By Fakaira Gabriel
Social media is as fundamental to a brand’s digital identity as its website, with a primary difference – engagement. Motivating interaction is the name of the game for social media which requires a very different set of strategies.
Cultivate Dialogue
Active, two-way communication makes a valuable contribution to an organization’s reputation. It fosters trust and builds relationships with target audiences. Today, social media platforms are rewarding accounts that prompt engagement with more reach and visibility. Whether it’s a poll, call-to-action or call-for-content, creating an opportunity for audiences to respond is an effective engagement strategy. Even with dynamic curated content, one mistake brands make all too often is ignoring comments or messages that their posts generate. It is social media, so rather than post and go, post and engage!
Choose Your Platforms Wisely
There is a plethora of social media platforms, but that doesn’t mean you need an account with on each one. The key is connecting your organization’s purpose with the platform category your target audiences fall in for reaching your goals. For example, suppose your objective is to increase your presence among businesses and industry leaders. In that case, LinkedIn is the best fit for your brand. If you want to foster camaraderie with your audience, Facebook provides a more casual, personable atmosphere for that. When it comes to posting aesthetically pleasing and meticulously curated content, Instagram is an effective option. Lastly, if you want to share bite-sized, timely news, Twitter is your best choice. Just because a platform is popular doesn’t mean that’s where you need to be – go to where your audience is.
Avoid Plagiarizing Across Platforms
It may be tempting to post the same content across all your social media platforms, but each speaks its own language. Some sites are designed for a limited number of characters (Twitter), while others allow unlimited text. And for the most part, each channel has its own layout. The point is to create a unique experience for audiences on each of your platforms. When you cross-post, you risk diluting your impact and losing engagement. Leveraging the same topic is fine, just be sure to tailor the content you post to accommodate the platform you’re using, (Proactively planning for content to be developed ahead of time will help you avoid the temptation of reposting duplicate content on all your social media platforms.) Even minor tweak makes a vast difference.
Keep it Simple
We all have something to say, and as impactful as the caption may be, no one wants to read a digital dissertation on any social media platform (LinkedIn perhaps being the outlier). A good rule of thumb is to assume your audience has the attention span of a goldfish. Hook them with great visuals, lead with valuable information, and keep it short, sweet and to the point.
Don’t Give Up
It’s easy to get discouraged when you devote time and energy to your social media strategies and don’t achieve the engagement milestones you’ve set for yourself. The key is persistence and consistency. Just like your business wasn’t an overnight success, neither will your social media engagement. As long as your goals are realistic and you’re putting in the work, you will yield positive results.
© 2021 Newman & Newman, Inc.
