Make the most out of your social media

Social media is a huge opportunity for your business, not only can it help you generate leads, get conversions and reach new audiences, it can also help you build an online engaged community and build relationships with current and potential customers. 

In order to make the most of your social media presence there are a few simple things you can implement today to help your strategy tomorrow.

1. Schedule your content

Set aside time once a month, or a fortnight to plan, and implement content into a scheduling platform. This will ensure you are posting consistently and at optimal times to reach your audience. Scheduling content also allows you more time to spend engaging with your audience and showing up regularly on your social platforms.

Be warned, scheduling your content in advance is not always easy (if you want content to be consistently engaging and entertaining, that is), but the payoff is worth it. Just be sure to not go crazy on how far in advance you are scheduling. Fortnightly or monthly is the sweet spot, this gives you enough time to focus your energy on other aspects of your business but not too much that you lose track of your posts and your insights.

2. Use all the platform features 

Whether your business utilises every social media platform or just one it is important to use all the features the platform offers. For example, when we look at Instagram you can use the following features: 

i. Posting photos and videos to your grid 

ii. Sharing stories and engage with stickers and links (Don’t forget to save to a highlight) 

iii. Going live 

iv. Incorporating reels 

v. Share guides 

vi. Tag your shoppable content 

vii. Share posts with collaborators 

3. Engage, engage, engage!

Community management is one of the most important things you can do on social media, and it can make such a huge difference to your results and overall success. Things you should be doing regularly on your platforms include responding to comments, sending direct messages, having conversations, liking, sharing and commenting on other accounts posts, engaging with stories, following new accounts and hashtags and being active in groups.

Engaging with your audience will not only strengthen your customers' relationships with your brand – resulting in higher brand loyalty, increased word of mouth and an increase in sales – it also is a great opportunity to receive feedback and discover new opportunities your customers actually want.

4. Quality over quantity

Creating content that is engaging and valuable to your audience is far more important than reaching a certain amount of posts per week. Creating quality content will resonate with your audience and improve your average engagement rate per post which will result in higher reach. You can use insights and tools to identify which types of content receive the most traction with your audience and continue to produce content around those themes. When it comes to social media and your content don’t be afraid to test and learn, not all posts will go viral so have fun and see what works (you might be surprised). 

5. Be social

It’s SOCIAL media, not sell media, so have fun with your content and your audience, be authentic and add your brand's personality into your accounts. Make sure you're helpful and provide value to your followers instead of selling to them. Sure, if you’re an ecommerce brand you want to share deals and promos but, you can always ‘say it, without saying it’.

Always remember the 80-20 rule, 80% of your content should engage, inspire and delight your audience and 20% can promote your brand.

There is no one secret to social media success and it’s different for every business. Start by implementing these small strategies and tactics to get your social media presence moving in the right direction. It’s always better to start somewhere than nowhere so just GET POSTING, and don’t overthink it. 

Happy scrolling!