Five Ways to Achieve a Successful Social Media Strategy

We live in an age where everyone, even your great aunt Beatrice, is on social media. Therefore, our news feeds can feel crowded. A quick scroll can pull up photos of your college roommate’s latest trip, a food blogger’s new recipe, and a cute dog video. So how can your business stand out? How can you reach your target audience? Today I’m sharing five ways to stand out and increase your engagement.

1. Use Strong Visuals

When it comes to social media, visuals are everything. Think of your content as an online magazine. Each image should be intentional and consistent with your brand values. A follower should be able to scroll through their feed, take one glance at your post and know it’s yours. Therefore, it’s important to invest in your visuals. Stock photography is great when you are in a pinch, but strive to share authentic images that represent the heart and quality of your business.

2. Write Branded Copy

It’s easy to get lost in creating the perfect visual, but the copy is equally as important. When a follower stops their endless scrolling, looks at your post, and reads your copy, you’ve hit the sweet spot! This is your chance to form a deeper relationship with your audience. It’s important to hone in on your brand voice and write captions that reinforce your brand personality.

3. Be Consistent

Running a business requires you to juggle a million things at once, and often posting on social media falls to the wayside. However, it’s important to make it a priority and invest time into showing up on a regular basis. Carve out a few hours in the beginning of the week to set a schedule. Pick which days you want to post on and stick to them. This will set expectations with your audience and offer an opportunity to strengthen your online community.

4. Build Relationships with Your Audience

Social media is not a space for constant sales pitches, it’s a place to be social! Sounds intuitive, but many people have lost their way. Their feeds lack personality and are saturated with endless promotions. If this sounds like your feed, take a moment and ask yourself, would you want to follow an account like this? What value are you providing? By following a 80/20 rule, you can continue to highlight your business while providing content that resonates with your audience. This rule is simple – 80% of your posts should be centered around your business’ core values and offer content that connects with your audience. The other 20% of your content can be centered around promoting your business.

5. Have a Strategy Behind Every Post

With every post you hit publish on, make sure you have your audience in mind. How is this serving them? Are you solving a problem they are experiencing? Providing them with inspiration? Offering them encouragement? Every post you publish needs to serve a purpose and be aligned with your business’ mission. Once you have your audiences’ attention, it’s time to convert their interest into engagement. A simple call-to-action at the end of each post will invite your audience to take the next step. It can be as easy as “liking” your post, tagging a friend who would benefit from your message, or the big ask – heading to your website to purchase your business’ offerings.

Social media is a wonderful tool we have at our disposal – for free! How amazing is that?! If we take a moment to slow down and curate feeds that are intentional and backed by strategy, each one of us has the power to enchant our audience by sharing the heart of our businesses. If you are ready to get serious about your social media strategy download this FREE social media planner to organize your thoughts and start sharing your brand’s story with the world.