13 Jul Five steps to improve your social media performance
Social media can be an extremely effective way of marketing your business, but only when it’s done correctly. If you find yourself plugging away, putting out endless social media posts without seeing any results, it might be time to take stock and make some changes. In this blog we look at how you can take steps to improve your business’ performance on social media.
1. Conduct a social media audit
One of the reasons social media works so well as a marketing tool is that it is measurable; you can see exactly what is and isn’t working and make changes to the types of content you’re posting. If you’ve already been using social media for your business, but you want to improve your performance, the best way to begin is to conduct an audit. Take a look at the data on your past posts and see which have gained the most impressions, clicks, likes etc. You can then use this information to inform your forward content plan.
2. Check out your competitors
Whether you’ve already been using social media for your business or you’re starting from scratch, it’s important to keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. While you won’t be able to drill down into the statistics in the same way as you can on your own channels, you can still see which types of posts are being engaged with the most and, again, use this information to inform your own strategy.
3. Create a content plan and measurable goals
When it comes to social media, it should never be improvised. It is essential to have a forward plan, so you stay consistent and are always working towards achieving your goals. Setting measurable targets is the essential first step – these might be increasing your followers, the reach of your posts or engagement rate. You should use these goals, as well as the data you have collected about yours and your competitors’ performance, to inform your content plan.
4. Add tags and hashtags to increase the reach of your posts
Using hashtags is a way to increase the reach of your posts beyond your existing network of followers – but they’re only effective if used properly. Research which hashtags are most relevant to your services and products and ensure they are being used by other people. Using a hashtag nobody else is using renders it pointless, unless you are creating your own hashtag for your brand or a specific marketing campaign.
Another way to increase the visibility of your social media posts is through tagging individuals, publications and other businesses. When you tag another account they will be notified and, if they choose to interact with your post, it will appear to all their followers as well as yours.
5. Interact with your audience
Social media is a great way to build brand trust and strengthen the business-to-customer relationship. When your business is on social media, you open up an additional channel of direct communication with your existing and potential customers. It’s important you are as responsive on social media as you would be over the phone and email. Anyone can see how quickly you have replied to a public comment and may take this and the content of your response as an indicator of how good your customer service is.
You can also encourage interaction with the types of content you post. This could be through asking questions, posting a poll, or even using the Facebook and Instagram live features. Whatever you choose to post, ensure you are engaging with your audience and their responses to build an online community who trust your brand, so that when they need your product or service, you’re the first business that springs to mind.
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