When you look at your social media feeds, do they look consistent? Is your business easily recognisable for a potential customer whether they find you on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or any other social channel, and can they quickly identify what you offer and what you stand for?
Social media is a powerful and affordable way to reach new customers, stay connected with existing ones and even make sales directly from the apps but consistency is key when it comes to social media marketing. It builds credibility and helps gain trust with your audience, which in turn grows engagement and reach. Everything from your messaging, tone of voice and the aesthetics of your profiles needs to be recognisable and consistent.
The number of social media channels available is ever growing and ever changing. From Instagram, to Facebook, Tik-Tok to YouTube, with LinkedIn thrown in as well, and more recently the launch of Threads, it can feel overwhelming to try and keep up with it all.
So don’t!
You’ll see much greater success (and experience much less frustration) if you master a single social media channel, rather than make a weak attempt to dominate several.
Each channel is vastly different and needs a unique approach, so concentrate on one platform first before adding another.
To start being consistent you need to have a strategy. So, without further ado, here’s six actionable steps you can take right now to make your social media accounts more consistent, which will grow your audience and ultimately increase sales.
You may also like to listen to this episode of the Revitalise & Grow podcast, where we delve in to the fascinating world of viral content and ask the question, Is there a secret formula to going viral?
1.PLAN
The first step to being consistent with your social media content is to plan it. This could be on a week-by-week basis, or month-by-month.
Creating your content in ‘batches’ may seem daunting at first but will save so much time in the long run and will mean an end to the last-minute scramble of trying to get something posted (we know, we’ve been there too)! As if by magic, we’ve created a FREE and easy-to-use social media planner tool in Excel, which you can download here.
This will allow you to focus on generating higher quality content, which will receive better engagement. Engagement should always be measured as a key to success rather than follower numbers. On social media, quality should always take precedence over quantity.
2. MESSAGE
Every post you create, regardless of which social channel you are using, must contribute to your brand message coherently, otherwise you risk confusing your potential audience.
Be clear on who your ideal audience is; what problems do they face and how do you help them solve these or make their lives easier?
Really think about what your overall mission and purpose is to posting content. What is it you are trying to achieve and what is it you want your audience to do?
3. CONTENT
As the saying goes, “Content is King”, and no social media strategy can work without great content that stands out amongst the competition. Every post, caption or story you create goes towards building a relationship with your audience. The stronger the relationship with your followers, the more they’ll trust you and the more likely they’ll be to buy from you.
Always focus on creating quality content that you feel your audience will love and respond to. Never fall into the trap of posting something for the sake of it because you haven’t posted in a while.
It also pays to not be ‘salesy’. Especially when it comes to social media, people don’t want to feel like they’re constantly being asked to buy something from you.
4. AESTHETICS
People are naturally drawn to aesthetically appealing images and visuals, so make sure your content has visual appeal.
Think of your social feeds as your very own magazine, you are the editor and they need to be pleasant to look at, read and navigate.
At this point it’s important to say that consistency is not the same as perfection.
Social media accounts that are perfectly curated but lack personality, inspirational and entertaining content will not resonate with their audience. Don’t get caught up trying to make everything look so perfect that you forget your message, journey and the story of your brand.
5. POSTING FREQUENCY/ TIMING
Decide a schedule of posting that works for you. This schedule should be based on your messages and your time availability. Try to stick to it.
Some people believe in posting three times a day, some prefer once a day, and for others it works to post just once a week. There really is no right or wrong answer here, but a bit of trial and error will be needed to find what works for you.
On many social media channels you can check your analytics to see when your audience is most active. Use this data to decide what time of day is best to post and when you receive most engagement. Which leads us on to …
6. ENGAGEMENT
Engagement is so important when it comes to running successful social media accounts and is the part that is so often overlooked. Social media is just that, a place to be social. You can’t expect people to like your posts and engage with you if you’re not also engaging with them!
Ways to engage:
- Never post and run – always make the time to reply to people who have commented on your posts.
- Make your posts interactive – propose topics for discussion, ask questions, run polls, ask for people’s opinions, and reply to those that get involved.
- Get involved with conversations – leave meaningful comments on other accounts’ posts (not just emojis and one word responses) and send them a DM if something they’ve shared has really resonated with you.
- Explore & follow hashtags relevant to your niche/ audience
- Take care of your feeds – remove any spam or offensive comments.
With all social media, it’s important to remember that the number of likes on a post or your number of followers is not an indicator of your success.
Engagement is always a much better measurement (comments, saves and shares), but ultimately the number of sales you make / donations you receive / number of people who sign up to your course is the biggest measurement of success.
Success on social media does not happen overnight (except for maybe a small few). It takes a carefully planned strategy, plenty of high-quality content and most of all, consistency.
If podcasts are your thing, you may like to listen to the following episodes of the Revitalise & Grow podcast:
Unravelling Threads – finding your way through the fastest growing app in history!
Unsociable brands: Why is social media important for business?
How to go viral – Is there a secret formula?
Or, if you’d like to talk to us further about your social media strategy and content, book your free Revitalise and Grow session here. You’ll get a 30-minute one-to-one online session with our communications expert, together with recommended solutions and top tips for taking your social media presence to the next level. Or, you can simply request a call back to talk further and we’ll get back to you ASAP.