5 Ways to Grow Your Brand on Social Media
Starting a new business and trying to grow your brand can be scary. And adding social media to the list of things can be just as daunting. We all know social media is a great tool to get your brand out there to the masses outside of your local network – but we don’t always know where to start.
To many of us, social media is one of those mysterious “is this how you do it?” things. If you’re having nightmares like what if I start a new page for my business and no one follows me, what if no one other than my mom and best friend comments on my posts, or what if I write a joke and no one gets it – its time to get over it. Whatever your fears may be, just know that you don’t have to be a master of all of the social networks to grow your community.
But if you’re not visible online or active on any of them, how will they know that you can even help them?
Here are 5 ways to grow your brand on social media without getting stressed out while feeling authentically you:
1. Be Yourself
*DJ Khaled voice* MAJOR KEY ALERT! Being yourself is the most important thing you can do to grow your brand. Don’t let social media stress you out because you’re worrying about being perfect. Just BE YOU. Your focus should be on building a brand, not just a business. And guess what, my friend – right now, you are your brand. When you allow people to buy into you, they become loyal fans.
2. Be Consistent
If you can post more than twice a day, then go for it but you should definitely aim for at least once a day. Make a calendar and decide on a topic or category to post about on a certain day. Then do it every week. It doesn’t matter if the only one responding is your best friend and your mother, and it doesn’t matter if you don’t have that many followers. Focus on the people who are already following you and liking your page, then show up for them consistently.
3. Share Your Story
People want to know that they can relate to your brand beyond what you’re selling or the services you offer. You don’t have to get super personal, but sharing your story allows them to relate to you. Share a lesson you learned, a quote that inspired you, your favorite coffee spot, or other quick fun facts about you (or a team member) – anything that shows there’s a real person behind the business.
[ctt link=”5seBL” template=”2″]You want to grow your brand on social media? Share your story![/ctt]
4. Share Value
Once you’ve earned their follow or like, they’re going to want more of you. But they won’t want you yelling “hurry up and buy” as soon as they connect with you. You can’t just walk up to a stranger and ask them to marry you. #idontevenknowyou
You have to nurture the relationship. Sharing value by offering free tips, downloads like a checklist, webinars, or live Q+As are ways of providing ongoing nurturing. It builds that know-like-trust factor to eventually turn them into clients or customers. Let them know you can support them then add a call to action – whether its to tag a friend, click the link in your bio, or something else.
5. Don’t Just Post – Engage
There are so many ways to connect with new followers and fans. But one of the best ways to get in front of people, is to engage with THEIR content. Share, like, and comment on other people’s posts and you’ll no doubt show up on their notifications – thus, making them want to check out your page to reciprocate. Participate in Twitter chats and use other industry-related hashtags. Create captions on your posts that actually allow them to participate and engage with you too, like asking questions, fill in the blank captions, this or that posts, etc. And do the same for them.
The thing IS that social media networks were created for people to be SOCIAL.
If you want to grow your brand on social media, you have to get out there … and just be social – actively and consistently. That may seem like another task to add to your pile of things to do, but there are many options and tools out there to make it easier. For example, we love Buffer – You can easily share and schedule posts to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest and LinkedIn – all from one place using Buffer. It’s definitely been one of those game-changing sites for my business.
How do you stay on top of social media and use it to grow your brand?
