5 Ways to Grow Your Brand with Social Media Marketing in 2019

One of the biggest challenges of using social media for business is that each site is constantly changing. While it may not be easy to keep up with every new update, it’s important to have a consistent social media strategy that’s aligned with your business goals. Every social media site and post within a site is a part of your brand messaging. Here are 5 things you can do consistently in 2019 to ensure your social media presence is adding value to your online brand and helping you reach your business goals.

1. Optimize your social media profiles for search engines — Social media sites have extremely high search engine rankings. More than likely a few of your company’s social media profiles will come up on page one when someone searches for your business name. Let’s use LinkedIn for example, Google previews up to 156 characters from your business page so your company description on any social media site should be updated with relevant keywords. We recommend updating all of your about sections so they are consistent with both the company descriptions and keywords.
2. Optimize your social media posts for search engines — It’s important to have an SEO Strategy for your posts. Each time you post a photo, video, or share an article, try to include a keyword at the beginning of the post. If there is ever a description field such as with Facebook, YouTube, and IGTV videos, add keywords. This will make a difference in your ranking when people search for content related to your post on both search engines like Google and search engines within social media sites. We recommend having a list of top 10 keywords for social media with a goal to include at least one in each post.
3. Start creating social media videos — In 2015, the Washington Post made a prediction that in 5 years, 80 percent of the whole internet will be online video. Well, it’s almost 5 years later and video continues to dominate in online view counts and searches. Almost every social media platform has a video element now including Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and of course YouTube which is where video is the primary feature. While having professional video production for social media can provide a lot of value, sometimes a simple and casual video shot on your phone can humanize your brand. We recommend including video in your social media posts at least once a week. You can start by just choosing one site to incorporate video.
4. Be an engaging brand on social media — If you’re posting on social media and hoping that your post will garner thousands of likes and comments without reciprocating, you are missing the point of social media. Social media involves interaction and engagement not just on your own page, but on others. We recommend dedicating time each week to comment, like, and engage with companies related to your business and participate in industry-related group discussions. This helps establish your business as an expert and leader in your space.
5. Track your social media activity — Posting on social media serves no purpose if it’s not helping you reach business goals. Many companies want to be online because that’s where everyone else is, but few companies are strategic with tracking their activity. Properly setting up and tracking analytics on your social media activity will allow you to create actionable steps to keep improving and growing. We recommend setting up KPIs (key performance indicators) for each social media site your company is investing time in.

Is social media still overwhelming you? Let’s connect. At ParkerWhite, we have all the resources to help you excel in integrating social media marketing into your brand strategy.

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