Emily in Pa..kistan. 5 Key Insights to Growing Your Online Presence.

God has blessed me in numerous ways, and one of His greatest blessings was sending startups my way. In my experience, having a master's in media did add value, but the real-life experience of the digital marketing world has been surreal.

Oh and about the title, have you watched the Netflix show Emily in Paris? If you're from the field of marketing/advertising and haven't watched it yet, you aren't missing out on a lot. But you should probably watch it, it's fun. Even though I moved to UAE this year, Pakistan is where I grew up and had most of my learnings so that explains.

Anyway, having the honour and ability to work with multiple brands has helped me learn and evolve in numerous ways, and there's one most important thing that comes with never learning to swim but jumping in the water anyway: YOU NOT ONLY LEARN TO SURVIVE BUT GROW ENDLESSLY.

Have you ever seen a tree closely? It starts small, but gradually grows different branches here and there, but all connected to one trunk. These branches may have the same texture and color, but have different directions and areas covered. That's exactly how I define the universe of marketing: everything is connected. Yes, I am coming to the point: Offline and online marketing go hand-in-hand. Everywhere, the key message must always remain attached to the trunk. Even if they cover different audiences and areas, the tone of voice must never change.

The world of Social Media Marketing is continually changing and evolving, I mean in the past few years we have seen 3D images, 4D images, videos, carousels, GIFs, and reels. Even WhatsApp has a Follow button now for celebrities and pages. That's why one must never stop learning about the new tools and optimize them in the best possible manner.

So what are the 5 tips that can help you stay on top of your Social Media Marketing game and grow your presence online? Without further ado, let’s dive into the 5 key insights to growing your presence online that I have learned over more than five freaking years, God I’ve come a long way!

What’s trending?

Reels reels coming your way. As we all know, reels are the #NewCool, but how can you create one that goes viral? Well, the first and foremost rule to creating a Reel that gets views and impressions is to use the audio/song that is #Trending. Yes, you've read it right. I have often used songs and audio that I found cringeworthy, but they led to great results and turnovers. The traction on the page increased, followers grew, and eventually, the sales. Hence, you have to make uncomfortable decisions to get what you want. Similarly, relevant influencers can also help grow your audience. You can send them a PR or invite them to your store/organization. Truly depends on the nature of your business.

The Right Hashtags!

You have no idea how beneficial using the right hashtags can be. Now what are the right hashtags? Hashtags that are RELEVANT to the topic, or content presented in the visual(s). For example, you are creating a post for some international day that is again relevant to your brand personality. Did you know every special celebration has a specific theme and hashtag to it? If you're not using that hashtag, you are limiting your content, while also staying back from appearing in searches. So always do your homework before participating in what’s trending.

Engage Online

Whether you’re a celebrity, a big giant, or a small-scale business, if you are not truly present online, you are considered dead, and your account is as useless as the letter K in know. I mean go LIVE, talk to your audience, address their needs and questions, participate in what’s happening, and comment on relevant content. By responding to the audience, and commenting on the right content, you can get more profile visits and eventually great numbers. So if you aren’t already, go talk to your audience, know what they are looking for, participate in what’s trending, and Tada! Your account will be popular before you know it.

Sponsor Your Content

If you don't announce to the world that you're present online, how would they know?! All the above-mentioned steps are for organic growth, but that's a slow gradual process. You must top it with sponsored ads that are mobile optimized so that everyone can view your content without inconvenience and so that everyone knows you exist even if they don't really need you. Everyone knows Nike, but does everyone wear them? Exactly.

Utilize The Available Insights

When you open your Instagram profile, there’s a Professional Dashboard available for you to analyze your page quickly. Similarly, on Facebook, there is a View Tools button on your profile. If you’ve been ignoring these two buttons for a while, it's time to click on them and see how your page is doing. It can help you find out when is your audience most active, so you can be active at that time as well and engage. You can also get to know your audience better and create content accordingly, for example, their age, gender, location, etc.

So with this, I'd like to wrap up my article. If you've read this far, I have a bonus tip for you: Sit back and declutter your Social Media Platforms. Yes, it's important to be present everywhere, be it Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, X, Threads, TikTok or Snapchat. However, it is also crucial to know which platform is relevant for your brand/organization. I mean I wouldn’t want my bank to be sending me stories on Snapchat.

So dig deep, find out what's working best for you, and trust the process. You'll soon reach where you want to be. By the way, I have personally grown a page from having 2K followers to having 16.3K followers in just one year by following the above-mentioned steps, and by consistently posting on the page at the same frequency. I know it’s not a lot, but I am still proud of my progress. You can achieve the same and much more by staying consistent and believing in yourself. Gist: Following trends, Relevance, & Consistency is going to take you places.?

In the end, I want to leave you inspired by sharing this quote by Simon Sinek, best selling author and Motivational Speaker;

"Dream big. Start small, but most of all, start."

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