5 Ways to Sharpen Your Social Media Skills

1. Brand Yourself

What brand should you use? It seems like a simple enough decision, but the answer often depends on your circumstances. What do we mean by that? For instance, real estate agents will often advertise their personal brand. While other businesses will focus their social media efforts on building an organizational brand. It depends on the industry you're in and what your goal is for social media - but regardless of those factors, branding is a key part of sharpening your skills. You can't expect to hop online and generate leads without a solid social media presence.

2. Consistency Counts

Consistency is key! Your audience notices consistency more than you'd expect. Using a consistent username across social media accounts and the same logo/graphics across landing pages makes your brand that you've created more memorable, as your audience will see it repeatedly. Consistency and reliability go hand in hand. This consistency creates a polished, professional look and makes it easier for people and search engines to find you. It's all in the details but, the utilization of consistent branding, as well as a consistent message, will make your audience trust you! Another important form of consistency that will help sharpen your social media skills is a consistent posting schedule. Providing a steady stream of curated and custom posts without over saturating your audience will be incredibly beneficial.

3. Measure & Improve

As important as leads are, it isn't the end all be all of social media - branding is just as important and if you want to sharpen your skills you have to track your improvements! Establish a starting point and track your progress as you build your online presence. Typical metrics include engagement, reach, views, likes, follows, friends, shares, etc. Between promotions and campaigns, you can analyze the results of your activities to understand your audience better.

Taking the time to learn how to work with each social media platform and their specific analytics can be time-consuming but the payoff is significant. From learning the ideal time to post to seeing how many people clicked on your website, analytics and insight will not only sharpen your social media skills, but will give you a deeper understanding of how your campaigns are working and what you might need to change.

4. Know Your Audience

Speaking of your audience, how much do you know about them? Too often, we see that businesses with a product or service to sell will focus so much on generating leads, preparing pitches, and other sales tactics that they short-change their audience. Another way to sharpen your social media skills is to do your homework! The more you know about your audience, the better you can craft content to spark their interest and engagement. Think about it this way…

What problems do your customers experience? What value can your company offer them?

Knowing your audience well gives you insight to:

What content they're looking for

Where they spend their time online

How you can spark their interest

Check on social media to determine who your customers already follow…

What content do they like the most?

This can help you create engaging, eye-catching content in the future. After all, it has to get your on-the-go audience to stop scrolling thru hundreds of posts. Knowing your audience can help you get them talking, too. Engage your followers in conversations. Ask them questions, post polls, and generate a buzz for your business. You can also use these strategies to drive more traffic to your website!

5. Build Community

If you already have your accounts created, spend a little time exploring each platform. If you're in a niche industry, it might take a little more work to find your ideal audience and build a community within it. But, once you do it becomes easier to grow. Dig around and then reach out! Sparking a conversation with other accounts can help you create an online community. Just like in real life, it's all about who you know. If reliable people within your industry are within your social media community then, their audiences will start to trust and follow you, too.

Building your online community will also help you attract people who want your content. As they begin to recognize your value, these people will keep an eye out for your posts. Then, they'll share your posts with their followers, allowing you to reach a bigger audience. This is why knowing your audience well is so beneficial, as it will be easier to provide value right from the jump!

At the end of the day, we know how vast social media can feel and how daunting refining your skills with it can be. But, there are a few simple things you can tackle to feel more confident. Start by setting clear and specific objectives for your social media, this will allow for you to see your growth. Next, establish your brand approach and use a consistent username and graphics within that branding. After that, get to know your audience expertly. The better you know them the easier it will be to create and curate relevant content! Lastly, schedule, share, and promote it!

We know that running your business's social media accounts requires strategy, content, dedicated time, and long-term commitment. Our team of experts can help you achieve your social media goals with a customized strategy. Book a free consultation today to see how we can help your social media strategy go from good to great!