Consistency: The #1 Secret To Social Media Success | Big Domino Marketing Blog
Revamp your social media strategy by using the power of consistency
Social media often features in online marketing and as an effective means to improve engagement with your audience. What was once merely a means to interact with friends and family has long since become one of the most powerful digital marketing tools.
Many small and medium business owners use social media to their advantage, but for some business owners, it’s still a struggle to make it work.
Do you have a plan and is it working for your business?
Listen closely, there is but one extremely effective way to leverage social media to your advantage and that is CONSISTENCY.
Where did it all go wrong?
You might find yourself in a situation where your business has been growing nicely. However, this means you have less time on your hands for social media. You’re probably forgetting to post, and instead, you’re posting at random and your content has probably become less engaging.
Before you know it, your followers are thinning out, and your brand is no longer as interesting as it once was before… but can you salvage this problem?
Yes… you sure can! We want to share some great ways that you can stay consistent with social media to help improve your business.
Time for a reality check
Before making massive changes to your current posting plan, let’s assess exactly where you are and what the missing pieces might be.
1. What your audience thinks
How often do you post? Posting regularly sends the message to your current and potential customers that you’re available and open for business.
Regular posts often take place on a weekly basis, however, if you don’t post as often, people may assume that you’re not too busy. This could be a bad message to send your audience because people want to know that you’re doing business and others are using your services.
Posting regularly is another way to advertise your brand and solve problems for your audience. Again when you fail to post, it’s without a doubt that fewer people will “find” you.
Another thing to remember is that social media is a 24/7 online gig, and most people move around with their mobile devices. A large percentage of young people often check their social media and follow their influencers every day.
If they’re following your brand, then you can be certain that you need to feed them with content because they will be checking every day.
2. Do you have enough content to post?
A content calendar can help you to plan your posting strategy in advance and this is very effective whether you have a small or medium business. In order to stay consistent with your posts, you need to have content.
For some excellent content creation tips, refer to this article here.
3. Maintain your brand’s voice
When you post your content on social media do you speak your brand’s voice?
For a strong online presence, you need to maintain your brand’s voice. Another thing to consider when getting into a consistent brand voice is the fact that you know who your audience is and that you speak to them accordingly.
The more you stay true to your brand, the more your audience will recognise and relate to it. In this way, you can build a loyal audience and customers as you progress and continue your success.
4. Is your content relevant?
This is important to consider if you want to maintain consistency. It’s no use posting content and it doesn’t tick off a few boxes such as appealing to your audience or engaging in a way that humans would (the people reading your posts are not machines).
Posting poor content is almost as bad as posting no content. The social media feed of every platform is bursting with new posts and images every second, so this is where quality counts over quantity.
5. Do you have a content schedule?
Do you have a content calendar? With it, you can create a content schedule so that you not only have structure but also, direction.
If you’re posting without a schedule you may just as well be blindly posting content that will inevitably “taper off” as you become busier.
Having a schedule can also help you synchronise your posting times with the peak hours of social network platforms. In this way, you should get more traffic and views.
How to use consistency to make your social media marketing work for you
#1 Create trust
This is one of the most essential things to bear in mind when thinking about your brand and your audience. In order for people to follow your brand and become loyal, they’d need to trust you. Trust is built on emotional connections.
#2 Know your goals
To know your goals go hand in hand with knowing what you want for your company. You need to know your goals and work on them. Set a strategy plan in place and execute it. While this can’t happen overnight, true success takes time. Most importantly, you must remember that you need realistic goals so that you can meet them on time.
#3 Your brand must come from deep within
Branding is not just about what you tell your audience when they’re looking; instead, it’s something that your employees and personnel are “living” each day.
People need to relate to your brand even by just seeing your logo, or hearing a slogan or phrase related to your company. Be inspired by successful giants like Nike, Levi’s, BMW and Apple but remember that your company is unique so play to your strengths.
#4 Use tools to your advantage
These days you can leverage online tools to your advantage and this can help you to post and monitor your posts. This is essential such as if you didn’t have time to publish 5 posts a day, then you could check peak or the best hours to post and publish less content during those peak times instead.
An auto-scheduler can help you stay consistent instead of overdoing it with content in one or two days a week and then completely disappearing for days at a stretch.
#5 Make it about engagement
Social media was as if it was designed to network and engage with others. Needless to say, it’s the most ideal tool to use to your advantage for digital marketing.
Engaging with your audience and encouraging them to engage is an easy way to establish trust between yourself and your viewers. We cannot emphasise enough how big a factor trust plays in the future outcome of your business.
#6 Don’t limit your posting strategy to one platform
If you’re using multiple platforms then make sure that you stay consistent on all of them. Don’t solely focus on Facebook and neglect Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
Consistency is about incorporating all your resources and tools and then working towards success.
And remember, you don’t always have to create content from scratch!
Repurposing content will save you tons of time and energy.
The takeaway
No matter what your intentions when using social media, if you are erratic in your posting your following is not likely to grow.
It can be a challenge to fit social media on top of running a business, but if you are committed to using online platforms to reach new customers then you have to show up every day.
Building the habit of consistency takes time and effort but will be well worth it when you see people liking and commenting on your posts.
Time management is your best friend when it comes to managing your social media with a set degree of dedication. Managing your time can help you cross off all your items on your “to do list”.
Most importantly, it will help you maintain the consistency that you need to keep your content active and current for your audience and thus, improve your business.
For more digital marketing tips:
Originally published at https://blog.bigdomino.co.za on June 24, 2019.
