Marketing your SME on social media is no longer really an option as digital marketing continues to evolve. Social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools out there and not a part-time exercise either. It should be considered a vital business function for lead generation, nurturing and networking.

Social media and other marketing efforts are all about raising brand awareness and increasing conversions but it can often be overwhelming. Consumers actively look at social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus before making a purchasing decision. Nowadays it’s not whether you should get active but more about how fast your brand can create a viable presence.

Social Media Tips For Brand Awareness

If you’re a local or small business, you can no longer afford to avoid social media marketing. Did you know that 97% of consumers use the Internet as a resource? Building a solid social media presence is a critical component in your overall social media marketing strategy. Quality content, created or curated, is essential to promoting and growing your business online. Read this article on content ideas to increase engagement.

  1. Set Achievable Goals

Possibly one of the most important question to ask yourself is, ‘What do I want to accomplish with my social media efforts?’ Not only that, you must put in place parameters to make your objectives achievable.

For best results, be clear about your goals and study these questions carefully. When you’re ready, answer each one honestly.

  • What type of social media followers or fans would you like to attract?
  • What sets you apart from the rest? Be sure to state that across your social media profiles from Facebook to Twitter and Google Plus. Remember, your message must be consistent across all channels.
  • How much time are you willing to spend on your social media marketing efforts? It’s not a bad idea to outsource to a company or set up a virtual assistant if you’re too busy.
  • What exactly do you hope to achieve? Is it about brand awareness, lead generation, nurturing or purely traffic-driven?

Don’t try to do too much at once as you may become discouraged and overwhelmed. Dedicating sufficient time and resources in the right areas should help you successfully build your brand online.

  1. Always Be Listening (and Engage)

Making new connections on social media is critical to the health of your online brand identity. Always listen to what is being said online especially within related industries and identify the needs of your potential clients. Encouraging a conversation is the only way to build meaningful relationships.

Ask questions, listen and then respond appropriately. Focus on what they deem important and share relevant content that will meet a need or solve their problems. There is a big difference between someone who’s actively participating online compared to someone who’s simply blasting a message. Don’t be the latter!

  1. Build Real Relationships

This point is runs parallel to the last. Building relationships extend beyond influencers or shareholders; your focus should be on individuals within your audience. Customer experience has long been one of the major determining factors when choosing a brand.

Anyone can send out tons of content and random statistics and therein lies the problem. If you don’t share relevant and interesting content and don’t engage with your audience in a meaningful way, you will not be successful. Poor quality content without effective engagement will be like talking to a wall. It’s considered poor social media etiquette if you don’t interact.

Remember, as quickly as your business success is announced, a bad customer experience can go viral even faster. Engage with your audience on a human level, let them know you care.

  1. Regularly Post Quality Content

One of the biggest challenges businesses face is creating social media content that consistently keeps the audience interested. You need to find the right balance between marketing your business, educating your audience and encouraging conversation. Ask yourself these questions:

  • How does the audience benefit from reading your content?
  • What value or benefit does it offer?

Posts on Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest need to really focus on your target audience. It also needs to be consistent so create a schedule that fits into your day. There are a number of useful tools that can help. Some of these include Sendible, HootSuite, Buffer and Crowdfire. Even marketing automation platforms like SharpSpring have incorporated a social media listening and scheduling tool.

From there, integrate your account with a tool like IFTTT (If This Then That) so you can create different rules for specific actions. This works well when posting a new article as the link is subsequently sent to a Buffer account or similar, ready to share.

Last but certainly not the least; don’t be afraid to mix it up. Repeatedly posting the same type of content will likely not sit well with your audience. In addition to your own content, share other people’s content, business related posts, quotes and other topics to grab attention.

Final Thoughts

Social media platforms and the web in general, are visual heavy mediums. Creating attractive visual content for your audience will greatly increase engagement and possibly conversions. Use pictures, photographs and videos of your staff, products, services and events. Content sharing is not a buzz word; it’s a necessity and probably one of the best ways to increase brand awareness.

Always focus on people in your local community or your industry type. The more involved and engaged you are locally could result in leads and buyers finding you. A free and effective way to help the right people find you is using hashtags. A tool like hashtags.org can prove particularly useful.

It’s important to not solely focus on sales but rather sharing and networking. A great metric to measure success is when someone else shares a link of one of your posts.

Get in touch with us if you need the services and expertise of a global digital marketing partner. We specialise in SEO, PPC, Web development, Social, Marketing Automation and more. Please comment in the section below or find us on social media if you would like to share some interesting social media campaign ideas.

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