Social media has increasingly become the significant driving force in marketing. So, how does the average company or brand make the most effective use of this very important tool?
Here are 25 things that experts can implement to maximize the effectiveness of their social media campaigns.
1. Post regularly – The more your audience hears from you, the more trust you’ll be able to build.
2. Deliver relevant content – ensure that what your audience hears (and sees) is interesting and fits seamlessly with your brand identity.
3. Post unique content – Try not to curate too much of your social media content, as most likely your target audience has seen it before. If you want to stand out on social media, your content needs to be unique to your brand.
4. Share and retweet – a great way to widen your audience and show that you know what’s relevant.
5. Don’t discount the “smaller” social networks – Test out everything, which includes Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+, etc. You might be surprised at the results!
6. Be as visible as possible – Don’t be afraid to follow some of your competitors, and even interact with their content.
7. Be a helper – Respond on Twitter or Facebook when you have legitimate answers to questions, and never follow up with calls to action or sales language. Be genuine about wanting to help.
8. Vary the appearance of your logo – Experiment with different colors and layouts that clearly communicate who you are. This presents a good opportunity to split test which posts get the best engagement.
9. Learn from your mistakes – Analyze past posts to determine what works consistently and what doesn’t. Refrain from posting content that fails to get significant engagement.
10. Always use images on Twitter – Use images to your advantage, as they get better engagement than tweets that only has text.
11. Limit tweets to 100 characters – this provides extra characters for people to share your tweets with comments or @tags.
12. Stop fishing for likes and shares – Try engaging your audience in ways that encourage conversations and interactions. If people find what you post interesting, they will share.
13. Mix it up with content formats – Make sure that your social media posts (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.) are well-branded, and don’t be afraid to use different formats.
14. Host live hangouts – This makes the social media experience more real. Both Google Hangouts and live Twitter events are great tools to use.
15. Make strategic use of #hashtags in all relevant social media platforms – whatever you do, please don’t make up hashtags as you write your posts. Thoroughly research trending hashtags. There will be times when you can blaze your own trail, but if you want to broaden your reach, you need to follow existing trends.
16. Get good at one thing at a time – try not to establish several different social media channels and attempt to keep up with them all. It’s a good way to burn out fast. Master one social media platform, and then move on to the next.
17. Automate whatever you can – Always maintain a fresh flow of content. Don’t be afraid to use automation tools to schedule your posts and keep your content organized.
18. Know what your competitors are posting – Look for patterns in your competitors’ content, and test out similar material of your own.
19. Spend money on video – Every niche can benefit from videos as they get better engagement on social media.
20. Hold contests and giveaways – Few things churn up the kind of buzz that’s created by giving away free stuff, so consider some friendly competition among your followers.
21. Use your email list to promote your social media content – it’s a great way to drive targeted traffic!
22. Invest in custom graphics – Stock photos work, however, images unique to your brand almost always gets more engagement.
23. Encourage employee engagement on your channels – The people who work for you are among your best endorsers. Enlist their help in sharing your content on their personal channels.
24. Be an authority – Position yourself as a leader in your niche, and post content that proves it.
25. Take risks – Try something outlandish once in a while, and don’t be afraid to stretch people’s perception of your brand.
