Today’s consumers equate a social media presence with credibility when it comes to unknown brands. Quite frankly, if you don’t have a social presence, you aren’t worth knowing in their eyes.
The consumer train of thought here is “if you’re not interacting with the world, and other consumers aren’t talking about you, why should I care about your brand?”
You know the answer to that question, but unfortunately, you’re too late to the game to influence someone who has to ask. So what do you do?
If you haven’t launched yet, now is the time to get started. All too often brands focus on the product/ offering so much that they have no audience to reach out to once they’re ready to go live. Build a presence by tapping into your industry knowledge and positioning yourself as a thought leader well before you have something for sale. If your business is already thriving (and I hope it is) late is certainly better than never.
There is no need to over-complicate things by diving headfirst into a half dozen social platforms. Facebook and Twitter will get you going. Dig into posts from your top competitors and industry experts for inspiration. Furthermore, look at the comments section on Facebook and replies on Twitter to see how people are responding to those posts. You’ll be amazed at how much you can learn about your target audience this way. After all, these are the people you want flocking to you as you start to produce original content and/ or interact with the content other organizations are posting.
If you have a blog (which you should) utilize your entries for social media content as often as possible as Facebook and Twitter can be huge sources of traffic.
Quality content from thought leaders like you is what others interact with the most, whether it’s through commenting, sharing or retweeting. Those social shares are what build your brand.
Just remember, no one likes a narcissist so it’s important to interact with others and share posts from industry pros you support as well. Commenting on posts using your FB page is a great way to share your opinion and get your name out there. Retweeting with added commentary works the same way.
And, if, after all of this, you decide you don’t have the time to invest in maintaining a social presence, you can always work with a social media management company like us. Just be sure to do your research and make sure they understand your brand voice and target audience. Working with the wrong people can do more harm than good.