Yesterday, I wrote about social media tips so today I wanted to share some more for new business owners and content creators that are looking to engage fully with their audiences. Because if you aren’t engaging with them where they are already hanging out then you are losing out on a major opportunity to get in front of your target audience.
Judge Sentiment
Figuring out how many people liked, commented, or shared your content is not the only metric because it doesn’t give you the full picture. Maybe they are sharing your content but it’s not because they like it or agree with it. Judging the sentiment of your audience toward your brand is important.
Organic vs. Paid Engagement
If you have paid for advertising in order to boost your brand, don’t you want to know if it’s working? If it didn’t work then you should want the opportunity to try again or switch your marketing dollars to something else that may work out better. (Give adequate time before switching.) And be mindful of the platform that you are using. Facebook is usually hard to gain organic traction but Twitter and Instagram are generally easy to gain organic traction without needing as much paid advertising.
Consider the Competition
Do you know who your competitors are? Even if you have a brand new product or idea you will have competitors of some kind. Evaluate who they are before moving on. Once you have established who your competition is, look at their strategy. Don’t steal their ideas but look at what they have done in the past that didn’t work for them and don’t follow in their footsteps. My dad taught me as a kid to learn from the mistakes of others so I don’t repeat them.
If you are a small business, you don’t need to look at competitors like Amazon, look at smaller businesses within your niche or industry.
Establish Your Brand Identity
Before you can even write content or publish anything to social media, you should determine what you want to say and how you want to say it. Branding yourself and your business is paramount to getting your message across to your audience. Branding comes down to colors, images, phrases, affiliations, partnerships, etc. Don’t make your messaging 100% promotional or your followers will quickly unfollow you because no one likes to feel like they are being sold to. Be informative but not spammy. And share content that is relevant to your target audience or you risk losing their interest. One more caveat would be to not slander your competitors because this makes you look petty and unprofessional. Plus, two can play that game. You throw mud and they will too.
What other tips would you give to someone that is working on promoting themselves or their small business? I would love to hear your thoughts!
Thanks for reading!
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