How many times have you opened up social media today? We’re gonna guess upwards of 10 times, don’t worry we’re not shaming you. We love social around here. It’s a great way for businesses to connect with prospects, people, and media. In all the time that we spend staring at our social, client social and everyone else’s social we’ve noticed a few trends we thought we’d key you in on. You can find out a lot about other people on social, and you can learn about your business from how your brand acts on social, too. Let’s be open and honest and get down to the nitty gritty of how your social is affecting your brand image.
Think About Your Posts….
We often are asked “How often should I be posting on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/etc.?” There is no one answer to this question. The only thing we know for certain is that if you’re only using social once or twice a month, you need to start thinking weekly. “But 8THIRTYFOUR,” you might be saying. “I’ve heard that a business needs to post x amount of times on a platform to stay relevant.” Well, yes. On average, that number is probably right, but your industry determines the rules not all studies out there. If you’re selling magical spatulas and all the other magical spatula sellers are posting twice a week, you should probably be posting three or four times. But if those same sellers are posting twice a day, then you need to meet or exceed your industry. It boils down to this: if you post too infrequently, people will forget you. If you post too much, you’ll annoy your audience. Keep the balance.
Think About Your Profile…
Imagine that someone has just seen a super shareable post from your brand’s profile, and now they want to follow you. What do they see when they click on your icon? Is it a page that fully explains who your company is? Or does it leave a lot to be desired? If your brand’s profile doesn’t explain what your company does, then you need to fix that. Like right now. We don’t need an in-depth pitch. We just need some context to who you are. While you’re at it, pull up your social profiles and your website in two different browser tabs. Do they have the same colors (when possible)? What about the same logo? Is your display name the same name that’s shown on your website? Is your website linked in your profile? All of these are super important things that help customers remember your brand, no matter what platform they’re on. You should have one coherent brand strategy. Always.
Think About Your Activity…
When your page gets a comment, what do you do? Do you ignore it? Respond? Like it? Your response can change a lot about how your audience feels about you. If a brand responds to a comment, it helps create an emotional, personal connection with the original poster. The same thing happens to a lesser extent when brands like posts. But that doesn’t mean you need to respond to everything, a lot of times your followers will come to your defense or create a dialogue on your behalf. If your company doesn’t have a set of guidelines for how to handle everything—positive comments, questions, negative comments, etc.—then you should take some time to come up with a plan.
People love interacting with you. Don’t pass up a chance to build brand loyalty.
Social is a powerful tool for establishing connections, creating thought leadership, and just rocking the internet in general. Do you have a social game plan? If not, contact us ASAP. We’ve got you covered.
