Simple and doable tips to boost your social media platform

Recent statistics have shown that there are 3.80 billion social media users worldwide, and that number is still growing. So, it makes sense for any business to join the bandwagon and make themselves known on the various social media platforms.

Big names like Nike and Dove have been dominating social media because of carefully laid out marketing strategies targeted to their specific audience. But even small brands like Chubbies for their short-shorts can go viral with the proper statement – and enjoy growth in their customer base. And with the tough competition out there, it can be difficult to be seen and heard but it isn’t a long shot. Here are some tips that don’t necessarily require a marketing team to help push your own social media strategy.

1. Explore different channels

It can be risky for a business to focus its marketing efforts on just one social media platform. Each platform caters to a distinct audience which offers possibilities for prospective customers. Facebook may have the majority of social media users spread across every age group but Instagram has found an audience with a younger age group, particularly 18-29.

Instagram also enjoys a higher engagement rate of 1.22% compared to Facebook’s 0.09%. Businesses have also turned to Twitter for marketing campaigns that connect directly with their audience. Wendy’s is one brand that’s utilizing Twitter successfully with its clever tweets and replies to users. And now, TikTok is the latest social media craze with brands like Chipotle and Crocs taking the most recent social platform by storm.

2. Engage with your audience

Want your content seen in the melee of posts out there? Engagement is the key for your content to stand out. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram use algorithms that rely on engagement as a measure of whether your post will be seen or hidden on people’s feeds. As mentioned, Instagram has a higher engagement rate than Facebook – up to 58 times more per follower. Reply to comments as fast as you can, keeping your followers up to date. Create competitions, surveys, and captivating videos and graphics to involve your audience.

Brands on Instagram are community-oriented. Their followers are prospects and turn into loyal customers in the long run. Take Starbucks, for example. Apart from a colorful Instagram feed that showcases new product releases, the brand engages with its followers successfully. Starbucks does this by creating a call to action asking questions and opinions of its followers, employee spotlights, and the like.

3. Attract your audience in a creative way

Catch the attention of your audience with posts that pique curiosity and interest. Posts that amaze, delight, and excite can help gain an organic following. The important part here is to make your audience feel good about your brand and about themselves. Stay up to date with current and major events, holidays, and trending topics.

Instagram Stories is one way to keep audiences interested in your brand. While you can effectively fill up your social media calendar with attention-grabbing posts, giving real-time updates via Stories can add a personal touch to your brand and build trust with your target market. Take a look at National Geographic which uses its Instagram account to shed light on issues through compelling narratives. It integrates its Instagram Stories as a tool to educate and promote conservation and sustainability by individuals and groups.

4. Promote your posts

Once you’ve gathered a following, you can push your posts further by promoting them via sponsored ads. Facebook and Instagram are highly visual so sponsored posts need to truly pop out with these qualities: simple, light, and interesting. Promoting your posts is a great way to increase your brand awareness, target prospects, and even gain trust. Using Facebook and Instagram ads, you can choose as much of the audience to reach, direct your traffic to a specific site, get interactions and views, generate leads, and finally convert into sales. Depending on what your goals are, the social media platforms allow you to narrow down your choices and find the ideal target market for your ad.

Anchor FM promotes itself as a podcast creation and distribution app through striking graphics and bold colors. The ad fits right in with Instagram’s younger audience with a straightforward message. The ad doesn’t resort to lengthy how-tos but presents a catchy copy that spurs curiosity about the app. The rest is up to the user to follow through.

5. Make use of content marketing tools

Content marketing can be more effective than paid advertising with three times more leads per dollar spent and six times higher conversion rates. You don’t have to go about boosting your brand on social media platforms manually. There are a plethora of tools online (most of them free!) that can help you from creating content to marketing it to the right audience.

Depending on what goal you have for your brand, there are specific apps and software you can take advantage of. All around tools like Hootsuite helps you manage and monitor your social media channels, while others are more specific to a certain function such as Google’s Keyword Planner for creating SEO content, researching viable keywords, and checking performance predictions. The British Museum used Hootsuite to increase reach and engagement, strengthen customer relationships, and identify revenue-generating opportunities. Through channel-specific content and an efficient results-tracking process, the British Museum was able to increase its social media engagement by an impressive 126%.

Wrapping up:

There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for each brand. Every brand presents a unique set of goals that requires a certain social media strategy. And depending on your audience, that can vary. But as your business grows, you’ll find that even your game plan may constantly evolve. Social media is volatile and constantly in flux so it’s vital to keep up to date with the latest trends and tools. However, the tips above serve as a backbone to a basic social media strategy that can get you started on boosting your channels’ reach and engagement, and convert them into sales.