Besides any friends or family, who is your favorite profile to follow on any of your social media channels? Got one in mind? Good. Now think through why they're one of your favorites to follow.
It's easy to jump right into the social media landscape with the thought that it is going to be a piece of cake. But many have failed to find the magic formula that is an effective social media presence! When you're ready to bring your brand to social, there are a few steps you can't skip if you'd like to make a successful impact on your target audience.
Choose only the right networks for your brand
Just because there are over sixty-five social media platforms to choose from doesn't mean you need to hop on all of them. In fact, if you do that you are wasting your time and energy in spaces that will have no return for your brand.
Before you start, sit down and write out the top two or three sites that make sense for your service or product. Consider where your target audience will most likely be. For example, if I am a photographer then I definitely need to be on Instagram, Facebook and potentially even Pinterest where photography is highlighted. Whereas if I am a marketing services provider then I should target Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter - the more text-heavy platforms.
Once you've created profiles that clearly align with your brand (both in color and in content), learn how to engage with users on each site. If that seems too overwhelming to start with so many platforms, start with one and work at it until you feel comfortable by branching out to other sites.
Be consistent in everything that you do
Nothing that was worthwhile ever came easily. Most of the profiles that you admire had to start from nothing. When you see someone who has accrued many followers and has great engagement on their posts, remember that it wasn't always like that for them! There were many years where no one was interacting or following their pages, but over time as they continued to post relevant, "on-brand" content on a regular basis, the rest followed.
It's common to be discouraged during the first three months of this process - but keep going! Maintain the same voice of your brand throughout each channel, and keep posting even when no one is there to like it! It will start to turn around over time.
In order to do this well, I highly recommend utilizing a social media management platform. This will allow you to queue social media posts for an entire month ahead, leaving you to just check that everything is posting normally. I recommend Buffer or Hootsuite for those who are beginning to use social media, as they are relatively user-friendly platforms.
Engage, interact, and network your little heart out!
Social media is very much a give-and-take relationship - that means that you will need to make the first moves in interacting with your target audience and similar brands. If you begin to follow the same profiles or pages that your target audience is drawn to, you will position yourself closer on their radar. You will also begin to find a community with other individuals who are in the same place you are. Comment, like, and follow the right profiles and your profiles will begin to get noticed.
It will feel awkward at first to comment on complete strangers' posts and photos, but over time you will develop a community of mutual supporters within each platform. If you can, try to attend a few in-person events & advertise your presence on your channels both before and during the events! Many organizers will share things that they are tagged in, promoting your channels to an even larger network. Before you know it, people will be watching your channel to see where you go or who you meet next!
In the end, you may decide that social media planning and management is something you don't have time to perfect. And that's a good thing to recognize early! If you know you still need to have your brand appear on social but don't even know where to start, find a social media specialist or agency that can provide you with the support you need. After all, just because anyone can throw together a Facebook page, it doesn't mean everyone should!