We continue the article about implementing a Social Media strategy by revealing what exactly we need to offer our followers to keep them with us as long as possible, but also to encourage them to interact.
Step 3. Create quality content
When we talk about quality content for social media channels, we do not limit ourselves only to the content on the website, but to all those elements that need to be integrated, added to the Social Media pages to achieve the desired results. Besides selecting the content, continuity or consistency in publishing must also be considered.
When trying to promote ourselves on social networks, we want to get as many followers as possible who interact with us, get involved, comment, and share. This is difficult to achieve if we do not offer people varied content that attracts them and that they cannot find on our website or on competitors' pages. Therefore, on Social Media, we must share more than just our blog articles: infographics, images, news, information, jokes, videos, quotes, all, of course, from our field of activity. This content must be filtered and selected depending on the network, as not all allow the same type of content and not all react the same way.
There is no recipe to follow in this regard, so it requires a lot of involvement, constant checking of results, and permanent adjustments. However, it is good to have many more posts about others than about yourself, thus avoiding being labeled as "promotional" and annoying.
Step 4. Don't suffocate
After you have managed to gain followers interested in your activity, you might be tempted to add more content, to bombard them with information, links, and similar posts, all in the hope of making them interact more. Nothing could be more wrong. Capturing attention and filling their news feed with successive posts can lead to oversaturation, and sooner or later, people will try to escape this "attack," consider you a spammer, and give up on you. Therefore, it is good to limit your posts within certain boundaries, which differ from one network to another.
For example, on Facebook, 2 entries per day are enough; for Google+ and Twitter, the number rises to 3, while on Pinterest, up to 5 posts per day can be published. The differences are due to the popularity of the networks but also their nature. Thus, on Pinterest, since it is only about images, the posts are only from this category, and that's what people look for.
Step 5. Automation
One of the main problems faced by those who handle Social Media and are just starting is the time needed for actual publishing. We don't always have time to watch the clock and wait for a certain hour to post the next image on a certain network, so often we either give up on it or post when we remember or have time. And this type of behavior can significantly affect our success.
Fortunately, there are simpler and very user-friendly methods: automatic scheduling of posts. In the case of Facebook, the situation is very simple because it has its own post scheduling system, the only limitation being that it can only be done for a page and not for a personal account, but this is not so relevant for a business that wants to be promoted properly.
For other networks, Buffer can be confidently used, as it is the only one that allows easy customization of scheduling and posts. A special schedule can be organized for each one, including Facebook. The goal is to appear in front of as large an audience as possible, as it is known that a post has an increasingly shorter life, and it is unlikely that someone will see it after 30 minutes from its publication.
Step 6. More traffic with the same posts
You might think you don't have enough content to post 2 to 5 times a day on these networks. And you might be right. However, there are tricks that can help you in several ways.
If you have written an article, it must be promoted. And not just once. In other words, after making the first post, it is good to return with the same post several times over the following period. However, it is essential not to use the same introductory text but to always adapt it. Another important element is the frequency with which you repost it. For example, on Twitter, you can post it four times in a month, while on Facebook, it is good to resume the post only after a month. Nevertheless, using an old article can only bring benefits, especially as it increases traffic to the site.
Step 7. Control and analysis
Control, checking, testing, and adjusting are part of online work, regardless of the segment. And here it applies at least as much. To better understand the audience's preferences and to optimize posts accordingly, constant counting and traffic analysis are necessary, both on social networks and on the actual website. Gradually, time preferences, image or descriptive text preferences will be observed, based on which the next posts can be made.
Conclusion
Establishing and applying a Social Media strategy is much more complex than it may seem at first glance, but once established, it can bring major benefits without requiring a considerable time resource.
Results will start to appear quite quickly, but these also depend on involvement and, very much, on the niche.
