How to Build Brand Interest Through Social Media?

No doubt you will know by now that social media is one place where there are massive opportunities for growing your business over the coming years. At the same time, it is not merely enough to simply have a Facebook page, have a Twitter account that sends out a link once a day, or have a Pinterest board that you sporadically upload photo’s to. To use social media effectively you need to be savvy and smart with regards to how you go about it.

We put together a list of top tips to help you build brand interest through the use of social media.

Balancing Act

If you are going to embrace social media platforms fully, then the first thing you will realise is that there is a fine balancing act to be carried, both with regards to your content and the platforms that you use.

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Do not waste your time: know where your audience is and target that market. Are stay at home mums who you are selling a service to going to be on LinkedIn? No. At the same time, if you are selling professional business solutions, is Pinterest likely to be the best tool for you to use? I think you can see where I am going with this, just use common sense and target the areas that are ripe for your product, otherwise you will use a lot of resource and enjoy little to no gain.

Do not get lost in simply going where your target market is, either.  Consider the content you are likely to be posting and how this fits in with your offering and willingness to engage with your customer base.  If you are heavily reliant on short, sharp text messages, then an Instagram or a Tout account is not going to be worthwhile, where a greater focus on media sharing and interaction would definitely call for you to explore these avenues.

Content Creation

It is important, too, to balance your content. The key to great social media is short, sharp pieces of concise information that people can digest quickly, especially when you know your audience is on the move. Avoid posting links for further exploration until the times when you know your mainstream target market will be on a laptop at home rather than on the bus with scratchy Wi-Fi coverage.

Try not to be overly reliant on social media software, either. If you have consistent messages you are trying to get across then by all means use automated posts sparingly. Just realise that if you are blatantly “robot only” people will soon switch off.  To this end, it may be worth dedicating a person in house, or hiring an experienced writer, to create regular social media content.  This may take the form of physically updating your feed themselves on a daily basis, or writing and maintaining a cache of posts that can be uploaded and scheduled for posting with your social media program.

Whatever you decide with regards to content, ensure you use the same person to ensure consistency of tone, voice, and delivery.  It is often better to use someone in house where possible, as although outsourcing will save time you will be lacking the personal link and affinity an employee will naturally have to your product, brand, and business.

Following Others

A common area that is not exploited using social media is that of following competitors. While you are by no means trying to ape them and copy what they do, building up a rapport by reposting some of their content is much likely to lead to you having the favour returned, and thus open your business to a whole number of potential new customers and clients.  This can then have the added effect of opening up guest posting opportunities, for example, that will then have a greater impact not just on your social media presence but also boost your site’s search rankings.