Many brands want to increase their social media following and engagement. But they subscribe to the notion that “if you build it, they will come.”
This concept for social media is that all you have to do is publish content regularly and people will flock to it. I mean, after all, you have social media icons in the footer of your website so why wouldn’t people find that content?
The reason why your social media channels aren’t growing is simple: you don’t have a strategy.
A social media strategy includes more than how many times per week you post content and what types of content that is. Now, this is a great place to start to ensure you have regular postings and your pages look alive and well.
However, to succeed in growing your following, you have to be doing more than just posting. Effective social media management also includes engaging on the platform.
The importance of social media engagement for brands
If you’re constantly posting but never engaging on social media, you’ll struggle to grow your following. You need to be out there following relevant hashtags, joining the conversation and responding to comments on your brand’s posts as well.
Social media is about being authentic and connecting with people on a deeper level. To do that, you need to be following relevant industry leaders, sharing relevant content from other pages and brands and joining conversations.
You cannot just use social media as a broadcast tool for your own content. In fact, social media should be less about you and more about your consumer. Share relevant content from other users, retweet feedback from your customers and acknowledge remarks about your company.
Making time for social media engagement
Yes, engaging on social media is very time-consuming. But so is developing content that no one reads. Make your content work for you by giving yourself time to engage each week to grow your following.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to free up more time for engaging on social media:
- Create a content plan that shows what you post and when.
- Develop your content a week or month in advance. Whatever works best for you but still enables you to keep your content fresh.
- Set aside 15 minutes each morning to engage on social media.
When you break it down into three steps, it seems really simple. It isn’t that simple because it takes careful planning and extreme discipline to not get caught up in the social media scroll that can happen when you get on for 15 minutes to engage.
Why do Facebook and LinkedIn Groups matter?
There’s a growing trend on Facebook that’s moving away from business pages and into Facebook Groups. That’s because Facebook’s algorithms are making it more difficult to get your content in front of your followers.
Groups allow you to reach your followers and engage with them differently. Within groups, it isn’t just you that’s posting content regularly. Instead, your followers can start their own threads and others can weigh in to promote conversations instead of promotions. And from those conversations, you can learn customer pain points and what motivates them to choose your product.
Even if you don’t create your own Facebook Group, you should be engaging with others in Facebook Groups. Offer articles and solutions that help others in their mission to solve problems and answer questions.
Consider the shareability of your content
Take a good look at your content on your social media page and ask yourself some questions.
Is it all just links to your products or services on your website?
Are you creating custom graphics that are eye-catching and shareable?
Does your brand develop original content, such as guides, ebooks and blogs that followers might find valuable and share with their friends?
Shareability is an important quality of the content that you post to your social media. Broadcasting what our company does and what you have to offer should happen in rare circumstances. All other posts should be valuable content for your consumers.
If you’re looking for more than just social media management, Bridge the Gap Communication offers social media strategy alongside management. Give yourself more time to engage with your customers and run your business with our social media strategy and management services. Contact us for a consultation to discuss your needs and how we can help.