Connecting with Your Audience: Social Media Tips from the Experts
As a social media manager, one of my core focuses is helping our clients build real connections and engage their audiences through social media. Having an online presence is important, but it's equally crucial to use social platforms as a two-way communication channel rather than just a broadcasting tool.
In today's crowded digital landscape, simply promoting your products or services is not enough. To truly connect with your audience, you need to form genuine relationships built on trust and understanding. In this post, I'll share some of our top tips for using social media to spark meaningful interactions and engagement with your target audience.
5 Tips for Genuinely Connecting with Your Audience on Social Media
Tip 1: Define Your Brand Voice and Be Consistent
Your brand voice is essentially your business's personality. It's how you communicate values, emotions, and style with your audience. Having a distinct, consistent voice humanizes your brand and allows people to form real connections. Reputable brands like Wendy's and MoonPie have mastered using a clever, sassy voice that their followers love. Other brands such as Nike use inspiration and celebrity athletes to showcase their messaging while GoPro utilizes high-quality user-submitted content to connect with their adventurous, outdoor-loving audience.
Regardless of the approach you take, consistency is key to building brand recognition and trust. Your voice should feel familiar whether someone is viewing your Instagram Stories, Facebook posts, or tweets. Randomly shifting between tones will only confuse and turn people away. Most important of all, make sure it is actually your brand voice, so you are not imitating something else just because it is popular. An audience can easily sense when a brand is not being genuine.
Tip 2: Post Relatable, Valuable Content
While it may be tempting to constantly push sales and promotions on social media, that's a surefire way to get tuned out. Instead, focus on sharing content that informs, entertains, or inspires your audience. Videos, blog posts, graphics with tips, polls, and behind-the-scenes looks into your company can all make for engaging posts.
The key is creating content your audience can relate to and find genuinely useful or interesting. Analyzing your data to see what types of posts perform best can help guide an effective content strategy.
Tip 3: Engage Through Conversations, Not Broadcasting
Social media is meant for two-way communication and dialogue. If you're only pushing out updates without responding to comments or asking questions, you're missing a huge opportunity to connect with your audience.
Get conversations started by posing open-ended questions related to your industry or current events. Ask for opinions, advice, or recommendations from your followers. And whenever someone comments on your posts, make an effort to continue that back-and-forth dialogue. Showing you're listening to your community helps build trust and rapport.
Tip 4: Highlight Your Employees and Company Culture
While logos and branded visuals are important, people are naturally drawn to connect with other people, not just faceless companies. Don't be afraid to frequently put your employees front-and-center on your social channels.
Feature photos and Q&As spotlighting individual team members so your audience can get to know the personalities behind your business. You can also share glimpses into your company culture through photos and videos from team outings, office events, volunteer projects, and more. This helps humanize your brand.
Check out how brands like Squarespace and Buffer do an awesome job using their social media to showcase their teams and give an inside look at their culture and values.
Tip 5: Stay Up-to-Date on Platform Updates and New Features
The world of social media is ever-evolving, with new features and algorithm changes rolling out frequently. If you're not staying on top of these developments, you're likely missing out on opportunities to engage your audience in new ways.
For example, Instagram Reels and TikTok have unlocked creative video possibilities. LinkedIn has expanded to support audio and digital events. X (formerly Twitter) recently launched Communities for more focused discussions around interests and topics.
Nurture Real Relationships Through Social Media
By testing out new social features and observing which ones your audience gravitates towards, you can find fresh ways to grab their attention and participate in timely conversations.
Ultimately, the key to successfully connecting with your audience on social media is focusing on creating a two-way dialogue and real relationships, not just pushing out self-promotional content. It takes time, effort, and a genuine desire to engage authentically. So be true to your brand and start connecting!
Solomon Advising is a marketing & branding agency focused on helping professional services firms retain their relevance and ensure sustainability by consistently promoting a credible brand. Contact us today to see how we can help improve your brand’s health.