Social media presence refers to a brand’s visibility within social media platforms. Its connections with the community determine the strength of its presence. This presence can be in terms of engagement with the audience or the conversion of those audience engagements into direct relationships beyond the marketing channel.
Aiming for a positive brand perception
One of the key outcomes of being on social media is to put your company or business into a positive light with the audience. This positivity can be achieved by sharing behind-the-scenes information, industry news and giving an audience a personalised connection that resonates with them. Instead of just a flat corporate identity, providing valuable and exciting content gives a business a sense of credibility, character and familiarity. Companies often find that it isn’t the strong visibility that turns the audience into clients but the engagement and, therefore, presence.
Aim for presence, not just visibility
Visibility is when you drop a logo or a one-way engagement advert throughout websites and social media channels. The audience member will see it, they might remember it, and it will increase your brand awareness minimally. But no connection between the audience and the brand has been created, and therefore no relationship. A presence is when a connection has been established. Having a social media channel goes beyond just having a profile with content. The content needs to be created to the tailored interests and needs of the business’s target audience.
How do you increase your social media presence?
Here are some key factors that businesses need to take into consideration when establishing their online presence:
- Engage with the audience
- Be active and be consistent
- Manage the connections and engagements
- Listen to the audience and adjust, adjust, adjust
- Establishing relationships take time
- Check trends and see which ones are applicable to the business brand
- Stick to the brand and the businesses tone of voice
- Keep an eye on competitors and learn
- Each channel has a specific audience – use that to the online strategies advantage
- Find the balance between promotion and adding value
Look at the figures at the end of a strategic plan or campaign. A company needs to reflect on the engagements of the social media content. Analyse the numbers to see what worked and what didn’t. What posts caused the audiences to follow the links, engage with the services or products, and ultimately end with a sale or lead. A company must follow that journey with the audience and learn from the customer’s behaviour to implement it in future content and engagements with the community. It isn’t only about understanding what is performing, but why.
Guide your audience to your social media
Often companies forget to add their social media channels to their other digital platforms, making it hard for audiences to find them. By adding links and icons to websites, profiles and emails, audiences can locate which channels the businesses are on and pick the ones applicable for them.
Learn and grow
Social media channels have been around for over a decade, but they have evolved with each generation and morphed into new platforms, spaces and different content creations. Each channel attracts a diverse audience looking to share ideas and goals. It is, therefore, almost impossible to get a marketing plan right the first time and some campaigns might fail. These are not negatives to ignore and forget, but potential lessons to move forward with. The more a business interacts with an audience, the more awareness and understanding is developed, creating a sense of trust and connection.
There is no one method of social media presence that can be applied to all businesses to use in their channels. It has to be personalised and created specifically for the audience and its brand. But once connected, the connection is solid, and the business will find it hasn’t just built a large following but a community of engagement that is far more valuable.
