Gaining more followers on social media is an attainable goal for any organization out there. It takes dedication, but if your business can implement these techniques across your channels, growth of followers will certainly follow.
Social media is an action-reaction forum and it’s important for organizations to understand the importance of not only sharing, but also listening to your audience to see what you can improve upon so your marketing efforts benefit your current and potential audience. Follow these eight tips to improve your social media marketing efforts and better grow your online presence.
- Follow similar organizations in the industry. It’s time to start researching! Look up other organizations in the print industry and follow relevant companies, associations, employees, and other people who are joining in the conversation. By surrounding yourself with a network of organizations that value your brand and expertise, you can become an influencer among them.
- Post on all your channels frequently. Set a social media schedule and stick to it. Don’t let weeks pass between social posts, and try to maintain consistency. The more active you are on your channels, the more likely you are to gain followers, make connections, and build relationships. Although it’s important to post frequently and consistently, it’s important to avoid “bursts” on any of your channels. Look into scheduling your posts with a sufficient amount of time in between.
- Be an educational and informative resource. By offering content that is informative and useful to your audience, you’ll become known as an authority, resulting in an increase in re-tweets and shares. If you’re not sure what your audience is looking for in terms of content, ask them! From there, you can research their interests and provide your own opinions and advice on them.
- Don’t be afraid of a little humour. A little light humour can go a long way in humanizing your brand. Look for fun ways to connect your post to relevant, comedic topics when possible. Maintaining a level of professionalism is still key, but a little humour once in a while can go a long way. Memes are a big hit across all social media platforms, so when you have some extra time on your hands, throw together a quick meme to share with your audience.
- Incorporate inspirational and encouraging posts. Encouraging posts motivate your audience and lead to more shares and exposure. Inspiring quotes and photos make a brand feel less commercial and get more shares. Not everything you share has to be promoting a product or service. Lighthearted and humanizing posts help build relationships with current followers and can help lead to new followers.
- Offer an exclusive. Run a contest or a promotional event through your social media pages. Not only does it encourage your audience to follow you on your various social media pages, it also helps them to better connect with your organization.
- Respond to your audience. Reciprocation is key when looking to build and improve your social media presence. Respond to others in your network and keep up your dialogue. Existing and potential audience members often seek more information from a post. Make sure you’re monitoring sentiment to gauge audience reaction to your posts and most importantly, show your audience that you care about their concerns.
- Invest in the right social media marketing software. In order to truly be effective on social media and be able to calculate the ROI for your organization, you need to have an efficient social media software. Having the right software allows you to plan, schedule, execute, and measure all of your social media efforts, making it easy to see what’s working and what’s not, and how you can improve moving forward.
There’s no question about it. Online marketing is more important than ever for your organization, and social media is certainly no exception. Finding your audience and effectively interacting with them opens up a wide range of opportunities for your print business.
