Facebook. LinkedIn. Twitter. Instagram. Snapchat. TikTok. YouTube. The list of social media platforms continues to grow every year. As the list grows, so does the number of users. In 2020, it was reported that 4.2-billion people were active social media users. There are only 7.8-billion people in the world, so that means more than 53% of people ON EARTH are on social media. Facebook reported 1.69-billion users last year, so nearly 22% of the world’s population has a Facebook page.
LEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Having so many potential customers in one spot can be a gold mine for companies, but just being on social media isn’t enough anymore. It’s a great starting point, but ongoing, well-planned activity on your business’s page is what really draws in potential customers.
To make sure your social media accounts are driving the results you are looking for, the company needs to decide what its main goals are. Are you trying to grow brand awareness or maybe it’s to drive online sales or push people to the website? The posts you publish should link back and help advance your overall goals. On top of furthering your main goals, a company should be posting content that its followers want to interact with.
I’ve seen many businesses focus strictly on their products and services. Obviously, as a business, you want your followers to know those things. That is important information. You are running a business after all, but those posts don’t always gather the most engagements (likes, comments, shares, etc.) From my experience, other types of posts can garner a larger number of interactions from your followers. Creating posts that feature the human side of the business can do far better than those featuring products and services alone.
Is it a family-owned business? Highlighting the family and diving deeper into their background and what roles they hold will likely be easier for people to connect with on a personal level. When people are touched on a personal level and can connect with the content, that is when engagement goes up.
Why is engagement important? The short answer is the more people that are engaged in your posts, the more people that post will reach. On Facebook for example, when a user likes a page or post, that post will often show up on their friends’ Newsfeed, highlighting that interaction. That exposes a whole new demographic to your post and/or brand, which can increase engagement even more. High engagement can also have a positive impact on a potential customer. When someone sees a business profile that has a high number of followers and a high number of likes, comments, or shares on posts, they are more likely to view that business as a reputable company. Maybe even one they want to connect and do business with. Compare that to a business with little to no followers or interaction, which may leave a different taste in their mouth.
With all that said, don’t expect your followers or engagements to spike overnight. Growing your social media footprint takes time and dedication. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see major changes quickly. As a business, using a social media presence to drive traffic or sales should be a part of a long-term goal.
SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS STORY
NuRev has been working with Santmyer Companies, a bulk fuel and oil supplier based in Wooster, Ohio, since July of 2020. We were brought on to manage their social media accounts and digital advertising strategies. Santmyer had an account on a few of the main social media platforms already, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. They even had a decent following on Facebook and LinkedIn, but that number was stagnant because the activity on their pages was so low. The company recently underwent a rebranding and the Santmyer leadership team wanted to increase their brand awareness, drive traffic to their new website and grow their social media base. That’s where NuRev came in.
We met with the Santmyer team on the front-end to learn more about their business and what their long-term goals were for the social media marketing strategy. During this meeting, we reviewed potential topics and content ideas. From there, we were able to build a social media content calendar. We focused on planning posts that complimented their goals. Posts that would expose people to their new brand and drive people to their redesigned website.
We have been actively and consistently posting on Santmyer’s social media channels for the last 6+ months. We have done a variety of posts on their pages, including a week of giveaways, polls, family highlights, and employee appreciation posts. We’ve seen growth on all their platforms. Since July, they’ve seen an average of 25.04% follower growth rate across their four social media channels. The average annual follower growth rate for a company is 42%. If Santmyer continues their current trend for the next six months, its accounts will be well above the annual average during its first year of social media. With the increase in followers, their engagement has multiplied on posts as well.
We also regularly include links to Santmyer’s new website in posts. This not only drove additional traffic to the new website, but the personalized links also gave NuRev an opportunity to track how many people are clicking on those links and following them to the redesigned website. All of these strategies continually work toward the original goals set by Santmyer – grow its social media base, increase brand awareness, and drive traffic to its website.