6 Ways to Grow Your Brand Through Social Media.

Whether you are a small business, large business, entrepreneur or solopreneur you can use social media to grow your brand.

We all know it’s the most effective way to grow but not all businesses are using social media to its full advantage. Or think that posting updates all about them is going to work.  Some startups are using social media long before their product is ready by creating a buzz or to test the waters. And others leave it far too late saying they don't have time yet for social media or think its not cost effective.

With over 2 billion users on social media some of whom are bound to want what you are selling, or providing as a service, its important you are there too.

If you are still not sure about the Benefits of Social Media here's something I prepared earlier.

So how do you reach your customers, clients, target market?

Well it’s all about Social Selling and creating brand recognition and for the purpose of this article we are focusing on just 6 important steps to include in your social media strategy.

Here are 6 ways to grow your business or brand through social media.

1 – High Quality Content

Whoever you are and whatever you do, you need to position yourself as a leader in your field to establish topical authority.  You can do this by giving value to your audience and one way of doing this is by providing high quality content which is relevant to your niche. This content will also bring traffic to your website.   Content doesn’t all have to be produced by you but creating your own content is always very important .  Also consider doing contents, giving something away – a free book, a short trial, a discount this always generates lot of excitement and engagement.

Find other high quality content by others to share, RT and like content that you feel will be valuable to your followers or prospects.  This sort of content will increase your social media exposure, and increase your reach and following.

2 – Be Consistent. 

You should be posting on social media at least a few times a week, preferably a few times a day depending on your business, the network or your goals. The worst thing you can do is post every day for a few weeks and then not show up for a month, no not expect all of your followers to still be there.  No.3 will help you to be consistent.

3 – Scheduling

Now you have some content to share you need to be able to scheduling it. You do have a business to run and you don’t need to be on social media 24/7 – so scheduling content so that is spread over a few days or weeks is a great help.  You don’t need some huge, expensive CRM system to do this – you can use something like Buffer or Hootsuite, and depending on how many networks you have, you may even be able to do this at no or little cost.

4 – Use all the big networks

Use as many social networks as you can that suit your business – I don’t believe in this concentrate only on one network, the opportunities are out there and you need to take them. There are absolutely loads of social networks, all fit different niches to have a look at them and see what does well there. Also try also bookmarking sites, review sites, check-in sites. Do some research. But you must definitely make the most of the big 4 - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Even if you don’t post every day, make sure you have a presence there. Also a side tip – make sure your @ name and branding is the same or very very similar on every network.

5 – Optimize your social media accounts

Make sure that you always always completely fill in your bio or your about me, with your mission, your keywords and a link to your website and add a personal profile picture. You’ll be surprised how often this simple but essential trick is missed.

6 – Engagement

Last but never least - The most important thing about social media – is to engage.  Through engagement you can get to know your customers and develop trust.  

 That’s why they call it social media, it’s social. I can’t say this enough – shoving some updates up on Social media and thinking you have a presence is not going to work. Think about it this way, you are not here to sell you are here to network. Sure, this is what takes up the time, because you can’t fake this, people know when you, don't know what you are talking about and if you are using auto messaging.

Network in the gaps

It doesn’t have to take hours – just take a few mins here and there to monitor what’s going on – Penny Power OBE always says “Network in the gaps” and I love that advice. In between meetings, on the train, waiting for the bus, whip out your phone and engage with one to two people magic, and no time wasted!

It’s easier to engage now you have some content out there you can start by checking to see who is talking about it, see who comments on it and make sure you reply back. Search to see who is talking about you or your business or things that are close to you. Search about topics which you can help people with and talk to those you can help. Or even just get involved in a discussion or #Twitterchat or @Tweetchat on line.

If all of this still seems too much – why not outsource this work, get someone to help you, check their credentials, make sure they have the relevant experience, references and are able to use the same tone of voice as you.

I hope this has helped you have a better understanding of how to grow your business or brand through social media.