Having a solid online presence and reputation is one of the most important ways in which you can market your brand. Increasingly, this is becoming the best way to promote yourself and reach a wider audience than ever before, far outstripping traditional ways of marketing. The way in which you look after your social media presence can allow you to outstrip your competitors or leave you flailing behind. This is why it is crucial to make the most of the options open to you as an online brand. If you have spread yourself across the many social media platforms open to you but still feel as though you are in a rut and are not getting the results you would like then it is likely that you are not making use of the many tools and techniques open to you on social media.
Engage with your target audience
Producing quality content is key to maintaining your social media presence. However, it is more important to know how to promote yourself effectively and get as many people as possible to engage with your content. Far too many brands fail when it comes to effectively pushing their product or service, sometimes not being engaging enough, and other times over marketing themselves to the point that they can end up annoying their audience rather than engaging with them. Knowing your audience and how best to engage with them will allow you to create content that will inform, educate and appeal to them. If your audience comes from a particular age range, then make sure that everything you post is accessible to them. For example, if your target audience is 13-18 year-olds, then posting long blog posts is not a good idea, whereas quick snappy posts which include visuals such as images and Gifs will capture their attention.
Use an online rank tracker
Using tools and analytics to measure your social media presence is important, indeed necessary, if you want to grow as an online business. Knowing what people are saying about your brand, and where you rank is key to understanding your online reputation, but to do so, you need to be aware of the tools that can help you monitor and build your online presence. Tracking your Search Engine Results Page (SERP) with an online rank tracker will help you gain an understanding of which keywords are performing better and allow you to keep an eye on your competition as well.
Stand out from the crowd
Knowing who your competitors are is crucial if you want to stand out and be seen as unique in your particular field. Whatever service or product you are offering, it is important that you promote how you are different to your competitors. Finding your niche within a market can be difficult at the best of times, especially if this market is saturated, so make sure you build upon your differences using social media. If you need to adjust your product or service to make it unique, then do so!
Show your human side
Having someone as the face of a brand is important, as people connect with people and names rather than a faceless organization. The natural curiosity of individuals and desire for connection mean that people are more likely to engage with your social media if they feel that they are connected in some way. Using platforms that allow personal interaction, such as SnapChat and Instagram, will enable people to follow your personal story and day to day life, and as a result, trust your brand. Having guest bloggers and featuring other well-known personalities or brand leaders on your social media will build your social presence and allow people to situate you within a network of other well-known presences.
Create contests and free giveaways
This will give people a reason to participate in your social media as people love competitions and the chance of getting something for free. Creating conditions of entry is a low-cost way of increasing your user engagement and increasing your traffic. For example, you might require that entrants follow your page, re-post a particular post or fill out an entry form to win a free product. Creating giveaways that help you understand what people like or dislike about your brand or that of competitors will give you an understanding of what you can do to improve your services. Partnering up with other organizations that are relevant to your brand’s image will allow you to spread your campaign further and get a wider audience to your page.