There is a science to killer marketing in social media, and keeping ahead of the game can get hectic. As a social media manager, it’s your job to cut through all the noise and game each platform to get your message seen by the right people at the right time. Here are 5 things you need to do before you finish your morning coffee to build an audience in social media.
1. Log in everyday
This might sound obvious, but by opening up a social media community for your brand, you have created a customer service channel. It’s live, so just like your front of house you need to turn the lights on and answer the phone every day. Some businesses sign up to social media and don’t make the time to log in for days at a time leaving their customers no choice but to head somewhere else for an answer or wonder if you have abandoned ship. Turn up, log in, and show there is movement at the station.
It helps to categorise comments into positive, neutral, and negative sentiments when reviewing. Even if the interaction is negative you should respond and deal with it the same way you would if a customer complained at your service counter. Validate that you hear their feedback. Offer to make the time to receive further feedback or find a resolution in a more private space. In this case, that would be offline or in a private message. Most of the time, people want to be acknowledged and understood.
A list of interactions to check daily is:
- Comments on wall posts
- Private messages
- Replies to your comments
- Tags
- Direct Messages
- Replies
- Retweets
- Mentions
- Reposts
- Likes
- Comments
- Mentions
- Tags
Google+
- Shares
- Private messages
- Comments
2. Strike up a two-way conversation and post engaging content
If someone has taken the time to comment on your posts then thank them as you would in the real world. Acknowledge that you’ve received their message. Social Media is exactly what it says on the label — social. Your posts and conversations should be interesting and worth talking about at a BBQ; if not, then get creative. The aim of the game is starting a conversation that people want to join.
If you’re at a BBQ and bang on about yourself in every conversation, you’ll be left sitting on the esky alone — don’t be that guy. Ask questions and make your posts relative to current events. Offer insight or something super helpful. Everyone loves passing on a tip that makes him or her look clever. Content with entertainment value is always a winner — just make it relevant. Keep your posts short and sweet. No more than a couple of sentences. Most of your audience is scanning their social media on a mobile device. Got more to say? Then you’ll need to link to a blog or video to elaborate.
3. Plan and schedule posts
Work out when your audience is most engaged with social media. Generally speaking, power users are checking in at breakfast, lunch, on their way home, and after dinner. Now consider whether you are targeting power users or moderate users. Also, consider if your audience is split between time zones. This will determine the time and frequency that you will post. Remember that in each social media platform, a post has a different lifespan. Generally speaking, Facebook posts peak at their highest 90mins after being posted. Twitter and Instagram posts peak about 30 minutes after each post.
Use a social media management tool like Hootsuite or Buffer to plan ahead and schedule your posts. Planning your content and scheduling broadcasts across social channels is a much more productive use of your time, especially during a campaign or if you have a few people managing social media. Both tools provide a dashboard and content planner to help multiple users collaborate and avoid repetition.
4. Listen
Hootsuite allows you to search for any mentions of your brand terms to see who’s talking about you. You are looking out for people who aren’t followers of your brand but have mentioned the brand indirectly to their followers. Responding to appeals for information, reviews or conversations can be a proactive customer service and PR opportunity. Listening to the conversation in the market can also give you valuable insights to what your potential customers are looking for or don’t want.
5. Get more followers
Hopefully, your content is so intriguing that you attract followers who align with your message and want to hear all about it. In the beginning, when your business or social media channels are new, it can be an uphill journey to build up followers. Make the time every day to proactively grow your audience. You can do this by identifying leading brands or industry thought leaders that share similar ideals to your business. Check out the profiles of people following these brands to see if they are likely to be interested in your content. Follow them and you are likely to get a follow in return.
You should also actively comment on the content posted by people in your target audience to make new connections. For permission-based social media accounts, go ahead and send someone a direct message to invite them to connect or collaborate. You will build an engaged audience in no time at all.
Bambrick is a leading digital marketing company in Brisbane specialising in SEO, PPC and social media marketing. To speak to a member of the team about your social media goals, contact us via our online contact form or give us a call — (07) 3216 1151