Information in this blog post was obtained from the Sprout Social Blog, Social Media Examiner, and SocialMediaToday.com.
Have you ever wondered how to become successful on social media? Have you ever looked at a business on social media and wondered "How did they do that?" Have you ever thought "It cannot be that hard." Have you ever seen the "influencers" and thought, "That is not even a real job, a baby could do that." I am here to tell you that it can be quite difficult without the proper knowledge, hard work, and time commitment. However, I am here to guide you on what I think are the best tips for succeeding on social media, no matter what your business or goal is.
FIRST: Which Social Media Platforms Perform the Best?
The first tip might seem simple, but it actually involves some thought. It involves choosing which social media platforms best serve your purpose. I think it is important to mention that you may be using a certain platform currently, but it might not be the best social media platform for your particular target market. Do not be afraid to venture into social media platforms that are uncomfortable and new, because they might be the platforms that best support your target market.
The first piece of advice would be to figure out the best social media platforms that your target market participates in the most and figure out how to create engaging content. It is impossible to be active on every single social media platform, so it is best to find out where your followers participate most. For example, if you have an older target market, you will most likely have better luck on Facebook. Whereas, if your target market is the younger generations, Instagram and TikTok would be a better bet. Once you know what target market and target social media you need to engage with, you can figure out what type of content performs the best, be active, and engage with your audience.
Source: Sprout Social
SECOND: Pay Attention to Social Media Trends and Jump on Them When They are Hot
Have you ever gotten onto your phone, clicked on a social media platform, scrolled for a while, and heard the same sound over and over? That would be an example of a trend that is hot and a great candidate for growing your platform. However, maybe you got busy and didn't do the trend until two days later and your video did not do well at all... why? You waited too long. Let me explain below.
The second piece of advice would be to take advantage of trends when you are just starting out on social media. Once you start growing on social media, you can focus more on original content that focuses more on what your page is about, but for now, trends are your friend. Trends bring in consumers from every walk of life. In other words, they focus on a broader group of people and serve the purpose of simply growing your page. You could expand your market immensely simply by participating in social media trends. The biggest thing is jumping on them when they first become a trend. If you jump on a trend too late, you are not going to benefit. It is imperative that you do the trend as soon as you start noticing it over and over on your home page. Keep in mind, it may take a couple of tries, but eventually, one of your trend videos should take off. For more information on social media trends, check out Aly's article here.
Source: Socialmediatoday.com
THIRD: Give Viewers a Reason to Follow You
So people found your post, they resonated with it, they liked it, they commented on it, but they didn't follow you. Why is that? Most likely, you did not provide a call to action. A call to action is a prompt that is likely to encourage more engagement and response.
This piece of advice is probably the most important piece of advice on this list. You need to give people a reason, or multiple, to follow you and stick around. An example would be like when you go on social media and you scroll and scroll. I can guarantee that you only stop and deeply look at a post if something interests you or if you resonate with something. So in order for you to do this well, you need to put yourself in the consumers' shoes. You have to post things that make people stop and say, "Wait, why should I follow?" A great example of a call to action would be something in the description of your post that tells people they should follow. For example, "If you resonate with this image, feel free to give us a follow to see more like this!" Give consumers a call to action or a reason to follow along with your page and everything it has to offer. For example, if your account is for millennial moms, put in your bio "A Page for ALL Millennial Moms- the tips, tricks, and stories of millennial moms."
Source: Social Media Examiner
FOURTH: Post Consistently, but Only With Purpose
I am almost positive that if you were to look up "How to be Successful on Social Media?" You would see a lot of things saying, "Post a lot," "Post every day," "Post at this time," etc. etc. etc. The truth is, yes, posting consistently can help immensely, but only if it is quality content that your viewers and target market enjoy.
You can post every day, but if your posts aren't entertaining, informative, valuable, inspiring, actionable, or engaging, it will not matter how often you post, the posts simply will not perform well. This can honestly be one of the hardest parts of working to grow your social media because you can get to a point where you feel stuck or feel like you have run out of good ideas (Sprout Social).
If that is the case and you get to a point where you feel stuck, I suggest trying these tips:
Study each individual one of your platforms to see which type of content does best on each platform.
Look at your closest competitors. See what they are posting. What type of content does well for them? Once you figure that out, try it out on your page and see if it does well, adjust as needed.
Use the poll features on your pages and ask your audience what type of content they like to see the most.
Look at your analytics for your page and see what type of deliverables perform the best. What type of content gets the most likes? What gets the most shares? What generates the most new sales?
FIFTH: Do not Neglect Private Messages
Probably the least "important" tip of these five tips, but still crucial to building a close-knit following, is to not neglect your private messages. This is extremely important especially if you are a brand and/or are a company that provides a service.
Nowadays, we live in a very "now" focused world. When we want to know something, we want to know it now. Instead of getting on a phone call, we can shoot the local handyman a Facebook message. Social media private messaging makes getting in touch with businesses extremely easy. If a customer has a question, it is very easy to get in touch directly with someone at the business that can answer their questions and concerns. The reason it is important to not neglect these is because consumers usually associate a company's ability to respond to messages with how much they care about their customers. The second a company neglects their consumers' messages, is the second those consumers will go find a different company who values their customers and can actually answer their questions.
Conclusion
So you read this, you chose one tip, and you followed it perfectly, but it didn't help you succeed. Why is that? It really is simple, if you stick with one of these tips, you would eventually over a long period of time see growth. It would just take a very long time and you would not see the growth you are capable of. The reason is that these tips are meant to be used all at the same time. When put together, these tips create a strong social media presence. Over a short period of time, I guarantee you will see an increase in followers, shares, likes, comments, and more sales conversions.
As Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.” Social media, just like anything else in life, takes hard work, practice, and time. If you want to do well, you need to put those things into it. I promise you if you put hard work, practice, and time into your social media, you will reap the benefits!!
If you liked this article, please check out more articles regarding the same topics here.
Resources
By. (n.d.). 6 advanced social media marketing tips. Social Media Examiner. https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/6-advanced-social-media-marketing-tips/
Lanier, S. (2023, May 16). 9 simple tips to grow your social media following. Sprout Social. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/get-more-social-media-followers/
Walker-Ford, M. (2022, June 27). 7 tips to grow your audience on every social media platform [infographic]. Social Media Today. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/7-tips-to-grow-your-audience-on-every-social-media-platform-infographic/626087/
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