Turn your Social Media into a Social Powerhouse in 5 Steps

Social Relationships Done Right

If you want them to know your name in 2018, you’ve got to be rock solid with your marketing strategy–the digital kind, to be more specific. Tons of organizations maintain a fairly active presence on the garden variety of social media networks, but you'd be surprised to know how many of them are coming up short in the popularity game. Not all of them utilize venues like Facebook and Instagram to their maximum potential, nor do they fully harness the power of advertising that these web hubs are able to offer. Luckily, Codex is all about making strong connections with a diverse range of people and organizations all over the globe, and we like to think we’re quite good at it! For your convenience, we’ve gone ahead and created a list of some helpful social media Do’s and Don’ts that, if implemented properly, will help cultivate priceless relationships between you and your social fans. Take note!

DO adhere to the 80:20 rule

It’s quite simple really: 80% of what you post on your brand's social media should consist of interesting and engaging content (videos, photos, memes, articles, etc.) that will be sure to excite users and spark conversation on the post or elsewhere on the page. Most users who follow your social accounts are following for specific reasons, so make sure to engage and connect with them on a regular basis. Do this by sharing with them unique photos, videos, content from influencers who align with your brand (think retweets and reposts), links to your newest blog content, relevant news articles, and even fun activities, like quizzes or surveys. One of your biggest end goals should be to establish yourself as an authority figure who is responsible for producing fun, fresh content that is relevant to your followers’ existences. Encourage your followers to repost and share your content, and let the positive public interactions that you cultivate with your fanbase set the bar for what kind of relationships your company is proud to take part in.

The remaining 20% of posts should contain sales pitches and brand awareness content, like notices of special offers, flash sales, discounts, contests, so on and so forth. It’s important not to inundate your audience with too many promotions, pitches, and number-heavy copy, however. These kinds of posts, like your creative content, should be exciting and innovative, and should only be deployed when appropriate—for example, if you’re having a sale on event tickets, make sure to clearly and actively promote the sale on your social media. If no such sale exists, don’t try and overcompensate by creating a misleading, pseudo-sales promo with your real goal being to drive traffic to your business. Engaging in tactics like these is a surefire way to earn a reputation of being sly and spammy, and you definitely do not want that for your organization! Stick to the 80:20 rule and you’ll be a favorite on social media in no time.

DON’T get too wordy with your copy

Unless you’re writing a series of blog posts where the sole intention is to be read like a book, get in the habit of writing short, concise, and creative copy for the majority of your posts. Right off the bat, social media users are drawn to bright, high-contrast images that depict action; big, chunky paragraphs, no matter how well written they might be, not so much. Remember this: You're only given so much space within a post before character limits truncate your copy from instant view (and sometimes even less space than that while in mobile format) so make sure to communicate your main idea or objective as soon as possible (this pertains to both imagery and copy). Remove excess filler words and run-on sentences, fix bad grammar and spelling errors, get rid of unnecessary information, and make sure to integrate proper SEO into your copy by including keywords that are both relevant to your brand and high ranking on Google searches. Define one overarching idea, topic, or theme and artfully weave it throughout your post so that it keeps your audience focused on the content in front of them. Ask a burning question; offer a solution to a really frustrating problem; include an irresistible call-to-action button; remember to end with a cliffhanger that hooks your audience and persuades them to click that "LEARN MORE" button.

DO stay on-brand and post often and consistently


Posting different variations of content on different social media accounts, on different days of the week, and at different times can be an overwhelming endeavor, but it doesn't need to be! If you have not yet developed a brand guide for your business (the go-to manual for anything and everything having to do with your venture–i.e. fonts, colors, copy voice and style, photography, graphics, and ethos/core values) we suggest that you get started on creating one ASAP, as it defines and dictates almost every facet of your brand’s digital existence. Make sure your posts adhere to what your organization stands for and represents, and be sure that you don't get too political or edgy with your posts (unless, of course, you run a blog on politics or the like). While there is no strict guideline as to what you should and should not post (although the latter should be common sense) there is plenty of room to get creative with your content choices while still remaining within the set parameters of your brand. Get familiar with user-friendly graphic design apps that can help you make some really unique and original creative content. At Codex, we’re big fans of Over and Canva for our social media posts. While Over is designed solely for tablet and smartphone users, Canva can be used on both a computer and variety of portable devices. These kinds of apps will help you gain the upper edge in regards to photography, text and fonts, pre-made, editable templates for all sorts of cool social posts, and can even help you make some seriously stellar creative for paid ad content.

Whatever you decide to roll with, make sure that it is designed with your fanbase in-mind, and that it will illicit positive interactions (likes, comments, and even reposts) between you and your followers. Get in the habit of utilizing a social posting schedule, or use a social media management software, like CoSchedule or SproutSocial, in order to organize your content, copy, and dates and times of all of your posts. Try and stick to producing two posts a day, per social hub (we usually do morning and evening), and do some thorough market research in order to learn when followers within your industry’s realm of interest are most active on particular social media hubs.

A word of advice on posting often and consistently

Try your best not to spam your followers by overposting, or by posting a ton of irrelevant content. Earlier we mentioned that you should post often and consistently, but that doesn’t mean that you have the green light to go ham on the "post" button and blow up your followers' newsfeeds.

Pause before you post. Repeat this mantra 3 times over.

There is a fine line between being totally amazing and becoming absolutely annoying, and you must resist the urge to cross over to the dark side no matter how badly you want to post that really cool YouTube video or product teaser promo. Now don’t be afraid to throw a rogue post up here and there, outside of your normal social media activity hours, but make sure to use common sense when doing so and don’t be too persistent when trying to get people to engage with your content 24-7. Take things slow to start, execute smoothly, and if your content is good and you stay persistent, public intrigue will build naturally.

DON'T Post ‘n Ghost
!

Don’t send out a post and then disappear, leaving it alone to do its thing. Doing this will open the door to all kinds of potential problems and slam it shut on any possible rewards, like spikes in user engagement and potential sales leads. You'll want to make sure that you monitor your posts, keeping a close eye on impressions, reach, and engagement, and learn the difference between these three metrics. This can be done by casually sifting through your posts here and there, facilitating user engagement, and on a more advanced (but equally important) scale, by running regular audits of your account activity via your social media networks' analytics services. By doing this regularly and recording the data, you will be able to learn what does and does not work for your brand's social media presence. It is extremely important to know how many people are clicking on, interacting with, and sharing your content and paid ads. Without this information you will not effectively scale your online presence. Make it a top priority to utilize relevant and trending hashtags so that you can ensure your posts are reaching their maximum target audience. We recommend using software like TagBlender in order to narrow down hashtags that are relevant to your posts. It's simple to use and has worked quite well for us. If a particular piece of content doesn’t seem to be working well, or if something seems to be garnering tons of engagement from your audience, then make informed, data-driven decisions and either roll with the post or reconfigure where you see fit. Never be afraid to run A/B tests (also referred to as split testing) either. If you start to notice certain trends amongst your posts, put them to the test by switching up the creative and copy, and record your findings for refinement of future content.

And finally. . . DO engage with your fanbase
!

One of the most important elements of a building and maintaining a successful social media powerhouse is to directly engage with your followers. If a customer asks a question via a comment on a Facebook or an Instagram post, make sure to acknowledge that individual and even reply to their inquiry or concern. Even if a user posts a comment saying “I love this product,” or “great job on that event you hosted last Saturday” you should always make sure to acknowledge the interaction in a timely and professional manner, and reply back when possible and appropriate. By interacting with your fans on a regular basis, you will foster a humanistic connection that will eventually become synonymous with your organization, rendering it as a (or dare we say "the") trustworthy and friendly authority figure within your industry. Depending on the culture and overall vibe of your brand, make good use of Facebook Live video, Instagram Stories, Snapchat, and Twitter Live video. Inviting users to tune into live streaming content direct from your brand is an excellent way to encourage faithful engagement.

And because it’s also worth mentioning, you should never, ever ignore people who try and interact with you, unless things get really heated (i.e. harassment, online bullying, or blatant disregard for the safety and security of your online community). If a user has a bone to pick with you, the same rules for replying to positive praise should apply: Respond promptly and professionally, and assure the user you would like to reconcile his or her qualm(s) in the best way possible. If things must be dealt with in a more private manner, resort to email for further communication, that way the exchange can be documented.

While social media plays an integral role in your organization’s success in the digital sector, it is only one part (albeit a big one) of the equation. Good social media etiquette goes a long way but must be used in conjunction with a properly integrated marketing strategy. Make sure to use these tactics religiously, but don’t be afraid to jump outside the box and try new things! Often times variations of proven strategies work rather well for certain social media accounts, and followers always like to see new and innovative content being pumped through their feeds. Just remember: Keep things interesting, remain relevant to your audience, and establish your brand as an informed player in the game that strives to deliver the best, most engaging content available in the social atmosphere today!

Happy posting!

Want more?

Check out our blog '5 Tools to Enable Cultural Access through Technology'!