Creating a Successful Social Media Presence

For the sake of this article, we’re going to assume that you’ve already determined your social media goals, i.e. "Driving website traffic", "Increasing sales/footfall", "Increasing engagement", "Developing loyalty", "Solidifying your branding", etc.

Once you are clear as to why you want to be on social media, here are some tips to help ensure that your presence is a successful one:

1) Decide which channels to use.

You may be tempted to use them all, EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. But you shouldn’t. The fact of the matter is that every channel serves a purpose and a specific audience looking for something more easily delivered on this channel. So ask yourself these questions to help you decide on your channel strategy:

1. Where is my target audience?
2. Where are my competitors present? And are they doing a good job?
3. What are the resources I have to develop a solid presence? (to make sure you don’t spread yourself too thin)
4. What kind of content can I create / prepare consistently? (you don’t want gaps in your content, that’s worse than not being present)

2) Understand your target audience to the core.

This will enable you to create meaningful content and will ensure that you steer clear from the generic information anyone can provide.

1. Who are they, exactly? A 20-something year old student living in the AUB dorms in Beirut is not the same as the stay-at-home mother of three living in Jal el Dib.
2. What makes them tick?
3. What do they need/want from your brand?
4. Why do they choose you over the competition?

3) Speak a language that resonates with your audience.

Define your brand’s tone of voice and stick to it. Between the visuals and the language, this will make your brand immediately recognizable. Here are some tips:

1. Be conversational whenever you can; try not to talk "at" your audience and get them to engage with your brand
2. Don’t be overly sales-y; sure you have to promote what you’re selling, but try to be subtle about it and remind your audience about why they want/need your product or service

4) Incentivize your audience by always giving them a reason to check in:

1. Run a contest from time to time
2. Provide them with useful tips
3. Inspire them
4. Inform them, give them sneak peeks and a heads up before everyone else
5. Ask questions. Fun ones. Thought proving ones. Just keep it relevant.

5) Always listen and respond.

No radio silence. That’s just uncool.

Finally, remember that it’s very noisy and crowded out there. So always strive to stand out from the crowd (while remaining genuine and true to your brand).