Social media is vital for any brand or business to expand and grow its audience. As of 2023, an estimated 4.9 billion social media users exist worldwide. It makes sense that these platforms are used to generate attention. But sharing your family vacation photos on your personal account is much easier than running a business account. Social media communication requires a well-thought-out strategy. Below we will explore four free tips that you can use to help develop your social strategy.
1.Know your Audience
Like any communications strategy, you must map out with whom you want to engage. You can’t start crafting messages on social media without first understanding who you want to reach. It helps to visualize your audience as a single person. Who are they? What do they do for a living? How old are they? What do they like to do for fun? You can even give them a name to help yourself envision them, and if you want to go the extra mile, you can even provide them with a face from a website such as This Person Does Not Exist.
Example:
Name: Sarah
Occupation: Student and works as a barista part-time
Age: 18-24
Likes: She enjoys, trying new foods, shopping, and spending time with her friends.
Completing this exercise lets you identify which audience segments you want to engage with when you start developing your social media strategy.
2. Timing is key
You may have great social media content, but no one will see it if you post it at the wrong time. Creating a content calendar for yourself, and listing the dates and times you want to post content, can be an incredibly beneficial tool to help keep organized.
The best timing for posting content ranges by the day of the week and the platform you use. Sprout Social has an immensely helpful chart you can reference as a general guideline for social media posting.
(Source, Sprout Social)
It’s worth noting that the worst times to post on social media are on the weekends, specifically on Sundays. People tend to spend a lot of time on social media during the week and need a break on the weekend. Posting engaging content at the right times will help draw attention to your social media pages.
3. Hashtags
Does anyone even search for posts with hashtags anymore? Whether users do or not is not the point, hashtags are vital in how social media algorithms categorize your content. For example, Instagram uses several algorithms to categorize feed posts, stories, the explore page, reels, and the search page. Using relevant hashtags on your posts makes it easier for the Instagram algorithm to categorize your content, showing them to target audiences who have liked similar posts in the past. This will boost your content by increasing its discoverability. By researching hashtags before posting any content, you can discover which hashtags are relevant to your brand and incorporate them into your social strategy.
4. Engagement
You should plan how you want to engage with online communities. Not only is it a good idea to have a plan for connecting with your followers, but how will you interact with trolls and hurtful or mean comments? Having a policy of what you deem acceptable on your page before you start posting can be beneficial when you inevitably receive unwanted comments on your posts.
Planning how you want to interact with other brands is also essential. For example, one of our clients is preparing for a large event and is using the services of another organization. We tagged the other organization in one of our client’s social posts. They left a friendly comment on our post and shared it, gaining us more exposure. Knowing how you are going to interact with positive comments, negative comments, and other brands before you start posting can be vital to the success of your social media strategy.
Final Thoughts
Developing your social media strategy can take time and effort. It requires a lot of thought and planning. But suppose you know who you wish to communicate with, develop a social media calendar with appropriate timing, research relevant hashtags, and have an engagement policy. In that case, you’ll have greater success once you begin posting content.
If you want to discuss how Focus Communications can help you with your social media presence, contact us today!
