Do you know what it takes to have a killer social media presence? Bravr’s Social Media Manager Laura Hall gives her top tips for taking your social media activity to the next level.

If your social media activity isn’t producing the results that you want, then don’t blame social media – blame the activity. While most businesses accept that PPC and SEO campaigns take time and strategy to cultivate, they still expect social media to generate results when done ad hoc, or when inspiration hits. It is not enough to just post the odd update when you can be bothered. Below are Bravr’s top tips for building a meaningful social media presence.

Ensure you have a strategy that adapts to the different stages of your growth

Social media is about growing an online presence organically. So let’s think about this in terms of something else that grow organically: humans. You wouldn’t feed a newborn the same thing you would feed and adult and expect it to grow healthily. The same is true of social media; strategies that work well for established online communities will not work well if you have just launched your company Twitter account. Your strategy needs to reflect this, meeting your current needs as well as anticipating future growth.

Have a plan for all seasons

Does your social media strategy anticipate the seasonal activity of your industry? Are their key times, dates and events that are relevant to your customer base? All too often, companies fall into the trap of producing the same type of content all year round, with no regard to the interest of their customers at that particular moment in time. By planning ahead, you can give yourself enough lead-in time to ensure you can capitalise on what’s going on in your industry, thus more effectively meeting the needs of your audience.

Give them something to shout about

Many companies will think about social media activity in terms of weeks and months. While this may ensure your are active on social media, is isn’t always strategic. That is why it is worth thinking about your social media activity in terms of specific campaigns. By this I mean devising a specific initiative designed to appeal to your audience and undertaking specific activity to promote it. By thinking about your social media activity in this way, it ensures you are thinking about ways to appeal to your audience, rather than just ensuring you are active. Campaign activity gives your audience something more tangible to get involved with in a meaningful way. Forward planning will allow you to research, craft and execute better campaigns so think long term and think big.

Measure, measure and measure again

Do you know what time of day your audience is most likely to engage with your brand? Do you know which types of content gain most traction? Do you monitor sentiment, impressions and different types of engagement? If you just monitor followers, likes and traffic you are more than likely missing out on meaningful data that could help shape your activity for the better. Continually review your activity and examine your social media data in a variety of ways.

Have contingency plans in place

Social media is not just another publishing channel. Whether you like it or not, customers will use it to engage with you and you must have processes in place to handle this. I don’t just mean complaints either; you should also think about the best way of making the most of positive feedback and praise.

Even for the most evergreen of businesses disaster can strike at any time. Having formalised procedures for communicating bad news and dealing with bad publicity will help you control the conversation surrounding your brand when it is most crucial.

Ready to make more of your social media activity? Contact us to discover how our team of digital experts can help.