much harder to grow your community as you compete with other users seeking the same intend as yours, and the algorithm changes that prioritize engaging posts.
Figuring out the best time to post is only half the battle. It involves knowing when your audience is online and more likely to engage. The other half battle is finding the perfect balance between human and promotional posts.
Stop making wild guesses about your audience preferences and start using social marketing analytics to know exactly when and how much to post. Leverage social marketing tools such as Statusbrew to better understand the performance of your content based on time of day, frequency, audience demographic, and more. Then use these insights to adapt your social publishing strategy for optimal performance.
Know more about The Best Times To Post On Social Media In 2021
Companies With Best Social Media Presence - Slack
Slack provides the best example of appealing to different facets of its target audience through social media while also promoting its product. By being inclusive, the company effectively reaches and engages a more extensive consumer base.
They share productivity tips, news articles, creating a better work-life balance, and other helpful content relevant to every level of team members in an organization. Slack also shares customer stories, and inspirational quotes to keep users at the center of their brand story.
Image Source: Slack Instagram
Tip 7: Don't Hard Sell But Tell A Story
Have you ever noticed that the most popular posts are often the ones that trigger a deep emotional response among the audience? That's because they do more than push information to the audience.
People don't want to be sold on social media; they are sick and tired of seeing adverts. Try to promote your brand in a friendly way such that it strikes a chord with your audience's emotions, don't just ask people to buy, buy, and buy.
Know more about How To Build Up Your Brand's Storyline On Social Media
Companies With Best Social Media Presence - Warby Parker
Warby Parker, a glasses-selling brand, perceives that their social media presence is not just about frames; instead, they are about the people who wear them. They even run a #WearingWarby hashtag campaign on all their social handles, a collection of profiles, and short videos highlighting Warby Parker's impressive customers.
Image Source: #WearingWarby Instagram
From designers to professional dancers to activists, this campaign makes the brand far more relatable and approachable to their customers than if they had showcased the same frames worn by paid celebrities. Warby Parker connects with their target audience through these posts while showing that their products are truly made for people like them.
Tip 8: Identify & Use The Right Hashtags
Hashtags are an excellent way to hop on a campaign and spread the word for your objectives and goals. From Instagram to Twitter, hashtags have indeed brought a revolution in social media marketing.
Using hashtags in your social media posts contributes significantly to increasing awareness and engagement. This helps more people to know about your social media presence. A powerful hashtag campaign has the full capability to drive a significant amount of traffic towards your brand's social media presence.
Use hashtag navigational tools like Statusbrew to analyze how certain hashtags have been performing. Try to avoid using too many or irrelevant hashtags in your social media posts.
Know more about 300+ Best Hashtags For Instagram In 2021
Companies With Best Social Media Presence - RYU
RYU's #WhatsInYourBag campaign is one of the popular examples of a hashtag campaign that generated a fabulous social media presence for the brand. This campaign was centered around a photo contest encouraging their audience to share photos of their bags' concerning the brand. This campaign ended up increasing their follower count and helped them generate a ton of engagement.
Image Source: Facebook
Tip 9: Try Your Hands On Chatbots
After managing your social media presence for a while, you will start to notice specific patterns in the messages you receive from your audience. DMs have become increasingly popular to connect with brands than commenting on public posts due to their 1-on-1 nature.
Know more about How To Use Instagram DMs For Business
This is one reason to consider chatbots for your brand's social media presence. A chatbot enables you to give customized answers for a specific set of most commonly asked questions from your potential customers. Chatbots can be well integrated as a part of your sales funnel if appropriately used.
Companies With Best Social Media Presence - Mastercard
As a global card payment transaction processor, Mastercard states that they are making transactions more conversational with the launch of chatbots for banks and merchants. They want to build a new customer experience in which users can easily find out about their financial actions in an informal and hassle-free way.
Mastercard's Facebook Messenger bot has made it easier for customers to check on their account transactions by just asking, "how much did I spend on restaurants in May?".
Image Source: Thrive
Tip 10: Get To Grips With Negative Comments
Your social media presence should be about being fun, engaging, and authentic. You know that what occurs online stays there forever.
Engaging with negative comments is like adding fuel to the fire. At the same time, you also need to ensure that if someone doesn't have a positive experience with your brand, you should positively address the matter.
Brands often choose to hide their comment section but actually, that's a lost opportunity (unless you are a multi giant brand like Apple and Google). Small and emerging businesses need to respond to comments from their audience other than spam, trolls, bots, and controversial ones to build a robust social media presence.
Image Source: Walmart Help Twitter
If you want to engage with your audience while also hiding the unnecessary and offensive comments that only contribute to lowering your brand reputation, you better choose to moderate comments. Comment management tools like Statusbrew can help you create rules that automatically manage your incoming conversations from different social channels.
Using the rule engine feature, you can update your conversations based on the conditions you specify, and even combat spam and trolls before they ruin your brand's reputation.
Know more about The Ultimate Guide To Comment Management On Social Media & How to turn off comments on Facebook post
Companies With Best Social Media Presence - Apple & Google
Apple and Google trolling are some of the biggest pastimes for the current age spammers. Having a flame war start-up on their YouTube page results in their own brand's defamation, insult, or ridicule. And this is not a situation that any company would like to find themselves in, least of all Apple and Google, which have over time, accumulated quite a few haters.
And that's the reason why Apple and Google have turned off the comment section on their YouTube page.
Image Source: Apple & Google YouTube
Tip 11: Don't Be Afraid To Pay For Social Ads
While every brand desires an organic reach, it's also something that takes time and constant effort to come.
Social media platforms are constantly introducing new features as they revive their algorithms. Because of this, it might become hard for brands sometimes to continually stand on the top of the podium.
Social media platforms have monetized their network to cater to brands. There is a massive ROI on social media ads, so you have nothing to worry about. No doubt, a social network's algorithm prioritizes ads while customizing feeds according to every user's interest and behavior.
Know more about The Ultimate Guide To Social Media Advertising
Companies With Best Social Media Presence - Sephora
Facebook emphasizes brands producing video content by giving it high engagement rates. Video ads are booming on Facebook, and that is precisely why Sephora's Facebook video ad campaign brought excellent results such as:
- 32% higher return on ad spend than the previous campaigns
- 41% higher click-through rate than previous campaigns
- 30% increase in reach
The ad reached the feed of beauty buyers of all sizes and shapes since the video ads showcased multiple products within a matter of seconds.
Image Source: Facebook Success Sephora
Tip 12: Collaborate, Partner, & Find Your Influencer
Another way to grow the quality and quantity of your social media presence is to hop on the influencer marketing trend and use it to your brand's advantage. Build relationships and collaborate with influencers with identical brand values to promote your brand.
You don't need a huge marketing budget to work with influencers. There are micro-influencers as well who have a few thousand loyal followers. While finding the correct influencer, don't focus too much on the following they have. Instead, focus on engagement because that is where the real value lies.
Know more about 30 Social Media Experts To Follow On Instagram In 2021
Companies With Best Social Media Presence - Organifi
The health and wellness brand Organifi has mobilized an army of influencers by sending out product samples in droves to get maximum mentions on Instagram.
Image Source: Organifi Instagram
Organifi has accurately identified the audience base that gravitates to their product and partners with influencers whose following overlaps. Until now, Organifi has worked with a wide variety of influencers, including yoga influencers, fitness instructors, workout enthusiasts, bodybuilders, and nutritionists, and they continue to do so.
One of the best examples of this collaboration is with influencer Dr. Caroline Leaf who is not just a neuroscientist but also a mental health & mind expert and bestselling author.
Tip 13: Consistency Is Everything
This is one such tip for maintaining a better social media presence that is a no-brainer.
When it comes to maintaining a robust social media presence, your fans and followers value consistency above all else. If your Facebook or Twitter accounts suddenly go quiet, your followers will gradually start to drift away.
By that same token, your audience is less likely to appreciate content that deviates too far from what you usually post. In all things – tone and voice, timing, branding, and messaging – maintain a level of consistency so that your followers know when to check-in and what to expect. When you understand your target audience well, you will be able to consistently create valuable content that meets their needs and offers them value.
Tip 14: Build A Content Bank & Schedule Post
When we cannot emphasize the amount of hard work it takes to create riveting content, keeping a cache of content on hand is imperative. Create content ahead of time with a tight approval process to improve consistency.
Know more about How To Develop A Social Media Approval Workflow For Your Brand
Put together a plan of when you are going to post and how you are going to post. Then start building a content bank around it, thus ensuring that you have content ready to go out at the right time.
Change is part and parcel of everything, so keep space in your social media calendar for some trending and on-the-spot content.
Use a social media management tool that not just makes the scheduling of your posts easy but also helps you with the approval process. Statusbrew is one such tool that centralizes all your publishing effort by offering multi-network Scheduling and Publishing.
Its configurable workflows and approval permissions enable hassle-free content planning, strategizing, and publishing among your teams. The tool is also equipped with inbuilt post boosting, audience targeting, UTM links, and brand collaborations to give better returns with minimal effort.
Statusbrew also consists of an inbuilt media Asset Management that maintains a bank of all your brand images, videos, and text snippets. Sharing your brand content assets with your team is also achievable for instant use.
Bonus: Statusbrew's Planner not only maintains a record of all the posts sent out via the platform but also fetches posts published outside of Statusbrew.
Do you think social media publishing could have been much easier than this?
Tip 15: Deep Dive Into Social Media Analytics
Once you start posting, you should monitor your social media analytics to determine whether you are achieving ROI as expected. Take a look at analytics at regular intervals to understand whether your posts are hitting their intended target or not. Looking at your analytics is incredibly important to ensure that efforts are made in the right direction.
It's also necessary to understand if there's a need to make changes in your campaigns. Several social media analytics tools allow you to track activities across all the platforms.
Statusbrew's innovative analytics tools let you monitor your social media presence and performance in the form of graphs, including the audience, interactions, clicks, and more. It offers the maximum number of metrics to analyze your social media presence to the deepest.
With 180+ metrics available, you get the total flexibility to customize your reports according to whichever metric you would want to display in your choice of visualization to measure your social media presence.
And all of this is not just limited to your team members; you can share live reports with people outside of your organization through an easily shareable link. Your social media collaboration becomes much easier with real-time updates.
Start your free trial today and see for yourself!
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