Social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook have taken over traditional media outlets as the go to for marketing and advertising. With an increasing percentage of our lives moving to online environments in the wake of COVID-19, the social media train shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. This growing social networking environment full of content can make it challenging for your brand to stand out. So, how can you get the most out of your social media and make a meaningful impact on your audience and capture new markets?
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Clarify Your Brand
This tip may appear obvious, but clarifying to your audience who you are and what you do is a key facet of making yourself stand out. Your social media should make it clear to your audience the goal of your business and why they should be interested in YOU.
Clarifying your brand can be done through your profile picture, username and bio across your chosen platforms. Ensure your brand profile picture includes the name of your company – often times this is the first thing users see so you want them to know it is you! Your username should also include the name of your business and should be consistent across all your platforms. This way your audience will easily be able to find you no matter what social networking application they might be using.
Your bio should clearly state who you are and what your brand does – utilizing keywords associated with your brand in your bio can also help you stand out. Adding links and your business’ physical address to your social media bio allows your audience to easily find more information about you.
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Know Your Audience
Knowing who your customers are is also a major aspect of social media optimization. What type of business you have should give you some insight into who your target audience might be, but pinning down specifics through market research is a critical component to knowing your customers. An easy way to conduct market research is by simply looking at industry trends and determining where there are holes you and your products/services could fill. Additionally, looking at your closest competitors can show who might be interested in your products and what kinds of marketing might be effective in gaining these individuals as customers. You can checkout our other blog post on Who Is Your Target Audience for more information.
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Use Relevant Keywords and Hashtags
Utilizing relevant keywords and hashtags in your posted content can help it be more visible outside of your already acquired follower base. People often click through hashtags that will show them content they are interested in when navigating social media. Make your posts more discoverable and drive up your engagement by tagging your posts under hashtags related to your content.
For example, utilizing hashtags related to the city you are based in can promote your brand content to people in your area that may be searching for local businesses and services they can support.
Examples: #SanAntonio #InstaTexas #VisitSanAntonio
Additionally, targeting specific keywords in your hashtags will help your brand to become more relevant to social media users. You should have a few main hashtags related to your business that you tag in everything your brand posts to its social media platforms.
Examples: #ShopSmall #SmallBusiness #LocalEats
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Attention Grabbing Visuals
Along with relevant keywords and hashtags, having visuals that grab a viewers attention will also help you to increase your brand awareness and engagement. You want the graphics you post to be visually interesting but also stay in line with your brand aesthetic. There are many graphic design tools available that can help you create original graphics for your social media pages such as Canva, Freepik, and Behance. Whatever method you use to create visuals, your graphics should capture your audiences attention long enough for them to understand your brand and the message you are trying to convey.
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Consistency is Key
Along with the tips listed above, you want to ensure your brand is consistent across all platforms and that you are regularly posting on your social media platforms. This means scheduling out content to be posted on a routine basis. The more you post the more people will see your content. You can schedule out and post this content manually or utilize one of the various social media scheduling applications available such as Later, Hootsuite, and ContentCal. Whatever method of posting works best for you, more posts = more potential for follower acquisition and growth of your page.
Increasing your social media visibility can take a substantial amount of time and effort. If you find you need more guidance Sammis|Ochoa is here to set you up for success. Reach out to us at www.sammisochoa.com/contact/ or visit our other blogs for more valuable PR and social media insight.
By: Emily Sammons
Sammis|Ochoa is San Antonio’s fastest-growing public relations and digital marketing agency. It is the 2020 recipient of the TinyAward for Happiest Employees in Public Relations. It also ranks as one of San Antonio’s best PR firms by Design Rush. The firm is headquartered in San Antonio and serves clients in Austin, Houston and San Antonio. Email mario@sammisochoa.com or call 210.390.4284 to amp up your PR game!
