One in every three people in the world uses social media. In the United States, over 79% of adults are active on various social media platforms. Many businesses are turning to social media to connect with customers and increase their visibility. However, gaining a foothold on social media is not as easy as it may seem.
It means that dome businesses will resort to purchasing fake subscribers, creating dummy profiles or using bots to grow their audiences. While some of these tactics may work to some extent, there are a number of proven strategies you can deploy that actually work.
Here are five social media best practices to grow your audiences in 2020 and beyond:
- Come with A Content Strategy for Social Media
Content marketing is not confined to traditional blogs and websites; it works and is required on social media too. It’s important to start with a well-thought-out content strategy in addition to the normal promotional content that you want to publish on social media.
Many businesses or influencers come with an advertising mindset to social media, not appreciating what their audience would find interesting. No one wakes up wanting to view promotional content or adverts, that’s for sure. Here are examples of non-promotional content you should use to grow your audience:
Trending topics
Join your audiences in posting about and commenting on trending topics in your niche. For example, you can post about upcoming fashion events if you are in the fashion industry. However, as a business, you should go a step further and write full blog articles about the event, provide some extra information and expert opinions.
Informational Content
Work on some content that will help your audience in some way. For instance, you could provide tips on a particular topic that would appeal to your target audiences.
Participate in User Discussions Across Platforms
For instance, you can join popular niche-specific groups and contribute when a popular conversation is initiated.
Loosen Up
Sometimes it’s good to post a joke, meme or funny quote on your business page. You will find that most customers react to the post and provide some feedback or ask a question on the thread.
Provide Updates
Whether you are a business or an independent influencer, you can always post non-promotional updates on your social media page. Update your followers on the goings-on in your business, events you will be participating in or something that has happened to you or in your organization.
Share Open Vacancies on Social Media
You will build more trust and grow your audience if you share job openings in your company on social media. Sharing vacancies with your followers gives them a sense of belonging and shows that you care about them beyond the sales pitch.
- Define Your Audience
Knowing who you want to connect with on social media is as important as creating your social media profiles. Take some time to analyze social media demographics in relation to your business, even as you craft your messages and strategize. You can’t target everyone on social media and succeed because of the information explosion and levels interest.
Here some factors you can use to define your audience:
- Age or generation- are you targeting boomers, millennials or everyone?
- Geographical location- localized posts have better performance in terms of engagements and conversions.
- Niche- examples include fashion, finances, health, diet, cooking etc. This will help you connect with your audience wherever they flock; be it groups, hashtags or pages.
- Language, etc.
Defining your audiences will not only help in creating impactful posts but also in choosing which platforms to post, when to post and so much more. As an example, younger millennials spend their social media time on platforms like Tiktok and Snapchat, while older millennials might be on Instagram and YouTube. You can check out services like Enforce Social for TikTok.
Not sure how to identify or define your audience? There are numerous social media popularity companies that specialize in brand promotion on various platforms. If you are looking for a recommendation, try en.followersnet.com.
- Post Frequency
A business or influencer page is not like a standard social media page. Your audience may not appreciate seeing frequent and random business posts on their page. It’s important to understand how each social media platform works. For instance, a Facebook or Instagram post might have a longer life than a Tweet.
At the same time, your audience will guide you on the appropriate post frequency. Use engagement metrics to understand how and when they see and engage with your posts and schedule your posts accordingly.
- Measure Performance and Adjust
Like other aspects of your business, key performance indicators (KPIs) also apply in social media growth management. There are several business tools out there used to measure social media performance right to the smallest details like the number of reactions and type of reactions. Use these social media KPIs to adjust your strategies dynamically as nothing is cast in stone in social media.
- Track Your Mentions Across Social Media
If you decide to be on social media, you must be ready to be social. One of the most critical aspects of social media is tracking. Knowing where your brand or business has been mentioned, how and in what context and reacting accordingly. The faster you respond, the better for you. This applies to both positive and negative mentions and tags.
The Bottomline
Growing your social media audience comes down to the approach you take from the beginning and consistency. There aren’t many shortcuts to success on social media and the few that work are risky and can be expensive in the long run. Always look to grow your audience organically through good content, engagements, relevance and consistency.
