#SharetheLove - Engage With Your Tribe - Follow Your Power Partners, Share Their Posts, Follow & Engage With Your Customers

You’ve spent a lot of time building your social media network and you have a diverse and vibrant tribe. Congratulations! You have developed a great asset. Now the challenge is to keep your community engaged, show your appreciation, and continue to keep your network growing.

So how do you nurture your network to make sure that it remains strong and healthy? Below are five ways you can show your love to your community and keep them on your side.

5 Tips for Keeping Your Network Strong and Healthy

1. Share and share alike. One of the best ways to keep in touch with your community is to show them how much you appreciate them. The best way to do this is by sharing their posts and content. Of course, you should do so with a purpose and as it makes business sense. Passing along valuable information with a well-crafted comment will not only show your partners and collaborators that you are paying attention, but that you value their insight, too.

2. Follow where they lead. You can keep up with your power partners by following their feeds. Not only will it show them that you are interested in what they have to say, it can help you keep up with what’s happening in their world.

3. Respond, comment, and engage. It doesn’t take long to offer a comment on a useful post. Perhaps you have an article that would be a good follow-up or you have a thought-provoking question. There are many ways to respond. The point is to engage with the person who is posting. Exactly how you respond will depend on the platform and the style of the post but don’t miss the chance to encourage engagement.

4. Show your appreciation. Social media is a great place to say thank you to your customers. There are many ways to do this—from a simple note of gratitude to a promotion that shows how important your customers are to your business. Social media can be an important tool for letting the people who keep you in business know you don’t take them for granted.

5. Be consistent. While you don’t need to comment, respond, or post every day, it is important that you keep a regular schedule. When it comes to social media, out of sight can mean out of mind.

Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or some other social media platform, if you aren’t taking advantage of these channels to engage with your tribe, you are missing a great opportunity to strengthen your network and your relationships.

Be sure to Follow us and Let's Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+,YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and the tools to manage them.

Click here for her Social Media Workshops, Classes and Seminars

#ShareTheLove - Does Your Audience Know How You Serve Them?

Growing a following on social media is usually a big goal for businesses. Business owners spend a lot of time and money creating social media accounts that look good, showcase their brands, and (hopefully) keep growing a following.  

In order to keep your audience, you need to make sure you’re serving them in a way that makes them feel valued.  So how do you better serve your audience? Here are some tips.

Know Your Audience

The best way to serve your audience is to have a good understanding of who they are. Start basic, with things like occupations, interests, and hobbies. Then think about your audience in terms of how they interact with your business. Why are they a follower of your profile? What does your business offer them that they need? What can you share that would get them excited?

If you’ve done your homework and know who your ideal customer is, this part should be easy!

Share Content that Nurtures Them

Once you know WHO you’re serving, you can make sure the content you’re sharing is something they’ll love. There are lots of ways to do this! You could share a news article with important industry-related updates. Or, you could offer free resources and helpful tips they can use in their lives or businesses. Think about WHO you’re serving, and then WHAT these people would value. That’s what you should be sharing.

Connect with Them

It’s not enough to just schedule content anymore. You need to connect with your audience! Consider hopping on a live video and chatting with your followers. Host a Q&A on your page so you can answer their questions. These are great ways to form connections.

Be Responsive

When people post comments, tag you in posts, or send messages, make sure you are responding. This is especially important if someone is asking you a question. If you have a system for monitoring tags, comments and questions, your audience will feel like you are engaged and that you care about them.

See What’s Working

It’s not enough to post things you think your audience will love. You need to take the extra step to monitor engagement after you post. If engagement is high when you post helpful tips, for example, that means your audience likes that kind of content, and you should be creating more of it. Listening to your audience and sharing more of what they love is one of the best ways to make them feel valued.

If you respect your audience and show them that you value their engagement with your social profiles, they’ll want to stick around. Using these tips will help you maintain a loyal following that will ultimately turn into loyal customers.

Be sure to Follow us and Let's Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+,YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and the tools to manage them.

Click here for her Social Media Workshops, Classes and Seminars

#AwesomeContent - How Links in Your Content Drive Traffic

You already understand the value of creating and sharing quality content with your audience. Congratulations! Getting to that hurdle is no small undertaking. However, many content creators do not truly understand the value of links within their blogs, social media posts, websites, and other online content.

Links have been a vital SEO strategy for a long time. The search engines change their game plan frequently, so the nature of linking (and its benefits) also changes. That doesn’t make it less powerful a method for increasing traffic.

Here is a breakdown of all the reasons you should be incorporating links into your content:

Helps with website navigation – To keep text tight and clean, sometimes it’s valuable to link to another piece of content somewhere else so that users can go into more detail on the topic. For example, this article on The Seven Commandments of Internal Linking is an expansion of the topic we are discussing here. Strategic linking on your website, or in your content, will guide viewers to exactly where you want them to go (landing page, anyone?).

Increases Traffic – Well placed links are a solid marketing strategy for directing traffic to your content. Hanging out in the right places and having conversations with the right people, where your target audience also hangs out, is an excellent opportunity to link back to your website, your blog or your social media platforms.

Establishes credibility – Thoughtful linking will establish you as an expert in your field, industry or niche. This is true not only for SEO but also for Internet users. For search engines and viewers, other sites that link back to yours help the algorithms to quantify your content as valuable and popular, pushing it up the ranks. (Here we come first page of Google!)

Builds your community - When you link to your clients, partners and influencers you are helping to establish their credibility as well. This a great strategy for building up your tribe and brand advocates. This type of linking is a cornerstone of influencer marketing and will provide content for your audience that isn’t 100% yours and, therefore, follows the 80/20 rule. Plus, the more you link to others the higher the likelihood they will return the favor and link back to you!

It’s important not to go crazy with the linking, however. As with any good tool, there are people out there trying to abuse it for their benefit, and strategic moderation is key. Once people got wind that the search engines preferred linking, they started producing links in mass – many of which were completely false. The algorithms adapt and change over time to combat that sort of abuse so if you aren’t linking the right way (organically and with specific purpose) it will actually hurt your page rank. A small handful of purposefully links will be more beneficial than just linking for linking’s sake.

We hope this helps you #BeAwesome with your content this year. A combination of live video, visual content and linking is a powerful trifecta and can do wonders for your online presence!

Be sure to Follow us and Let's Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+,YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and the tools to manage them.

Click here for her Social Media Workshops, Classes and Seminars

#AwesomeContent - Branded Images are the Third Highest for Engagement on Social Media

Probably the most important goal of any social media strategy is to create content that viewers want to read and engage with. There is a ton of content being created and posted every day. Much of it is not getting seen, liked or shared. The idea is not to work harder – don’t just become a content creation factory. You should be working smarter by creating the types of content that viewers like the most. Yes, live video is all the rage this year and shouldn’t be overlooked when building your marketing plan. However, not everyone is capable, or even interested, in creating videos. What’s the next best thing in social media when it comes to getting a ROI on engagement? Anything visual will work well – this includes pictures, photoquotes, infographics and other images.

Facebook posts with images see 2.3X more engagement than those without images. Buzzsumo

Branded images are pieces of visual content created using your own words, material, content or logo. It can be as simple as a picture with a quote on it and your logo or as complicated as an infographic filled with valuable stats and facts about your industry. The spectrum of options is wide and diverse and limited only by your own creativity. Just make sure that any content you are creating doesn’t violate copyright laws and that it is clear that you own it. The best graphics get shared often and if you don’t put your mark on it, no one will know where it came from. Don’t waste time creating quality content and then forget to label it with your brand.

37% of marketers said visual marketing was the most important form of content for their business, second only to blogging. Social Media Examiner

Visual Storytelling

Gone are the days where a business could invest in commercials, direct mail, paper ads and other old school forms of marketing in order to boost presence and generate sales. No one wants to be sold to anymore.

Today’s marketing is all about organic reach, becoming an influencer and creating stand out content online and in social media to build a following.

There is a lot of stuff out there vying for consumer attention and more added gets every day. In order to rise to the top and really reach your target audience, marketers and business owners need to learn the value of visual storytelling.

Telling a story is all about gathering attention and then making an emotional impact. If your content isn’t telling a story that engages, surprises, motivates, or inspires others – then it’s time to start incorporating those elements into your marketing. Basically, it’s time to start hitting people in the feels with your words, images, and data.

Social Media Graphics

Where do you start when it’s time to come up with your social media images? The Content Strategist identifies 5 elements that you have to take into consideration when you are creating your branded images.

Does your content match the mood you are trying to achieve? You shouldn’t be creating anything that confuses your audience. Make certain it matches your company’s brand, your voice and your purpose.

Also, be sure you are designing images that appeal to people. There is a lot of thought that goes into a great visual including tone, concept, emotional response, and simplicity.  Understanding some basic elements of graphic design and marketing will boost your returns.

There are a lot of great, free, online tools to help you create your own images. We prefer Canva.com if you need a place to start.

Not everyone will be good at creating his or her own images. If this is you, seek out help from someone who understands how to design images for social media. You don’t have to be an expert at how to do this in order to generate your own social images.

Increasing Engagement with Images

Don’t forget to take time to brainstorm how to get the most engagement out of your branded images. Use quotes, from you or others, that generate an emotional response. Ask questions. Use pictures of other people – there is something about seeing a person and being able to identify with them that helps boost engagement. Keep it as local as possible. People want to interact within their own communities. Achieving presence and reach is great but don’t lose sight of being able to exchange words and ideas with your followers.

51% of B2B marketers prioritized creating visual content assets in 2016. Content Marketing Institute

Be sure to Follow us and Let's Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+,YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and the tools to manage them.

Click here for her Social Media Workshops, Classes and Seminars