We know how important social media is in our marketing today, but how
do you increase your presence and your following, so that social media
is a viable marketing tool for your business? I'm going to show you 7
ways that you can start today that will help you in the long term grow
your visibility and following at the same time.
- Increase and optimize the feeds you follow.
The more interesting things that you are exposed to the more
interesting you’ll be. If you aren’t sure of where to start when it
comes to improving your own inbound feeds, start with lists created by
people of influence.
A few of my favorite Facebook lists:- Entrepreneurs
- Start Up Businesses
- Small Business Marketing
- Social Media News
- Social Media Resources
- Business Leaders
- Share original content. If you are going to have success in social media you must be creating content. Content is not just articles, but graphics, videos, etc. Launching into social media with not content is like trying to start a car with no gas – you won’t get anywhere.
- Share the content of others.
As you read content that you find interesting and that you think your
audience will find interesting be sure to like, share or retweet.
Others will see that you are sharing their information
and be more apt to share you content. I like to call this sharing the
love. Social media is not an individual sport, so start building up
your team with a strong social media network that will not only give you
items to share, but will also be willing to share your information as
well.
- Be interesting. Find, know and
live your own voice. Don’t just copy what others are doing, tap into
your own originality. Social media gives you the capability to humanize
your brand and naturally participate in conversations. Still stuck?
Your brand voice
can be as simple as an adjective that defines your business. Your
brand voice can take you from lackluster to astounding. If you are
still struggling take a few moments to review Marketing Land’s list of 20 Great Social Media Voices.
- Increase your response and share rate. We
know that when it comes to social media algorithms will show posts that
get a response or comment. Learning what types of posts encourage
comments and sharing is something that takes time and will more than
likely not happen overnight. Darren Rowse, the Copyblogger did some experimenting and identified 13 posts that tend to get comments or shared. Below are five of my favorite:
- Competition – Posts that give people a chance to win something by leaving a comment.
- Show Off / Share a Link – Ask readers to show or share something that they have done, written or created.
- Hacks – A hack walks people through a process, how-to or do it yourself project.
- Question Posts – Seems simple enough, but ask a question. Those who see it are wired to answer it.
- Debate and Controversy – Put together opposing arguments and let your readers respond.
- Be the expert. Be the expert
in the industry that you represent in your business. Give insight that
no one else can. Think about it, what insights can you give that no
one else can? Could you start your own hashtag chat on Twitter or
Google hangout about your industry? Don’t be afraid to share your
knowledge, this will help in cultivating trust with your prospects and
customers. One thing to note, Twitter chats and Google hangouts can
take a while to build up, so if you start them just stay consistent
until you find that you have created your own following. Don’t give up
too soon – that’s a mistake many make.
- Stay interesting. Increasing your presence and following on social media doesn’t mean staying on social media 24/7. Don’t be afraid to get off of social media and shut it down. Stay interesting by continuing to do interesting things that don’t involve social media.
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