When it comes to social media, it’s common knowledge that posting regularly is the best way to be seen.
But what mix of content should a business be posting?
Business SA posed this question to Georgi Roberts, Director and Digital Marketing Strategist of Pitstop Marketing.
Here’s what she had to say…
What advice do you have for a business wanting to build its following on social media?
Post regularly. For example, your Facebook post will show up in 5-10% of your followers’ newsfeeds, so the more you post, the more likely it is you’ll be seen and people will engage with you, which then helps with the algorithm.
Be consistent with your brand. Use the same tone of voice. Don’t confuse people who think they know who you are, and then you suddenly change. That’s one way to make people disengage. You should have that brand personality set within your marketing and social media plans, and then you can follow it. You could share almost any kind of link, so long as that introductory sentence fits your brand.
Everyone needs to commit some advertising spend, even if it’s $20 per week, because you can reach a lot of people who are in your target market with really low spend. Every business should be putting money into remarketing year-round for consistent brand reach.
With advertising, you can get too granular, so it comes back to “what is my aim with social media?”. If it’s pure brand exposure, then you’ll have a larger target audience, but if you’re spending $20 per week on advertising, then you should segment that each time so you’re hitting different target groups – and then you can review it and see what worked.
But if you’ve got more money to spend, you can target lookalike audiences on Facebook – who is on Facebook that looks like my current audience, living within a 10km radius of the CBD, or you can upload your email list and ask it who else looks like this.
Other channels have targeted advertising as well, but Facebook has such amazing targeting for advertising, you’d be crazy not to put some money towards it to see what it can do for your brand.
How can a business achieve cut-through on social media – likes, comments, engagement?
I looked at this in two different ways. First, I went through my own Facebook and Instagram feeds and I noted what I stopped and looked at. Then, I tried to relate it back to business.
Firstly, you need to know why your audience is on social media. Do they go on there to read the news, purely to catch up with friends, or because they like looking at food or travel inspiration? When you know why, you can start looking at things like whether you post news stories, or advertise or sponsor posts that the friends of these people might share so you have the most word of mouth referrals happening. It’s all about being a bit more strategic about it.
Next, what else does your audience do offline that you engage with them about? Do they like food, do they like travel, do they work 9-5 in an office just off Rundle Mall? Once you know those other things about your audience, how can you wind those things into your content to interest them?
For example, if you’ve been posting at the same time every Monday morning, is it getting no engagement because everyone’s posting at that time, so you should choose a different time? Are you posting at a time when your target market/persona is in the car and they’re not actually looking at social media, and by the time they do, your post has disappeared because others have taken its place?
It’s really hard. Gaining comments and likes all comes down to great content. It’s tricky. There’s no magic formula, but that’s why you need to constantly review it. At the end of each month, look at what worked, what didn’t work – and why.
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