Social media is the best place to grow your brand’s following.

There’s no question where consumers are spending their time - online. Your target audience turned from radio and TV to online media a virtual lifetime ago. Believe it or not, this works to your advantage

Social media provides an interactive and personalized way to reach millions of people. 90% of young Americans, 78% of all US internet users and 65% of all American adults use social media regularly.

That’s a MASSIVE audience you can’t afford to ignore.

With multiple social media sites, there’s a platform for every business. All you need to do is grow an audience, produce high quality content and start sending leads back to your site.

But how?

The key is knowing what platform to use and how to attract your ideal buyer. The best way to start is with a well developed social media strategy.

Ready to expand your customer base? Follow these 5 steps:

1.Set Social Media Goals that Align with Your Company.

Your Social media goals should align with the broader goals of your company. While Social Media can generate exponential exposure for your company, it can also be off-putting or confusing to customers when used incorrectly. Keep this in mind as you create your strategy.

Start by writing down the main objectives your company is striving towards and the ways social media could be leveraged to accomplish them. Properly utilizing social media to reach your goals can have a profound impact on their outcome.  

Let’s look at an example.

Say your company is currently designing a new product to be released in 6 months. You have a small list of past customers on an email drip campaign prepping for the launch, but you need more. Now is the time to start expanding your brand awareness and your following on social media. By targeting your ideal audience with content about the industry, current products, and the upcoming product launch, you can expand your customer base exponentially.

2. Have a clear understanding of where you are and where you’re going.

Now that you know where you want to be, it’s time to create a plan to get there. But before you hit the ground running, you need to understand where you are. Take a deep look at your current social media presence. What profiles do you already have set up? Is there any content already on your page? Is that content up to standard, and if not, can you improve it?

Once you’ve overhauled your existing pages it’s time to start growing.

Start by finding your audience. What platforms do they use? Where are they spending their free time? What are they focused on when they use this network? This will determine the platforms you focus on and the content you create.

Look at it this way. When someone is on LinkedIn they are thinking about their career, but on Instagram they’re thinking about their social lives. It doesn’t make sense for a clothing store to use marketing on LinkedIn, or for a highly specialized field to advertise open job positions on Instagram.

When researching this step, dig into your competition. Who are they? What platforms do they use? How can you optimize your pages and content to be better? Focus on the content that they are missing and provide it yourself. If you’re struggling with this task you can always find professional help. Social media is one of the many services Push360 provides.

3. Create Action Items and Timelines. 

When setting your goals make sure they’re easy to measure and give them a deadline. You can have multiple goals in your campaign such as increased site traffic or more social followers. Be as specific as possible. Don’t just say you want more followers, say how many more you want and when you want them by.  If you don’t clearly define what a successful campaign looks like, you’ll never know if you’re winning or losing. Make the target and the timeline realistic - otherwise you’ll burn yourself out.

Once you know exactly what you want to accomplish, break your goals down into much smaller, actionable items. These can be as simple as “Create Google+ account” or “Update Pinterest Links.” Give each of these action items a due date that coincides with your overall timeline.

Many of these action items will relate to relate to content you’re posting, which brings us to our next point….

4. Have a Content Creation plan.

Without high quality content you won’t get far. Social media networks provide platforms to reach your audience in an intimate and personal way, but if you can’t make your product or service look appealing it’s all for nothing.

Figure out how to package your company in the best way possible. If you have a complex product, consider making videos explaining how it works. If your product is more aesthetically pleasing, think about planning a professional photo shoot for high quality images.

Multiple formats give your customers more ways to interact with you. Try to incorporate videos, infographics, images, and articles that relate to your product or industry. Preparing in advance translates to higher quality content that can be published on a pre-planned schedule.  This is particularly useful if you are blogging about an event or working with a professional video team. 

5. Monitor, Analyze, Update, Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

Decide which metrics you are going to use to define success. Is it likes, comments or shares? Or are you looking for page views or purchases?

Watch these key performance indicators (KPI’s) carefully, and use them to guide you toward your goal. If a certain post performed better than others find out why and apply your findings to the rest of your entries. Look for the differences between the posts that are performing well and those that aren’t by comparing common themes, writing styles, and formats.

Be adaptable. You might have planned on an article heavy campaign only to find out your audience prefers infographics. Giving your audience what they want encourages them not only to come back but to share your content with their personal circle.

Social outreach is no longer just a nice way to interact with customers, it’s a crucial part of your digital presence. With 2.19 billion active users on Facebook alone you can’t afford to ignore social media or the impact it can have on your company. Building a high quality social media strategy and following it can make all the difference in your company’s success.