There are a lot to think about before you start branding your website on social media. It is important to do the strategic calculation because one wrong move can ruin your complete brand. Social media works in a very different way than traditional marketing vehicles. In traditional marketing, you have the option to save your brand if anything goes wrong. In social media however, you do not have that option as things can immediately go viral.
Here’s a list of 11 things that you should check when you are branding your website on social media. Try to follow as many of them as you can to have a great social brand image.
1. Make Sure That Everything Is Integrated
There is a concept in marketing called IMC or integrated marketing communications. The whole idea here is that you will combine all your social media accounts and make sure that you are reaching out to your audiences no matter which social media they use.
Whether it is Twitter or Snap Chat, you will post everywhere to cover all of them. This is very important because you are already doing the first part (content creation) anyways. Therefore, if you are not posting your content everywhere, that is a rookie mistake.
2. Be Visual
Image is better than words and video is better than images. We already know that photos get more social shares than words. Similarly, as all social media is now targeting video engagement, you should consider making videos if you can.
No matter what your business is about, try to implement some video ideas related to it and you will see better engagement in all social media.
3. Headlines Are Important
A lot of your audience will never read a post or look into a video unless the headline is appealing enough. At the same time, most people will watch the video because of a good headline even if the content is not great. It is important that you make them clear at the first step. Therefore, the headlines matter.
Make sure that you are changing your headlines depending on the platform that you are posting in. The same headlines will not work on Facebook and YouTube. You have to give an attention generating headline on YouTube to get that click.
4. Platform Customization
Customize your content depending on platforms. People on YouTube like fun videos the most. On the other hand, if you are posting on LinkedIn, then the content has to be to the point and professional. Keep those in mind.
5. Take Care of Technical Issues
Make sure that you are uploading the perfect sized thumbnail when it is YouTube or a perfect pixel image when it is Facebook and so on. Different social media has different requirements which you need to be attentive about before posting.
6. Timing
It is very important to understand the time zones that your audiences are based on. In almost all social media, your post is visible for a fixed amount of time and then it starts to go down as other posts take its place. Therefore, understanding when to post is very important in order to get good engagement on social media.
7. Did I Post This Before?
At times, brands become repetitive and that makes them lose audience. It is a must for you to check whether you have posted similar ideas or content before on your social media accounts. Try to be unique and if possible, get a team who will only work on your social media marketing.
8. The Power of Questions
Always encourage your audience to ask questions and never leave a questions unanswered. This is a major item to tick when you are branding your website on social media. The primary reason people follow your website is because of their questions and desire to learn. If you don’t answer those in your social media, there’s a chance that they will leave you in the long run.
9. Ads
Understand whether you need to go for an advertisement for your social media post. It is very strategic to think whether an ad is worth it or not. For example, if you have two posts planned for Facebook and one of them costs a lot to market where another one is cheap in terms of targeting, post the cheap one first and then the costly one. Then promote only the cheap one. The chances are high that people will automatically visit your page and check out the other posts.
10. Ask For it
For some posts, you will be able to ask for engagements such as likes, shares, subscriptions and so on. On some other posts, it would be a crime to do so. Try to have a variety of posts planned so that you can mix these two types. That will keep you safe.
The ask for it method works best when you are providing informative posts or information. On the other hand, when you are doing raw promotion, try to stay far from asking for anything.
11. Interlink Your Audience
This is very simple. Always ask your audience to follow you on other platforms where you have your account. Mix your audience as much as you can. For example, if you are posting on Facebook and you have an Instagram account, ask your Facebook audience to follow you on Instagram. You can do the same from Instagram too for Facebook.
Also, when you are advertising on social media, try to advertise on cheap platforms and then convert your audience for the costly one. One great example would be boosting your posts on Facebook and asking people to follow you on Snap Chat or YouTube in that same post. Facebook will cost lower than the other platforms which will help you get audience at a cheaper rate.
At the end of the day, make sure that you are always trying to build trust. People will not be willing to buy from your brand if they don’t trust you and social media is a great platform to build that trust. Utilize the power of social media and your brand will flourish.
