Impact Group Marketing Blog

Did you know that 79% of American adult internet users have a Facebook account? 78% of these users log in daily, and 55% of those daily users log in more than once a day. Usage of other social media sites, particularly Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter, is also quickly growing. To think about these statistics in a different way, this means that the vast majority of your customers, both current and potential, are using Facebook at least once a day. In order to reach them, your business must have a social media presence. How do you achieve this?

Building a social media presence involves much more than just creating a page for your business. Unless users follow or like your business's page, they will never see the content you post. Social media marketing only works if you have fans or followers.

Here are a few tips to help build your social media following:

1. Post original and relevant content. Although you can share the content of others, creating your own interesting and applicable content is one of the best ways to engage followers. The best way to do this is to create a blog on your website and post high-quality graphics on social media encouraging viewers to visit your blog using a provided link.
    
2. Complete your profiles. All social media platform profiles have a summary area, a profile picture, and a cover photo where you can enter information about your business. Be sure to complete these areas!
    
3. Be responsive. Be sure to respond to all questions, comments, and complaints in a timely manner.
    
4. Hold contests - Enter everyone who likes your page or follows your Twitter account during a set amount of time in a raffle for a prize such as a gift card.
    
5. Post frequently - Optimal posting frequency varies across networks and audiences. It may require some research and experimentation to find the ideal number of posts per day or week for your business.
    
6. Promote your social media accounts. Provide a link on your website, in your email signature, on your business card, and at your business’s location.
    
7. Try Facebook’s promoted posts. If one of your posts is performing particularly well in terms of engagement, it might be worth paying to extend its reach.
    
8. Be relatable. Your fans and followers will appreciate knowing that you’re a real person instead of a faceless business. 
    
9. Cross-promote your social media accounts. For example, promote your Twitter account to your Facebook followers and vice versa.
    
10. Avoid being overly promotional. Use stories, personal anecdotes, and humor to connect with your followers.
     
11. Be consistent with your usernames. Your account handles and usernames should match your business name. Avoid abbreviations.
     
12. Analyze your competitors. What networks are they using? What type of content are they posting and how often? What type of posts receive the most engagement?

Not sure where to start? A social media strategy that isn’t well thought through or badly managed can hurt your brand. It is time consuming to effectively manage multiple social media accounts each day. Social media managers can save you hours of valuable time by reviewing analytic data daily to make strategic adjustments as necessary and ensuring that high quality content is posted at the ideal time with the perfect high-quality image to maximize your impact.

Evolve Impact Group offers personalized social media management solutions for your business to ensure improved market presence and sustainable, long-term impact in the marketplace. We can also help with creating original and relevant content to share both on your blog and on social media. Contact us today to learn more!

Sources: https://www.inc.com/jayson-demers/39-ways-to-get-more-social-media-followers.html, https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/grow-social-media-following, http://www.evolveig.com/News/ArticleID/88/How-Can-Social-Media-Help-Your-Small-Business-Succeed