How To Make Your Business Stand Out On Social Media In 5 Easy Steps
How To Make Your Business Stand Out On Social Media In 5 Easy Steps
Every business, big or small, should be on social media. But if you want your business to get noticed, you’re going to have to find a way to stand out from your competition. According to a recent report from SproutSocial, 90% of marketers agree that social media helps them stay ahead of their competitors. But how? Well, the experts at VitalStorm are here to show you in just 5 easy steps!
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Post Engaging Content
Sounds simple enough, until you find yourself asking the question “what content is considered engaging?” There are a few steps to take before sitting down at your computer and coming up with your next month’s content calendar.
Step 1: Know Your Audience
The only way you can post truly engaging content is if you know who you are even marketing for. If you know what interests your audience, then you are one step closer to creating engaging content.
Step 2: Tell A Story
Refrain from information overload, as you’ll likely lose your audience somewhere in there. The best way to connect with your customers is to share content and stories that are more authentic and real.
Step 3: Create Content With Purpose
Do you know why you’re creating content in the first place? To create good, engaging content, you need to know why you’re even creating it in the first place.
Step 4: Create Valuable Content
Engaging content sounds nice, but does it also add value? To keep your audience engaged, you need to add value to what you’re marketing – whether that’s through a video, a meme, or fun graphics.
Step 5: Get Emotional With Your Audience
Emotions play a key role in making your audience believe in all that you are as a business. By relating to them on an emotional level, you are more likely to capture their attention.
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Post Regularly
You want to show you’re active online, without overdoing it. A business that hasn’t posted on social media since 2020 is likely to not stand out when compared to a business that posted last
Tuesday. Not only that, but posting regularly also trains your following to expect new content from you often.
Unless you have a marketing professional doing the marketing for you, you may be thinking “I don’t have time to post frequently.” We get it. Some days, weeks, or months will be busier for you than others. There is one big way you can make sure you have the time for it all: Social Media Management Tools. Social media management tools, such as HootSuite, SproutSocial, and others, allows you to schedule your content in advance. We suggest you prepare your content a month ahead of time and schedule it so you don’t have to think about it until the following month.
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Keep it Interesting With Graphics
Whether graphics or videos, people are more drawn to imagery rather than just pure text. Let’s be real – a wall of text, no matter what it’s about it, is dry and boring. To really capture your audiences attention, be sure to include plenty of images and videos. And here’s why:
- The goal is to capture their attention and keep it for as long as possible. If your audience is not engaged, they will likely click out of your profile and move onto a competitor.
- You want to build a brand and the way to do that is by making your content memorable. We can almost promise you that a wall of text without imagery isn’t going to remain memorable.
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Master The Art Of Storytelling
We touched on this briefly above, but it’s worth mentioning again. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be a bestselling author to get this one down. Your content should:
- Inspire
- Engage
- Resonate
- Offer Solutions
Once you nail those four points down, voila – you have mastered the art of storytelling! Your content should serve to inspire and offer solutions to the kind of problems your followers are dealing with. But if you can find a way to do that through telling a story, then you will stand out from your competition and sales will start flowing.
A lot of small business owners don’t have a knack for writing, but there are many people out there that do. This part of your business plan can be easily outsourced, to a marketing agency, a freelancer, or someone else who has already mastered the art of storytelling.
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Invest in the Right Social Media Channel(s)
Not only is it about what social content you share, but it’s also about where you share it. Every social media channel is different and offers a different purpose. You won’t find that every social media channel works the same for you. Just because one business gets amazing engagement on Twitter, for example, doesn’t mean your business will.
Where business-to-business companies (B2B) may do exceptionally well on LinkedIn, business-to-consumer companies (B2C) may not do so hot. However, they may thrive on Instagram, where B2B companies wouldn’t. It’s all about finding the right social media channel for your business. Here are a few steps you can take to achieve this.
- Know Your Audience: Where are they? What social media channels do they spend their most time on?
- Research Your Competitors and Others In Your Industry: What social media channels are they on – and what social media channels are they not on? What does their engagement look like?
- Understand the Different Platforms and Their Purpose: Have you done research on the different social media platforms? Do you know what each one is used for?
Conclusion
The bottom line is this – social media is an essential part of your business’s marketing strategy. However, in order to make your social efforts effective in that strategy, you have to be looking for ways to stand out from your competition. In summary, here are the things we covered:
- Post Engaging Content – And 5 Steps On How To Do That
- Post Regularly – But Don’t Overdo It
- Keep It Interesting With Graphics – Wall of Texts are Dry and Boring
- Master the Art of Storytelling – Or Hire Someone Who Already Has
- Invest in the Right Social Media Channel(s) – And Do Your Research