Guest post by: Alison Grand, Founder and President, Grand Communications, Inc. Previously published on www.grandcommunications.com.
Whether it’s for a $1 billion+ preschool brand, a top-rated TV series or a thriving toy, tech or consumer products company, following these basic guidelines will help you build and maintain an active and engaging social media presence that makes people want to follow you. By taking some time upfront to consider and serve up content that best resonates with the audiences you’re most looking to reach, you can grow the fan base for your property or company, meaningfully and exponentially, each day – just like magic!
Mind the time – To maximize the number of eyeballs seeing and engaging with your clever, carefully-crafted content on social, make sure you know what times of day, days of the week and even days of the year tend to be more “high traffic.” Though it’s been shown that you can nab the highest rate of click-throughs on Facebook from 1-4pm, tap into the most popular time for tweeting from noon to 1pm and take advantage of the best time for sharing on Instagram from 2am-5pm, it’s also important to evaluate the high traffic times specific to the key audiences or demos you want to connect with. As an entertainment PR and social media firm steeped in all things kids and family, we often look to engage with moms and dads on the social pages we manage for top children’s brands across various platforms. We’ve seen that parents of young children, not surprisingly, tend to keep very different hours on social than your average Joe (or Jane)!
Tap into the public mind – Social posts that give props to seasonal times, holidays, special “moments” and other universally-observed or celebrated occasions often garner much higher engagement then evergreen posts, and that includes promotional giveaways – though who doesn’t love a freebie any day of the year? By putting out a CTA (aka call-to-action) for families to share a Halloween pic of their little one dressed up as a character from one of the hit kids’ TV shows we represent, we tap into two sweet spots at once for our fan base: one of the most popular family-friendly holidays of the year and the strong pull among parents to share images of their adorable preschooler experiencing a memorable milestone.
Exercise economy of words – Pictures and videos are the most valuable currency on social. Their built-in “ooh,” “ah” (and “aw”) factor coupled with their ability to capture attention quickly and communicate message at a glance, make visual-centric posts king. A picture can be worth a thousand words, especially on social, so keep in mind a post need not be copy heavy to be “picture-perfect” for effectively attracting and engaging fans and followers.
Be the place to go – If your brand’s social pages deliver elements that can’t be found anywhere else, it makes followers that much more likely to visit and engage that much more often. Be it a sneak peek or behind-the-scenes look at an upcoming film, launching series or episode or a promotional giveaway of a new toy, tech introduction, or even a coupon code, making your social feeds a destination for things that aren’t available elsewhere helps strengthen fans’ connection with the brand in a more personal way that makes them want to follow and engage again and again.
Don’t post in a vacuum – Though it’s essential to put thought and strategy into developing and scheduling your own posts, it’s also important to remember engagement on social is a two-way street. By taking the time to “like,” comment on or share posts from those who have done the same for you (and even their followers with an eye to building up your own page numbers), you are participating in a dialogue, rather than simply broadcasting what you want to say. It’s like that party guest who talks only about himself as opposed to the one who engages others in conversation and makes fellow partygoers want to spend more time with them.
Comments