Businesses shouldn’t have to be convinced to use multiple social media platforms to connect with their customers. The companies that are most active on social media are giving their current customers the chance to interact with them directly and in real time, creating a relationship that is both unique and strong. They also have the opportunity to connect with new customers, pulling from the billions of users on the same platform.
To reap the rewards and gain a large and loyal following, however, you have to stay consistent and engaged across all platforms. In this day and age, keeping an eye on the different platforms and avoiding contradiction can be more difficult than it sounds. Here are some factors to keep an eye on:
Voice
The voice of your organization is an important part of your brand. MarketingProfs CCO Ann Handley says it best: “Your company’s voice is what makes you you. Your voice differentiates you from your competitors.”
Handley urges business to take the time to think about the following: “If you were to mask the logo on your website, would you sound unique? Or would you sound like everyone else (i.e., your competitors)?”
Before you start creating content to share on your platforms, make a style guide to keep the voice of your writing and the writing of your co-workers consistent. It is important you take the time to write it all down. You may feel confident in representing your company’s brand but others might have different ideas on how to tell the same story. Even if multiple people have their hands in the administration of an account, all the posts should sound like they’re coming from the same person, and a style guide will help with that.
A strong voice will also let people know if they are the right fit for your company. Of course you should never turn anyone away, but making a hypothetical consumer persona and tailoring your posts to win their business will earn you the right type of customers.
Quantity
Another part of consistency is frequency of posts. You want to make regular appearances on your followers’ feeds. The actual number of posts you share each day will vary depending on industry and goals. There is no magic number, and that’s okay. To get you started, take a look at your competitors and analyze how often they share content and if they are successful.
In addition to timely, topical posts, you should create your desired number of posts ahead of time. Unfortunately, social media too often falls to the wayside. As always: there’s an app for that. While there are many to choose from, we strongly recommend HubSpot. With this website, among many other things, you can schedule posts from any of your social media accounts whenever you it fits into your work day.
Quality
With businesses posting often, social media platforms are crowded outlets. Twitter, for example, has become a very saturated medium. Gone are the times of one quick post per day. It is no longer enough to simply go through the motions of creating a thought short enough for Twitter’s character count and finding a relevant picture. Content production and management is now a full-time (and all too necessary) job. You should be spending your time creating relevant content to leverage via your social media channels.
What do you think is better: posting one relevant article per day or posting five irrelevant articles? After reading the previous section, you might be tempted to scream the latter. Not so fast. If the goal is to get interactions (clicks, likes, etc.) and to turn visitors into followers, one well-placed, well-researched, interesting post will do much more for your business than any amount of random posts.
Finally, don’t hesitate to repost what works. You work hard to create the content that you share. If a blog post from a year before is still relevant and was received well the first share, share it again. There’s no shame in repeating what works.
Our last piece of advice: don’t rush the process. Like anything, successful social media usage takes time. Cutting corners will only hurt your bottom line.
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Brian Mulligan is an Intern at WordWrite Communications. He can be reached at brian.mulligan@wordwritepr.com or on Twitter, @brian_mulligan1
