Looking to grow your social media accounts? When looking at a struggling social account, our advice almost always goes back to “building the tents”. Brands and individuals that “build tents” will be more successful in growing their social media account, and in their content marketing. So, what are “the tents?”
Consistent
Want to see the ROI on your social accounts?
How to use a consistent voice to grow social media:
Ensure that your messaging is consistent with other sales material and marketing you put into the marketplace. You wouldn’t tolerate inconsistent messaging from your sales team or on your website, so why would it be okay on social media?
Most companies struggle to approach their platforms with a single voice. At times, this is because multiple individuals are tasked with updating profiles. Or, there is a lack of a unified posting calendar that is vetted through senior marketing leaders. Our first task when taking over management of a client’s social profile is to develop a document with basic guidelines for social media brand voice and ideal posting frequency. Your social presence is just as important as any of your outward communications. Don’t assume the messaging will be consistent…create the outline to ensure it.
How to use consistent creative to grow social media:
Make sure your team’s social media managers have access to design resources. Make sure they aren’t forced to ad-lib creative, slogans, logos, etc. or brand messaging. If you don’t have access to a design team, consider a premium membership to Canva. You’ll find templates, fonts, and stock photos there. You can even create teams and share folders so that anyone managing your social platforms has access to the same tools. Social media requires speed, so there will always be some level of spontaneity in messaging. Building an accessible bank of content will help keep your team consistent.
Consistent Schedule:
Build a calendar of posts, messaging and associated creative ahead of time. This means you need to plan. Top brands are deliberate in what, how, and why they are sharing key messages. A plan produces consistency. That consistency allows the brand to control the narrative on their social channels.
Content
The least surprising of the ‘tents’ is content. Everyone knows that content is king on social media, but how do you go about developing great content?
Great brands spend millions on their content strategies, and take a very scientific approach. But chances are, you don’t have millions to spend like they do. It’s also very likely that you haven’t started producing content yet, because you’re not sure where to begin.
Your social content is what’s directed at your customers and potential customers – and the good news is that its creation is both scientific and simple.
Simple Content Strategy:
Follow all of your top competitors. If you work in B2B, follow your clients and top targets. If you work in B2C, identify the topics or hashtags that correspond to the industry and business you’re in, and follow those. Great content is as simple as adding value to the conversations happening within the audiences above.
The key to add value with every post and every interaction that you have on social media.
Ask yourself, “How does this post enrich my followers’ experience on the platform?” Does the video you uploaded help your follower fix a problem they’re having? Does your brand take a humorous tone in its messaging, which means that your meme post adds laughter to someone’s day?
Scientific Content Strategy:
Utilize Google’s keyword planner, Quora or tools like Buzzsumo or Ubersuggest to identify topics and questions that are being asked or talked about most often online, and develop content around that. At Tobie Group, we use some of our SEO software like Ahrefs to identify the top content pages for competitors, and we begin the conversation on social media around those topics. You can use data to guide your plan and execution.
Remember, the data is there to guide you, but it’s important to think beyond the core features and benefits of your product, and converse like a human.
Persistent
Ever notice how the self-proclaimed social media “gurus” seem to be everywhere you look? Their posts seem to always be in your feed, regardless of the platform. That type of engagement is hard to maintain, but it’s done entirely on purpose. The old thinking on social media posting was “we don’t want to overwhelm our followers.” That thinking has largely been replaced by “post as much as you can, as long as you are adding value.”
Remember, social platform algorithms are built to increase the value of the platform for the end user…not for the brand that’s using the platform as a marketing vessel. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter don’t just automatically show your content to your entire follower base. Social content is shown based on the utility of that content to the consumer.
Frequency of social posts
Your frequency of posting should be determined by the quality of the content you are able to produce or provide, not by a concern that you could be “overloading” your followers with posts. You’ll know when you are posting too much when your post engagement metrics begin dropping. It takes time and analysis to identify what content resonates and how much of it your team can maintain until the quality starts to diminish.
Location of social posts
Your posts can provide more value than to just your follower base. Create and manage a list of other locations your key audiences spend time, and share content within those groups. Again, you will be rewarded for adding value to the conversation, not for checking for the number of posts or conversations you take part in.
Building the tents will not only grow the number of followers you have, but your presence on social media in general. And a good social media presence can only mean good things for your brand, and for your business.
Check out our next blog which is top learning tools for digital marketers .
