With all the demands of growing a business, social media often becomes an afterthought. We get it – you have limited hours in the day, and so much to get done. But investing in your social media community can be one of the best tools for getting more eyes on your product and better returns over time.

 

Think about it: Social media is the one place where you have access to basically every customer you could dream of, where you can reach them directly at little to no cost, and where you can forge a relationship despite being thousands of miles away. But too often we see companies shoot out a post here and there to “stay active,” then call it a day – missing major opportunities to develop valuable relationships.

 

Fortunately, we’re here to help. We’ve got some tricks up our sleeve to help you build a solid social community that can amplify your content and validate your brand – and you might even have fun in the process! Let’s dive in.

 

Make yourself known.

Even if your brand is truly one of a kind, you’ll still have to compete with the rest of the internet. But there are basic steps you can take to increase your visibility, including making sure links to all of your social media channels are easy to find. Put them on your website, in your newsletter, in the email signature of every employee – everywhere you can.

 

Got a high-performing tweet or post that sums up who you are? Consider pinning it to the top of your feed, so it’s the first thing visitors see. You can change your pinned post at any time.

 

Another step, which many brands often forget about, is cross-promotion. Chances are, your audience varies by platform. Leverage that! Maybe you have a decent Facebook following but you want more action on Instagram. Create a Facebook post, which includes a link to your top-performing Instagram content, to drive your audience there and encourage them to follow you on both. Remember, people can be lazy. Some of your followers may not even realize you have multiple accounts, so you need to make it easy for them.

 

Understand & leverage your platforms.

One mistake a lot of brands make is to consistently post the same content on all of their social channels. Problem is, it won’t take long for your followers to realize they’re not getting anything out of following you on each. And you’ll start to see a big drop.

 

If your time is super limited, it’s OK to post the same content across platforms occasionally. But when planning to use a piece of content across multiple channels, ask yourself, “Does this content make sense for this platform?” Because often, the answer will be no.

 

• LinkedIn is for company news and professional content. Build your thought leadership credibility by commenting on trending posts and joining interesting conversations.
• Facebook is for video and curated content. It’s easy to include and track links out to other content (whitepapers, PDFs, landing pages, etc.)
• Instagram is for eye-catching imagery. Be aware that you can’t include clickable links in Instagram captions.
• Twitter is for quick hits, blog posts, news, and GIFs. Comparatively, Twitter content has a relatively short shelf life.

You may not need to be on all platforms. If you find that one doesn’t suit your business and your goals, that’s OK. But be open, especially as new platforms come on the scene.

 

Take the time to build relationships.

Say it loud for those in the back: building community requires reciprocity. You can’t just send posts out into the world and expect miracles; it takes a little more than that.

 

Follow other people in your industry and generously like, comment, and retweet. Do a search for a relevant hashtag – maybe a product, event, or job title – and like related posts. Give shoutouts to companies you work with (or want to work with!). Ask questions and elicit opinions. Got a work in progress that you want feedback on? There’s even a hashtag for that.

 

But, perhaps most importantly, listen. Listen to your audience, and to the people in your industry. What interests them? What do they value? What are their problems? Can you help solve them? What gaps can you fill when it comes to the content your audience wants?

 

When you take the time to study your audience and understand who they are, you can better fulfill their needs. And when you fulfill their needs, everything else comes naturally.

 

Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Building a community on social media takes time. You may not be able to set aside a big chunk of hours every day, but you also don’t want to build up your posting cadence only to suddenly stop because you aren’t seeing quick results. You’re likely not going to see life-changing growth overnight. But if you make a practice of it, you will see your audience grow and your relationships strengthen. And if you need help on your journey, we’re just a phone call away.