Social media is the most powerful tool to show off your business if you operate online and being more authentic on your social media accounts is vital if you want your audience to positively interact with you and what you are selling. You need to be strategic in how you use your social media and in order to stand out you need to be authentic in what you show your audience.
Here are five ways in which you can be authentic on your social media.
FOCUS on social media platform that works best for you and your brand
This one is vital especially if you have limited time. Learn one or two social media platforms, learn them well, do courses in them and them absolutely rock it! YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE PRESENT ON EVERY SINGLE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM to run your online business successfully. I personally am only loyal to Instagram. Why? Because it’s visual, I don’t have to worry about the amount of text on my images and it is a really engaging platform to engage with. When Instagram changed their algorithms I did copious amounts of research. I tested hashtags, worked out what shadow-banning was and made the changes work for me. Because I’m only active on Instagram, I try and post as often as possible and make my images really eye-catching and engaging.
DON’T JUST SELL
This one is pretty important too – don’t just sell your products. There is nothing worse than following an account that just posts their products All. Day. Long. You need to be a resource and NOT a sales pitch.
Share other interesting posts, provide your audience with links that compliment your brand and share anecdotes and stories with them.
On my Instagram account I love sharing inspirational quotes as well as the clip art I am creating. When advertising my branding design services, I also try and make the image a little more obscure with phrases like “3 spots” or “62 days to go” even phrases like “life isn’t perfect but your blog can be” get a lot of interaction.
Get a little bit personal
Unless you are wishing to remain anonymous, then please do show a pic of your face and write a really engaging bio about yourself! We want to know who you are! This gets your audience to connect with you on a personal level and also reminds them that there is a real person with feelings behind the screen.
With your bio info – be quirky, unique and share something about yourself. Also include the link to your ‘most important site’ – whether it is your store or blog and make sure you have an about you section there too for people to read even more about you!
But even if you are remaining anonymous, there are many ways you can engage your audience and I will be writing about this in an upcoming blog post!
ASK ASK ASK
Asking your audience questions is an amazing way to engage with them whilst allowing you to add more authenticity to your brand as it shows your audience that you want to hear from them and hear their opinions. These questions can be anything from a fun little emoji-poll to a more open ended question which requires them to elaborate on their answers in the comments.
Be sure to ask questions that are relevant to you and your brand. If you are an animal lover and have posted a ton of pics of your cats, asking your audience what their favourite animal is is a wonderful way for your audience to engage with you personally. Don’t ask questions just because they are trendy – they need to allow your audience to meaningfully engage with you!
Spend time defining your style
When sharing your own personal images on social media, having a distinctive style that is unique to your brand really sets you apart and adds to your authenticity. Have a distinctive style also makes creating your social media images a lot easier for you and also saves time. Have a few templates to pull from and you are good to go!
I love changing up my fonts, but there are a few that I stick to and it’s great to have some go to fonts for when you are really in a hurry. Also, using colors that are from your logo and/or blog is a great way to remain consistent in your social media posts.
And there you have it! Five easy ways to be authentic in your social media and really engage with your audience and customers!
