Building a Better Social Media Presence in 2021

We are halfway through 2021, a great time to do a mid-term assessment of your business activities on social media. Time to figure out what is working, what is not, what needs to be tweaked and what should be ditched. In this post, we will be examining 3 dos and 3 don’ts of social media for business which you can use as a template to evaluate your social media presence.

Assessing Your Social Media Presence

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the number of social media users in Nigeria has increased by 6 million. As the number of users increases, so does the number of organisations that embrace social media for business. A related statistic is that 45% of internet users now depend on social media to determine which brand to patronise. Clearly, Nigerian business owners cannot afford to exclude social media from their marketing channels.

Yet, social media for business can be quite arduous, especially in the “early days” when you keep posting content without much engagement. The lack of comments on your post or followers for your accounts can be frustrating. But this is no reason to give up.

One thing business owners should quickly learn is that organic growth might be slow, but in the long term, it is a sure way to generate leads, drive conversions and increase brand awareness. If you would like to use social media for organic growth, here are 3 dos and don’ts of social media marketing to follow.

3 Dos of Social Media

1. Be consistent with your content

You may be wondering how often you should post on your social media accounts. The experts at Hootsuite advise posting on Instagram 3-7 times per week, on Facebook about 2 times a day, on Twitter between 1 and 5 tweets per day and on LinkedIn between 1 and 5 times a day. Remember to make your posts conversational and friendly.

Note that this type of consistency requires planning. You cannot afford to just wing social media content posting, making your presence appear uncoordinated and random. Instead, create a content calendar. Ask yourself what kind of content you want to post on your social media page? Use your answer to prepare a content schedule.

2. Carry out social listening

If you own a business but do not know what conversations people have about your business or brands like yours, you would be doing business in a vacuum. That’s why social listening is critical in building a social media presence.

Social listening means monitoring social media channels for any mentions relating to your brand, products, or services. You can do social listening for the trends and keywords related to your industry. It helps you find out the pain points of your target audience and what they would want you to improve on.

It also enables you to join conversations happening in your industry. Social listening is also a great way to avert a PR crisis. When negative comments are caught on time. You can prevent them from escalating.

3. Engage with your audience

Social media is about conversations. When social media users engage with your posts, ensure that you reply to their comments. It is important to know that engagement does not end with responding to persons who directly mention your brand.

People may be talking about your brand without actually mentioning you in the post. So, if you do your social listening correctly, you would find these posts and engage with them.

3 Don’ts of Social Media

1. Selling all the time

Leave the sales pitches and direct marketing for traditional marketing channels. People come on social media to relax and take their minds off ‘serious’ things. So, do more ‘soft selling’ on social media using stories built around your products and services.

2. Don’t use your business page as a personal page

Avoid using your business page to engage in personal conversations or to share personal information. Your business page should reflect the tone and voice of your business. So, you must choose your words carefully, avoid unnecessary arguments (even with the trolls) and avoid using inappropriate language.

3. Don’t jump on every trend

Not every trend is meant for your business, so you should be careful about the trends you jump on. Many brands have learnt this the hard way resulting in their being “cancelled” on social media. The rule of thumb should be: when in doubt, keep it out.

Final Words…

It is time to evaluate what you have been doing on various platforms and decide what needs to be enhanced or changed. Though tasking, consistency, social listening and engaging your audience are three indispensable tools in building a solid social media presence. If you would like to chat with professionals to get specific help for your brand, we are right here.