How Can I Help My Business Find Success on Social Media?

When it comes to content marketing on social media, there’s a saturation of advice and strategy out there. All this information can leave business owners feeling a bit confused.  

Where do they start? Who should they trust? 

Producing digital content and marketing strategies for Bristol-based businesses, we’ve seen both sides. 

We’ve implemented social media strategies that have produced tangible results. We’ve also gained a clear picture of what does not work. 

Here are the four pillars of social media success.  

Pillar One: Listening

Listening is research. When you tune into what’s being said on social media, you keep up with your brand’s public presence.  

What are you listening for? 

• You – your brand’s name, your products/services, the names of any public figures associated with/employed by your brand
• Your industry – latest news in your sector, trending topics, prevailing opinions
• Your competitors – what they’re doing, how they’re perceived, what they’re saying about you.

As your business gathers steam, social media mentions will increase. It’s important to the reputation of your brand that you have a solid content marketing strategy in place. 

This strategy should include an idea of the response required from your brand following a social media mention. 

Positive comments need thanks and celebration. They should be highlighted and appreciated.

Negative comments need a fast, empathetic response, particularly if there is a product/service issue. 

Listening to complaints and responding appropriately will find and fix potential issues with your business’s products/services/content marketing. 

A well-considered and positively received response to criticism will also help build goodwill between you and your customers. 

If your business is on the larger side: 

Have a plan in place for responding to complaints. 

Ensure that your social media manager knows exactly who to alert – customer care team, content production team, product team, so on. 

Pillar Two: Influencing

Once you have a sense of your industry, and you know your place in the market, it’s time to add your voice to the conversation, using content marketing that’s carefully designed to: 

• Increase brand engagement and boost website traffic
• Start interesting, unique conversations around topics within your industry
• Build public awareness of your brand and what you offer to consumers. 

How can you tell when your influence as a brand is increasing? More engagement, more traffic, more individuals and fellow brands seeking to interact with you.

If you’re struggling for things to post on social media, check out our guide. 

Pillar Three: Networking

This stage of social media strategy comes down to connection and engagement. It’s all about building up a solid network. 

Networking, whether offline or online, has the power to create lasting positive relationships. The Impressona team have been able to extend far past Bristol with the assistance of digital social networking. 

Here’s a step by step social media day for a thriving business:

1. Publish an article/produce something new/present a new offer to your customers
2. Create social media content about this article/item/offer, tailored to the specific channels it will be posted on (Facebook prefers longer, more conversational captions, Twitter has a character limit, Instagram is image-focused)
3. Share articles/posts from your peers and competitors which will fill the gaps between your content while still being relevant to your audience
4. Engage with commenters, competitors and customers one on one, asking and answering questions. 

Successful social media strategy is about more than killer content marketing. Sharing the relevant content of competitors will enable you, in time, to build strong and profitable brand alliances. 

Pillar Four: Sales

Having built a strong network, you can sell your products/services. 

You can:

1. Create a piece of content, such as a blog, that is very well-targeted to your audience
2. Within that piece of content, embed an offer or sales link
3. Promote on social media sites, driving direct traffic to the page, where potential customers will see the offer/sales link.

When selling your brand, you are aiming to:

• Generate leads
• Increase your customer base
• Increase buyer frequency (e.g. one-time purchases become regular buys)

Impressona offer content marketing solutions/strategies to Bristol and London businesses. Get in touch if you think that we can help you out.