Look for Opportunities to Connect to the Audience

When it comes to marketing on the various social media platforms, everyone wants in on the action. Social media marketing, on the surface, seems like a relatively simple concept. Just create your accounts on Facebook and Twitter, then upload some content and links, and you’re done. Setting up profiles and tweeting links is simple.

Oh…but it’s so much more than that! I love when I explain to people what I do and their reply is…”Oh so you get to play on Facebook, all day.” — Err, wrong. I have to just laugh when I get that response — I’ve learned to just let it go.

Managing social media is more than just posting and scrolling through feeds all day. And with the rapid growth each platform is achieving with new features being released frequently, it’s getting harder for a business owner to stay on top of their accounts and be active.

It is through direct interaction that you will be able to build substantial relationships with your audience, increase your visibility, and elevate the general opinion of your business.

But where do you start…? I get asked this question weekly.

If you are using social media in hopes of growing your business — and aren’t quite to the point you can hire it out, here are five ways to elevate your presence on social media and gain the audience that you need to grow your business successfully.

Ask questions that are hot topics in your area of expertise, try to start conversations, ask for viewer opinions, find out the struggle your ideal client is facing and offer a solution.

Open-ended questions create better opportunities for you to participate in discussions and making connections with your clients, more so than multiple-choice questions.

An added advantage of this strategy is that every time one of your posts receives a comment, it increases the chances that they’ll see the next post. Any engagement on a post is going to benefit you in a connection stance, but also in ranking on the platform for your visibility to others.

Many bigger companies or public figures do these ‘live’ times — where they are online and visible for the audience to see and interact with. Even just starting out, getting in front of the camera is always my #1 suggestion to help growth and audience connection.

Choose one of the social media platforms and create an event or a hashtag that will give you the opportunity to chat with your audience. During the event, provide them with tips in your area of expertise and offer suggestions on the various ways to either utilize your product OR different ways they can WORK WITH YOU. You can also create a post previous to going online and ask for questions they’d like answered during the chat. This is a popular method.

As you plan your chat times, go in with a specific list of topics that you would like to discuss. However, don’t feel as though you have to stick to the list. Let your audience take the lead and discuss topics that are of interest to them. Have your notes near by, if you need to get the conversation back on track, I know a lot of times — it is easy to get started on another topic or ramble off on a non relevant topic.

For the most part, social media posts are intended to be relatively short. Every platform has a text limit, so there’s a minimal amount of information that you can share before the platform cuts you off and tells you that you are out of space.

Plus, even if you had an unlimited number of characters that you could work with, you don’t want to drown your audience with text that will stop reading mid way through. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t share more extended content on the various social media sites and drive your audience to THOSE platforms.

This will not only draw more in-depth interaction with your social media profiles, but it will also help to increase the amount of traffic to your blog. You also don’t want to be afraid of putting a bit of a budget behind your content, because you’ll be shocked at what you can accomplish with very little money. Each platform specializes in a certain feature to get your message across. For example: tutoritals and demonstrations are best posted on Youtube, helping audience brainstorm or pull inspiration can be done on Pinterest, and visual pleasing can be offered on Instagram. Utilize all the platforms to capture as many eyeballs as you can to be introduced to your work or product.

Social media is now the place for businesses and brands to be. As more and more companies and organizations begin to engage in social media, it is vital for you to up your game and outshine your competition. Improving your social media presence and engagement is the key to earning more fans and followers.

By implementing these techniques I’ve shared into your social media marketing strategy, you’ll start to get more exposure, broadening your reach, and building your brand.

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