Depending on who you ask, all you need to do is setup a Twitter or Facebook account, start posting like crazy and the followers come to you. Right?
Unfortunately, this “build it and they will come” approach misses the social media marketing big picture by a long shot. The reality is that you can post all the relevant and exciting content you want, but if no one sees it the content is virtually useless. Making yourself noticeable takes the most work. In this post, we’ll explore five ways you can put some fire into your social media strategy.
5 Ways to Spruce Up Your Social Media Strategy
- Reverse Engineer your Strategy
Start with the end in mind and then work backwards. Ask yourself some tough questions. Why are you engaging on social media? So many failed social media initiatives are due to a complete misunderstanding of the purpose of social media. In most cases, users aren’t going to simply engage with you on your business social media page and make a purchase — though it does sometimes happen. Social media is all about relationship building. So if that’s your goal, center your strategy on building meaningful relationships with prospects.
- Engage Influencers Now
Traditional social media logic dictates that the more followers you have, the higher chance you have of converting those followers. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, it’s more effective to engage a few dozen influencers than several hundred less influential social media users.
- Start a Conversation
The trap that many businesses fall into is that they simply talk at their followers. They post videos. They post preachy, self-important blogs. Then, they base the success or failure of their social media strategy on inaccurate data that doesn’t really indicate their audience’s participation. Again, this all comes back to the purpose of your social strategy. You measure real success by audience participation. Ask questions. Social media is 100% conversationl, so start a conversation.
- Embrace the Power of Visual Content
While it isn’t a major revelation, it’s important to realize that social media users love photos and video. Don’t be afraid to share photos of major or minor business events on Twitter and Facebook. Pictures tell the story that your words can’t. Marry visual content with text.
- Put in Some More Quality Time
The hard truth about all of this is that it takes some time and serious effort to get it right. For all we know about social media now, it’s still new technology. We’re all learning how to navigate these tools, and odds are what works for one company won’t work for your company. Every company is different, and so is every audience. Spend at least a half hour every day learning more about your customers and the expanding social technology updated almost daily. In other words, pay attention.
Like unto others as you would have them like unto you
While it can be difficult, it’s incredibly valuable to take a subjective look at your social content and ask the hard question, “Would I like or retweet this?” As a rule, only write what you would read. Make your content valuable to your audience and they will ascribe value to your product offering.
