How-to guide to creating a commanding social presence.

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It’s safe to say that these days you need to have an online presence and engage with customers 24/7. Gone are the days of traditional marketing cutting the mustard. We've come to a time where social media is required to get maximum exposure and mileage for your brand, product or service.

So, how can you tap into the power of social media and create a commanding social media presence that stands out from your competitors and sets your business apart? The answer is creating social media strategies that are targeted and focused on delivering results for your business.

Here’s a few handy tips for creating a commanding presence and honing your digital marketing skills, so your business gets the attention it deserves.

 

Want To Know How To Create Social Media Accounts That Get Noticed? Here’s How.

 

Get social with plenty of networks

While you might think Facebook is the bee’s knees of social media — with 757 million daily active users you’re probably not wrong. Nonetheless, it’s important to not put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to your social media platforms for your business.

Set up accounts on platforms that you know are being used by your audience. This might include Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pintrest, Snapchat and more. Also, do your research and focus on any up and coming social networks that could be attractive to your target audience.

 

Have a goal for your social presence by creating a social media strategy

Avoid the temptation to fill your social media platforms with a ton of nonsensical content. Instead, have a goal and objective for every post you make.

Creating social media posts in advance and having a dedicated flow of messages over a set period, is a simple and effective way to ensure you have set goals for your social media campaigns and that you’re not sharing and posting with no rhyme or reason.

Social media strategies are a simple way to blend all of your digital marketing activities to ensure that your marketing is organised and complements your business. Outline upcoming events, blog posts, promotions, and anything else you have planned, to create a tailored strategy in advance that will integrate all social media platforms, and optimise your engagement.

 

Stop the copy and paste - tailor your social media content to your platform

We all love fresh and tailored content, and social media is no different. Avoid the old copy and paste when it comes to each specific social media platform. Posting the same content through all your social media networks is a massive fail when it comes to user experience. You should focus on creating content that is tweaked for the demographics on each platform. 

Some platforms such as Twitter have only a limited number of characters available, so you will need to ensure your content is short, sharp and suitable within 140 characters. Meanwhile, other platforms like Facebook provide you with plenty of space to take your time and punch out a post that has plenty of words.

 

Create valuable content that’s unique

Businesses that rehash the same old dribble can be tiresome. Focusing on creating new and relevant content on both your website and social media accounts is a sure-fire way to drive engagement and create a commanding social media presence. 

Content is king (or queen) and ensuring that what you create is new, fresh, and valuable to your audience, will put you in good steed with your audience.

 

Understand your audience – be a social listener

If you are running a business, it’s important to know your audience and customer base. This includes their wants, needs, and triggers. Understanding the issues and challenges they might have, finding the right keywords, identifying key topics, and developing a social tone of voice, will help shed some light on your audience and ensure your social media posts are targeting them properly.

Take advantage of social media reporting tools such as Report Garden and Facebook Analytics to gain the data you need to speak to your audience in a way that will resonate with them. There is no point in creating social media messages that are targeted for truck drivers when you are trying to reach cat lovers — you get the drift!

 

Engage with your audience and respond to comments – good and bad

Your business social media accounts are public. If you get comments or suggestions on your pages from followers, it’s important to respond and acknowledge them. Focus on ‘liking’ any comments and responding to comments as they are made, to show your community of followers that you are available, engaged, and willing to interact.

With all social media platforms available on our phones, responding and interacting with social media audiences is now simple and easy to do while on-the-go.

It’s also super important to constructively respond to any complaints or negative comments that you might receive on your social media pages. Crafting up a response that ensures you remain professional is essential. Furthermore, if you receive spam or offensive comments, you should report or hide them immediately, so that your brand is not associated with such vulgarity. 

 

Add all your accounts to your website and EDMs

Focus on creating a holistic digital presence when it comes to social media. Ensure all of your social media accounts are set up with professional imagery, high res logos, and completed profiles. 

When it comes to digital marketing, the cross promotion of your social media pages is paramount. Therefore, add links to all of your social media pages to EDM campaigns, your email footer, and your website. Always test your links and track their performance to see which platforms are gaining the most traffic.

 

Create a community of followers with a focused content flow that isn’t just sales 

We lose interest in social media pages that simply sell, sell, sell.  It’s important to have a range of content to ensure that it remains interesting for your audience.

Telling stories rather than simply selling is an important step in creating commanding social media messages that resonate with followers. Take the time to craft stories that are complimented with images and video. Better yet, share your customers' stories and experiences. 

Focusing on the right balance of content is essential, even though it might take a little while to get the right mix. Ensure your followers get the perfect combination of marketing information, general interest posts, testimonials and general news of interest. Creating a balanced flow of content will create a community of engaged followers who are more likely convert to paying customers down the track.

 

Make it visual and bypass the monologue of text

Humans are visual creatures. Social media platforms have plenty of video options these days, with Facebook Live and micro video apps such as Boomerang adding a whole new level of visual engagement.

Programs such as Canva also provide a quick and easy way to create branded images that incorporate imagery, branding and key messages that will in turn promote your product or service.

Videos and images — which are easy to create and upload — are a simple way to add a visual element to social media campaigns and freshen up content strategies that might seem a little stale.

 

Create a promotion or giveaway

You should possibly consider creating an offer or promotion to engage with followers and thus, boost engagement. We all love a freebie and adding a promotion of any kind that provides value, is a simple way to target your audience and keep your business at the forefront of their minds. 

 

At the end of the day, letting your audience know you’re human is an essential element of creating a successful social media presence. Too often social media pages become robotic and analytical and lose their personality. Interacting with your audience's need, wants, and behaviours, is essential, as it not only shows that you care, but that you listen

 

Posted 29 May, 2017

dunjajanjic

Copywriter, Content Writer, Proofreader, Marketer.

Dunja is the Content & Email Manager at Freelancer HQ (Sydney). She is an Oxford graduate, and is the mother of a pet parrot called DJ Bobo.

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