Don’t miss out on your biggest audience
As people spend more and more time on social media platforms instead of surfing the general web, social media is gradually becoming the primary online platform where people discover new brands and make connections. With this exponential growth of content, the importance of an authentic social media presence that provides real value to your audience is becoming invaluable.
But for many brands, social media is an after-thought where they make occasional posts if any at all.
Don’t let that be you! A strong, authentic social media presence is often one of the most underutilized marketing avenues by small business.
A solid social media presence will…
- Build a community of dedicated fans
- Allow you to reach new audiences
- Make a good first impression showcasing your brand
- Let you interact with your community
- Provide insights & valuable information
But how do you build a strong social media presence?
Social media and their algorithms might seem like a black box with random, unpredictable success, and while there may be some “luck” involved in the viral success often associated with social media, there are some steps you can take to ensure your brand is taking full advantage of social media.
Before you just dive into posting on social media, you’ll need to clarify your brand, your audience, and what social media success looks like for you.
But first — Is social media right for your brand?
Of course we think it’s best for any business to at least have a basic social media presence, if your customers don’t spend much time browsing social media, or if social media isn’t the best medium to showcase what you do, your marketing efforts might better be spent elsewhere.
The steps below will help you decide if social media is the best option for your brand’s story, and if so, how to build an online presence that converts strangers into repeat customers.
1. Define your audience
This is the most important step and provides a foundation for the rest of your social media strategy. If you want success on social media, you need to make sure you are targeting and creating content for the people you want as customers. You’ll need to ask yourself…
- Who is your ideal client?
- Are they on social media?
- If so, what platforms are they on?
- What type of content will resonate with them best?
While these questions will get you started with an “ideal client profile” it’s a good idea to actually write down all aspects of who your ideal customer is. Knowing who you’re trying to reach will clarify the rest of your social media plan and marketing strategy as a whole.
2. Define the type of content best suited for your brand
Once you know who will be engaging with you on social media, you can decide what type of content will resonate with them best. While your entire page shouldn’t only consist of one type of post, you should define a few types that you want to focus on, such as…
- Educational/informational
- Behind-the-scenes content
- Highlights (company events, employee spotlights, etc.)
- Promotional (sales, giveaways, promos, etc.)
- Showcase/portfolio (show off your work in photos or videos)
Understanding what style of content your audience will want to engage and interact with the most is key to building a dedicated online community. Knowing the type of content you want to make also means planning and creating the content is much easier as you already have a blueprint of the style you want to produce.
3. Craft messaging that supports your brand
While this is somewhat related to the type of content you post, it’s also important to decide what tone of voice you want to convey in your posts and community interactions. This can range from very professional messaging such as Apple’s, to more organic, snarky, or witty brand images.
4. Design your funnel
The idea of a funnel is used all across sales and marketing strategies, but many people don’t realize it also applies to your social media as well. A well-designed social media funnel strategy and content plan includes some more organic, trendy, informational posts for mass appeal as well as more detailed posts catered to your existing audience that is already invested in your brand.
More advanced social media strategies with larger followings will continue breaking down the social media plan with more post types to cater to every part of their audience, from brand new viewers to full-on promoters of their brand.
Craft & Cloud works with you to understand your audience and create a funnel that helps you create content to reach every part of your audience.
5. Be consistent
With all the other worries of running a business, social media posts are easily lost along the way. But that’s one of the worst things that can happen to your social media strategy! Take the time to make a plan and stick to it. Choose how often you want to post and if needed, even sit down and create a schedule of what topics you want to post about when.
Creating a clear plan and sticking to it is key in making sure your social media strategy succeeds in the long run.
Looking for a social media marketing partner?
Craft & Cloud is a full-service marketing agency and we can help you define your audience, create an actionable plan, and even take care of posting for local small businesses.
Contact us today to get started!