Your social media channels are ready. You setup your profile and created some content. But how do you promote your social media profiles to get viewers to follow, like and share?
If you are looking to grow your social media presence and your business, the goal is “reach.” Social media reach is how far your content spreads–how much exposure you get. There are a multitude of ways but we're sharing six proven tactics. Because as Aaron Lee so brilliantly explained, social media waits for no one.
“These days, social media waits for no one. If you're late for the party, you'll probably be covered by all the noise and you might not be able to get your voice across. It could only mean that if you want to be heard by the crowd, you have to be fast; and on social media, that means you have to be really fast.”
Become fast and on point to win the social media game. Try these social media promotion ideas to get more eyes on your profiles.
1. Prioritize the Best
You will want to promote all of your business's social networks. But if you want to win at social media, you need to invest the majority of time on the networks that are popular with your audience. Where are your potential customers most active? What platform do they spend the most time on?
To maximize your social media ROI, you need to research which networks are delivering the most value for your business. Your investment in social media marketing could be time, money or both. And who doesn't want to save time and money?
Kate Spade New York is a visually appealing brand that knows Pinterest is the place its fans love to hang out, and it have over 300,000 of them on the platform.
Vilfredo Pareto was famous for developing the principle called the 80/20 rule. Pareto was an Italian economist who was all into maximizing efforts. We don't have to get into heavy math equations, but the 80/20 rule simply means you get 80% of your results from 20% of your efforts. In other words, there are key actions you can focus on to get the best results and save a lot of time on actions that get little results. It's a beautiful concept.
Check out Sprout's Team Report to find out how your team is allocating its time on your social media efforts.
2. Keep Business Business
Your aunt Lola may be super interested in your latest cat video contribution to the web, but your business audience may not be as thrilled. It is best to separate personal from business accounts. This will help you target the correct audience for your goods and services. You may think you want anyone and everyone to follow you, but you do not.
If you do not target the correct audience, you are not going to meet your business goals. Having a “niche” has become such a buzz phrase but it is important to any successful social media and content marketing venture. That does not mean you can never share anything personal on your business profiles.
If you scroll through Peg Fitzpatrick's Facebook page, there are a ton of valuable business shares and tips. Then there is this:
A dash of personal content. It is like when you cook with a strong spice. A pinch can add a ton of flavor, but too much spice and it's off-putting. People adore seeing the those behind the curtains of the business. They want to know you are a real human with shared interests and struggles.
Simply build a good ratio of business-related content with a splash of personal. If content ideas are your struggle, read through our post on how to build out your social media content from scratch.
Have Clear Social Media Buttons
Have a blog? Try this social media promotion tactic. Make sure you clearly post social media buttons where readers can see them and easily access your profiles. Make them stand out. You could even consider adding a simple call-to-action above them asking readers to connect. If you guest post on other sites, you may want to consider asking for a link to your social media profiles so readers can follow you.
For example, A Beautiful Mess is a popular blog in the DIY and Lifestyle space. You can see its follow buttons clearly posted in the sidebar and on point with its colorful brand.
Going further, on YouTube, you're able to add your other social media profiles, so take advantage if you have a channel. Click the pencil icon in the upper right-hand corner of the channel art on your YouTube channel page. Then select “edit links.”
Under the custom links section, you can add a title and URL. After you hit done, buttons for all the links you entered will be displayed. This is a great way to promote your other profiles.
Share in Email
Aside from sharing social media buttons on your blog or website, you can also share them through email. There are a couple of ways you can do this. The first is through your signature. Most email marketing platforms will allow you to add a custom signature.
Why not add some links to your social media profile to make it easy for your recipients to follow you? You can use a service like WiseStamp to add your profile buttons and make your signature stand out.
Another way to share your social media buttons through email is with your newsletters. Before you send out a newsletter take the time to brand it to your business. Services like Mailchimp make this easy through social media widgets. You can add a follow widget with your links to the sidebar or footer of your newsletter.
Implement Hashtag Strategy
Using popular hashtags broadens your content's reach by allowing your social media posts to show up when people search platforms like Instagram and Twitter for certain keywords. They help potential followers who are interested in your content find it when they may not otherwise. You will want to do a little research to find the most relevant hashtags for your brand.
You can use a service like Hashtagify.me or just do a little stalking of your competitors to see what hashtags are working best for them. Don't use hashtags haphazardly though. It can be tempting to jump on board with a hashtag that is trending, but if you are using the it in an inappropriate or unrelated manner, it will just turn potential followers off.
Sprout's Instagram Analytics Report gives insights into your most popular hashtags, which you can incorporate into your future posts. You can do the same with our Twitter Analytics Report as well. This helps you avoid using random hashtags that aren't driving engagement.
Try to keep the hashtags down to three or less on Twitter, but you can use more on Instagram. For example, Jeff Bullas shares three relevant hashtags to spread his blog post effectively:
How to 10x Your Instagram Marketing https://t.co/YrYe3Vlzid #instagram #SMM #instagrammarketing pic.twitter.com/QojkMbHiHU
- Jeff Bullas (@jeffbullas) August 3, 2016
Ask for Follows
You don't want to be spammy, but asking for followers sometimes is the best method. Using automated messages asking for follows are impersonal and can seem spammy. But when you truly ask, engage or recommend users to follow you, you're more likely to get a response. Again, a humanistic approach toward engagement is always best. You can even ask others to find you on other platforms for unique content.
The best way to approach new followers is to let them know what is in it for them. Ask users to follow you on Pinterest for your marketing infographics or check out your Twitter get insights on social media marketing tips on Twitter is more specific. It's a more subtle way to engage and gain new followers while offering value.
Taco Bell Canada asks followers to check them out on Snapchat right in their Twitter Bio.
All these tips can help your social media promotion efforts and get your brand seen. But the No. 1 tip is to always offer valuable content. Share social media posts that provide value through humor, tips or behind the scenes inspiration. It is that value that will keep followers coming back and sharing your stuff.
You can have your social media buttons and links posted everywhere, but if you do not bring something useful to the table, readers will not engage with your content. At its core, social media promotion is not just about you and your brand. It is about how you can benefit your followers with your content.
That's what your fans care about. They want to see how you can help them. Make every day a little easier and more fun, and you will gain a loyal tribe. A tribe that will be thrilled to follow, support and buy from you.
This post 6 Winning Social Media Promotion Ideas originally appeared on Sprout Social.
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