As back-to-school season rolls around once again, it’s a good reminder to brush up on your social media skills and get your channels looking A* ready.
So, sharpen your pencils and crack open your fresh notebook, as Communications Consultant Zoe Barlow takes you on a social media masterclass on staying relevant in a saturated landscape and keeping your online audience engaged.
Smarten up your profiles
First impressions count, so it’s important to make sure your social media profiles look excellent for anyone who lands on them.
As your virtual shop window, your social media bios need to be clear and informative so that it’s obvious to users what your product or service is and how they can find out more. Consider adding a link to your website if you haven’t already and make sure all the relevant contact information is listed to make your channels as accessible as possible.
It can be easy to keep your profile and cover photos the same over time but switching these out can really help to freshen up your appearance online. However, make sure you use the same profile and cover photos across channels to maintain a consistent identity and encourage brand recognition.
Figure out what’s working
Don’t underestimate the value of a regular content audit! Knowing what posts are performing well and not so much, is key to keeping your audience engaged and attracting new followers.
Take a look at your posts across the year so far and reflect on the top performers to determine what made these stand out from the rest. Are there any content ideas that you can recycle and repurpose so that you can end the year with a bang?
As well as focusing on your best posts, don’t neglect posts with low levels of engagement and those that may now be outdated. Consider archiving posts and hiding stories that are no longer relevant to keep your content fresh and timely. For instance, an Instagram post highlighting the Summer Sale may not be worth keeping up during Autumn!
Using an inbuilt social media analytics tool can help speed up the process of pulling metrics – you can read our top recommendations for these here.
Set clear goals
Just because we’re three-quarters of the way through the year doesn’t mean you can’t tweak your goals!
If you want to end the year on a high, now is the time to re-evaluate your social media objectives and identify your key performance indicators (KPIs).
Ask yourself ‘why’ each social media platform is important for your brand and what you want to get out of it. Do you want to drive website traffic or perhaps you want to build brand awareness and grow your audience size? Having a clear idea of your overall goals will help set your social media channels up for success by providing you with the building blocks for your social media strategy.
Make sure your social media goals are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-sensitive) and refer to these monthly with your key metrics to gauge how your content is performing and whether you’re on track. For example, if building brand awareness is a goal, you’ll want to look at metrics like reach or views.
Ace your content calendar
You’ve studied and done your homework and now it’s time to put your thoughts into action. Taking your key learnings, draft a social media calendar that aligns with your audience’s interests and supports your social media goals.
Planning ahead will allow you to save time in the long run but also ensure a consistent posting schedule, which is crucial for keeping your audience engaged. A well-planned calendar should tie in with upcoming national days and trending topics to keep it timely and relevant and maximise post impact.
By knowing what’s coming up, you can engage with your audience more effectively by preparing polls and posts that spark discussions more thoughtfully and generate lots of engagement!
Don’t forget to take into account the visual appearance of your calendar and consider creating eye-catching graphics to bring your posts to life and make your brand stand out online.
If you’re looking to enhance your social media strategy, get in touch.
