It’s no secret that social media plays a huge role in our daily lives, social interactions and even within our jobs. It’s crucial for business owners and individual creators to make the most of all the features social media has to offer to see success, growth and experience all of its benefits. Social media can be used for product promotion, marketing and even to win potential clients. Here at Kate Rae Digital, we’re experts in all things social media. We’re here to give you our best advice on making the most of all your social media platforms, no matter your goals. Here are 6 tips to elevate your social media strategy.
First and foremost - understand your audience. Being able to fully understand your followers and making an effort to get to know people that want to learn from you will help you build and maintain a loyal following. When creating a social media strategy, ask yourself: what need am I fulfilling for my audience on social media? Create content that aligns with the answer to that question. Once you execute on your strategy, continue to tweak it where you see fit. Asking for feedback is one of the most effective ways to continue to evolve with your audience. Do this through stories, captions, DMs or even live-streamed videos. Being able to capture the thoughts and needs of your audience will provide you with more knowledge on why certain content is (or isn’t) performing. Once you gain feedback, draw conclusions and keep experimenting with your platforms. Make strategic decisions on how to improve your content, provide value and continue to grow.
Our next tip is to keep up with trends. Staying up to date with trending concepts, content ideas, captions and new platforms will keep your audience engaged and interested in what you’re posting. You’ll attract a larger following by maintaining relevance because people will be more eager to learn about what you have to offer. A great way to stay on trend is to continuously be active on all platforms. Pay attention to what people are posting, what is happening in the world, what type of content is trending and, most importantly, what your audience cares about. This way you’ll be able to provide value while continuing to grow your audience.
Next up: schedule time for community management. Interact with as many people and posts within your niche as you can. Stay on top of engaging with posts from people you follow, responding to comments, DM’s, responding to stories and any other way to engage with fellow creators on social media. For example, if your main focus is Instagram, make time to thoughtfully respond to comments, DM’s, Stories and other posts in your feed. Start small by scheduling a short amount of time each day to engage. If it seems to be working, continuously increase the time you spend on community management.
Our fourth tip is to create a specific strategy for each platform. When you come up with a concept for social media content, the way you execute it should vary per platform. Each channel will likely have a different audience and your content will perform differently on each one. For example, content that is catered to teenagers and young adults performs the best on Instagram while Facebook audiences are generally populated with an older age demographic. Targeting your posts to different demographic characteristics is the most effective way to create meaningful content. Use the different features of each platform to your advantage. Have a specific plan and unique goals for each platform. Your social media goals should directly correlate to your business goals.
Next up: Be consistent & be human. Being consistent on social media is crucial to grow your business and build an engaged community. Being a dependable source of information or entertainment online results in growth in terms of engagement rate, the size of your audience and other key performance indicators that you decide to measure when creating your strategy. Maintain a steady posting schedule and continue to foster relationships with your audience in unique and creative ways. Brands that have a human element to their strategy see the most benefit from investing in social media marketing. Nobody wants to see stale, boring content - be sure to make members of your community feel welcomed, valued, understood and heard.
Our final tip is to stay in your niche. Whether your niche is fashion, lifestyle, travel, healthcare, or (like ours) social media marketing, ensure that all of your content provides value to your audience. Being as specific as possible will attract and maintain an engaged and interested following. For example, if you are giving insight into hashtags, zero in on specific things you can do with hashtags, different ways to analyze them or how to create a strategic hashtag strategy. Getting specific within your niche is the key to success on social media.
Here at Kate Rae Digital, we are continuously learning and growing. We strive to provide as much value to our audience (you!) as we can. If you have feedback or need help getting started on social media, we are here to help. We would love to get to know you.