Facebook has more than 1.49 billion monthly active users. Twitter and Instagram can each boast more than 300 million monthly active users.
Suffice to say that with so many people using social media across the world, it’s essential that you get your brand onto these platforms if you want to put your business in front of customers.
But, it’s exactly how the influence of social media is leveraged by a company that determines their success in the online social world.
It’s all well and good setting up a company LinkedIn account, Facebook profile and Twitter handle – but this means nothing if you’re not using each social network in the best possible way for your business’s size, industry, and personality.
Engagement is key for getting social media to work for your brand – and this is where Social Engagement Optimisation comes in.
What is Social Engagement Optimisation?
Social Engagement Optimisation refers to the techniques used to develop and enhance a brand’s presence and influence on social media.
For Twitter, these techniques will be used to increase retweets and favourites; on Facebook, likes and shares; Instagram, likes and mentions.
But, the one goal that unites all of these social media sites is to encourage meaningful discussions between brands and potential customers – as in, actual conversations which answer real questions and entice people to visit a company’s website and convert into customers.
So, how can I use social media to market my brand?
- Keyword research – Conduct keyword research and market research to find out what your target audience is searching for online and on social media, and then piggyback on this. If there’s a particular hashtag your customers are using, or a LinkedIn page they’re always contributing to, then you need to make yourself part of the conversation.
- Create great content – Once you know what your target customers want, you can create interesting and useful content that they’ll genuinely want to engage with. Infographics, whitepapers, videos, images – it could be virtually anything. Tap into this and outreach it to them directly.
- Blog often – Your blog is the perfect way to share your content with social users. Let them know what’s going on with your company, your industry, and your products and services to help make your brand an essential resource. Link back to your blog through your social channels to increase site visitors, too, which will have great SEO benefits.
- Link, link, link – Whether it’s to a third-party article or your own blog, as mentioned above – it pays to link to the resources you use and give credit where it’s due. You might even find yourself being thanked for sharing someone’s blog or news story, which will only increase your social clout.
- Check in on your competitors – Take a look at your competitors every once in a while to see which social networks they’re on; what they’re updating with; and the sorts of discussions they’re participating in. If something seems to be working quite well for them, then it will definitely pay to try the same thing yourself!
- Measure your efforts – It’s no good putting in the hours if you don’t know how worthwhile they’re being. Use Google Analytics to find out how many referrals you’re getting from social media; track brand mentions, followers and likes; keep updated on how all of those discussions and interactions are benefiting you. Then, you’ll know what works and what doesn’t.
Which social networks should I be using?
People use different social networks for different purposes, so it’s not going to be realistic to apply the same strategy to your company’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram accounts, for example.
Users are looking for different types of content and will access the most appropriate network accordingly.
For example, if you’re looking for a recipe for carrot cake, you wouldn’t head over to LinkedIn – you’re much more likely to visit Pinterest. Likewise, if you’re interested in finding in-depth SEO insights, then LinkedIn or Twitter is more likely to be your first port of call – not Instagram.
It’s important to have an understanding of how each social channels users’ choose to engage, and where your target market is more likely to frequent. (It’s probably not great to spend five hours a week on LinkedIn trying to drive traffic to your website if you sell organic shampoo and body wash, for example.) Then, you can build a strategy tailored to each.
How can I integrate social engagement into my overall digital marketing strategy?
If you want to find out more about how you can make social media work for your brand, get in touch with the experts at Entyce. We specialise in creating brilliant websites, as well as the comprehensive digital marketing strategies to support them; helping to maximise your brand’s potential online.
Call 01244 310 140 or email [email protected] to chat to a member of our team.