Believe it or not, social media serves a bigger purpose than just sharing your latest selfie with the world: it can also drastically increase your marketing efforts. With platforms like Twitter, Linkedin and FaceBook, you can build relationships with existing customers while attracting new business. In addition, there is no better way to directly interact with current and potential customers. Check out these top seven tips to make the most out of your social media.
Follow and Favorite
Make a rule for yourself that in order to keep up with your social media relationships, you will follow back anyone who follows you. Simply having a social media account is only the first step. Show you are active by engaging in what your followers are doing, get really personal, and tweet back when people comment on your company.
Initiate Conversation
Show you care about your customers by asking for their thoughts and ideas. If you can get followers to engage in a conversation, they are more likely to remember you. Start by ending a post with something as easy as, “What do you think?”
Talk show host Jimmy Fallon is a good example of initiating conversations on Twitter. He will ask random questions and share the best ones on air. Though you might not be fortunate enough to have your own talk show, the point is by asking your followers questions, they will stop and think about your brand.
Share Blog Content
It’s a waste of time and effort to write blogs if no one is going to know they’re there. Be proud of your content and share new posts with your followers on social media. If people are intrigued and go to the blog, you will also be generating more traffic to your website. And more traffic means increased SEO … it’s a win-win!
Do More than Advertise
More than likely, your social media followers know what you have to offer, so do more than just advertise. Constantly trying to sell your company will only serve to annoy your followers … would you follow someone that is constantly shoving products down your throat? The point of social media is not to sell a specific product, but to sell the brand and engage with other users. Focus more on building relationships and developing brand recognition on social media.
Be Relateable
So if endless self-promotion, advertising or meaningless posts don’t work, what does? Try posting about topics on news and events that relate to your business or industry. Not only will this boost your credibility, but it will also help your followers see connections between your company and what’s going on around them.
Share Images
Most people scroll through social media platforms and only stop when something catches their eye. And if this is the case for your followers, an image has a better chance of being seen on social media. Research also shows that images increase retweets and are retained better than solid text. Consider creating infographics to share informative information, or feature funny, relatable images to evoke emotion in your followers.
Include Calls of Action
Calls of action are similar to conversations, but they ask your followers to engage in something. It can be as simple as having followers retweet, favorite, or hashtag a post, comment or specific item. Calls of action are great ways to get your followers to talk about your brand on social media. The idea is that if your followers talk about your brand, then so will their followers.
What do you think:
When it comes to increasing brand recognition and creating loyal customers, it’s clear that social media is an effective tool. What are your thoughts about it? Have your social media posts and activities positively affected your website traffic or customer relationships? Have you received positive feedback or new client leads as a result? Please let us know about your experiences by leaving a comment below.
