Social media can be one of the most effective means to generate and build a following, but also one that comes with a lot of legwork. While many business owners assume that this is simply like running their private accounts, that couldn’t be further from the truth, as it requires quite a bit of skill ranging from storytelling to community management.
No sweat if these social media concepts might sound new, as this is a guide on how to create a better presence in no time. Check it out below:
It Starts With Brand
As social media is all about cultivating a following, a primary reason that people gravitate towards certain accounts isn’t just their content or hashtags, but because they have an amazing brand. What already exists may be sufficient, but it’s a good idea to do a reassessment of the brand’s effectiveness. From the logo and typefaces to color schemes and photo choice, this is the image that people will associate with the business, as well as decide if they want to make it a part of their life as well.
With branding, the goal should be to have an image others can look at and know what the business does without saying a word. There’s a lot of dissection to be done here, for example, as noted by Curatti, color increases brand awareness by 80 percent, which is why the need to be very methodical in what the colors, typefaces, and even symbolism chosen.
An excellent example is with a logo like FedEx, where their lettering is bulky but professional while giving the “gift” of an arrow tucked away between the capital “E’ and lowercase “x” that showcases they help things move along. While small businesses may not have the budget or capacity to hire a team to create something like that, there is the opportunity to create the foundation for a voice, which is the core of all storytelling.
Know The Story, And Tell It Well
Once establishing a brand others can gravitate towards, it’s time to start telling its story. Believe it or not, people tend to perceive a brand as a living, breathing thing, one with a personality and voice, which is why storytelling is such an important aspect. This is something followers want to feel a part of, as an item others can look to in learning about the business and what it does. Remember, the goal is to make customers lifetime evangelists, which means they feel the need to learn, laugh, and grow with the business, which starts with the brand’s story.
For social media, storytelling’s focus should be on staying captivating, but concise. According to WordStream, 80 percent of time spent on social media happens on mobile, which is the first place to start thinking what followers want to see and why. From there, try to make the story about the product or service, highlighting features that others don’t have, because as noted by AdWeek, adding a story to these items increases perceived value of it by 5 to 11 percent. Get in the habit of framing things from this perspective more often, because as storytelling improves, so will revenues.
Stay Consistent With Outreach
Branded social media is all about consistency. Whether trying to get followers for Instagram or encourage more engagement on Facebook, the name of the game is going out and doing it regularly, if not daily. However, that all starts with creating a system that supports posting more frequently.
Create a calendar of the types of posts to execute on, including the resources needed to boost numbers. For example, as noted by Social Media Today, Tweets with images receive 18 percent more clicks than those that don’t, which goes to show that bringing on a photographer or designer can be a smart suggestion. Allow some time in case of error, as well as to execute consistently, as this is all about designing processes for success.
Don’t Forget About Customer Service
Finally, an often overlooked aspect of social media is how it’s also a medium for customer service. After all, this is the public display of the brand, with the entire world being able to see every response.
No one wants to be labeled as a “social media fail” by responding too little or too late; being on top of complaints or other feedback in the comments section is imperative. This is pretty important to be on as soon as possible because as noted by GrooveHQ, 32 percent of social media users who contact a brand expect a response within 30 minutes, which if posters are on top of, it can also help win over new customers every time.
