THE ULTIMATE SOCIAL MEDIA MASTERY GUIDE: 10 THINGS THAT NEED YOUR ATTENTION NOW

When nearly every company, influencer, and entrepreneur is using social media business tools, why are some people successful with creating a strong brand and generating leads while others are failing? 

For years, marketing and sales departments have invested a hefty amount of money on offline promotions. Today, social media has lured businesses to redefine strategies with the benefit of connecting with billions of direct customers in the most cost-effective way. So when nearly every company, social-enterprise, and entrepreneur is using business tools on Facebook and Instagram, why is not everyone successful? 

According to Smart Insights, 80% of companies believe that they deliver exceptional social media service while only 8% of customers agree to this statement.

With several resources available online on leveraging social media for business growth, in reality, the core purpose of connecting our products and services to the audience remains ignored. We are more inclined towards imitating our competitors instead of tailoring strategies based on our business values and customers' expectations. 

What are the unique touchpoints to appeal to your online target audience? Beyond algorithms and paid promotions, here are 10 indispensable ways to enhance customer engagement and monetize business efforts on social media. 

1)    Your BIO says everything or nothing at all

If you fail to define your business effectively, your social media audience will have no good reason to follow you. Bios create the first impression of your business and with the short attention spans of online visitors, you can win or lose customers in seconds. 

Dos

●      Use a catchy brand slogan that effectively states your purpose

●      Highlight the most important information such as location or hours of operation

●      Use emojis to add personality and earn customer empathy 

●      Mention accolades or awards to make your business stand out 

Don'ts

●      Give a lengthy explanation of who you are and what you do

●      Use the same bio for all your social media channels 

2)    Have you considered knowledge sharing? 

Honest businesses care to educate their customers. According to the Sprout Social report, 73% of online consumers are willing to pay for products that guarantee total transparency. Your sincere actions on social media gain customer empathy and add value to your brand identity. 

Known as one of the Fortune 500 companies in 2019, General Electric measures its success on social media by raising awareness rather than evaluating its sales figure alone. This innovative company promotes its science and technology content such as ‘Badass Machines’ on Pinterest and ‘Lessons in Science' on Facebook to educate and inspire its social media audience.   

3)    Collaborations create new opportunities 

Collaborations on social media with partners, experts, and influencers create excitement and attract a large pool of audience. Your actions to involve the community by partnering with brilliant people shows that you want to offer the best information and give a new perspective to the audience.  

How to maximize collaboration opportunities

●      Live stream events with renowned personalities 

●      Partner with recognized or new organizations 

●      Conduct online webinars on trending topics with experts 

●      Consider cross channel promotions with influencers 

4)    Involve your audience

Social media allows you to directly interact with your customers and understand their preferences, behavior, and engagement with your products or services. Unlike static advertisements, Facebook and Instagram give you the benefit of designing dynamic and interactive content. 

National Geographic’s Safari Live feature takes millions of its followers on virtual safaris on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Twitter twice a day. The audience engagement levels are so high that they often spot and name the animals even before the guides. Nat Geo’s Instagram handle is the 11th most-followed account and had 137 million followers at the time of publication. 

5)    Do what others are NOT doing

Social media for business is not about making your posts look attractive with hundreds of likes and comments, and if you are unable to convert leads into customers, it’s time to consider a new strategy. Most often, businesses tend to imitate their competitors. However, the tactic of ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ does not work for the social media business. You are more likely to stand out and build your community of followers with an exclusive online branding strategy. 

Redbull’s exclusive content strategy of connecting sports, music, and stunts to its energy drink is matchless. This brand today has more than 10 million Instagram followers, nine million YouTube subscribers, and 48 million Facebook fans. 

6)    Your online presence has a voice and tone

Do you pay attention to your brand voice and tone? Your business has a brand personality on social media, and if that fails to convey your message to the audience, you will soon notice a declining brand preference. Social media users prefer conversations over straight forward messages, therefore consider humanizing your brand with a consistent voice and tone for all your online channels. 

Here are three elements that are useful to define your brand personality on social media 

●      Persona: Fun or professional? 

●      Tone: Direct or humble?

●      Purpose: Educative or entertaining? 

 7)    Be selective of your channels 

Analyzing your audience demographics helps to build your business content and strategies based on a specific target market. Platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter are best suited for B2B models, while Instagram and Facebook have diverse tools to enhance customer engagement. 

GoPro chooses a unique engagement strategy across its selected social media platforms. While Instagram and Youtube offer live product experiences and tutorials, GoPro product announcements are made on Twitter, and Facebook enhances product promotions for new and existing clients. 

 8)    Evoke emotions 

Customers will simply pass by you if your social media content lacks emotions. Make the audience think and compel them to express their feelings. In the words of Dave Willis, an American voice actor, and author, “Don't use social media to impress people; use it to impact people”. 

Instead of sharing negative or controversial content, evoke emotions that connect your brand to the audience; joy, courage, determination, or any positive feeling that compels the audience to share or talk about your brand. 

9)    Be a good listener

According to the HubSpot report, social listening is one of the first tactics used by marketers in 2020. Competition is at its peak on social media and if you don’t pay attention to your audience, you are less likely to succeed. Measure results based on what works against what does not. Take your audiences' comments seriously, and evaluate their preferences. 

10)  Be committed 

Consistency is the key to success in every aspect of the business, including social media. No matter how much money you invest, there is no overnight success in the digital space. Staying committed to your audiences' preferences helps to achieve rewarding returns of your time and money. 

It’s time to take action

By 2023, there will be 3.43 billion global social media users, which is nearly 50 percent of the world population today. It is about time to step up your online marketing strategy to meet the growing expectations of your social audience while living true to your business goals.