10 Methods for Building Social Media Presence in 2024

Modern users spend a significant part of their day on social media and as a brand, if you’re not on social media, you are practically invisible to a large section of your target audience.

Conversely, if you’re on social media, but aren’t putting out tailored, well-thought-out content, your posts are probably being ignored by your potential audience or, worse, giving the wrong impression about your brand.

The key to building a strong social media presence is to do so strategically. In this article, we’ll elaborate on the essential strategies and tips required to establish a robust social media presence for your brand.

What is social media presence?

The term “social media presence” refers to a brand’s public-facing imagery, such as text, images and videos, on social media platforms. Through social media, brands can express their personality, talk about their value system and directly address customers. A carefully crafted social media presence generates trust and positive associations among customers.

The Importance of Maintaining a Consistently Positive Social Media Presence for Brands

As of 2022, the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 151 minutes per day.

The statistic above underscores the importance of maintaining a consistent presence on social media for users to even notice your brand's existence. However, merely having a presence on social media is not sufficient.

Research tells us that 82% of shoppers want a consumer brand’s values to align with their own, and they’ll vote with their wallet if they don't feel a match. Three-quarters of shoppers reported parting ways with a brand over a conflict in values.

In other words, brands and businesses need to use their social media presence to convey their underlying values, priorities and loyalties. For example, an organic brand that donates part of its revenue to a women’s cooperative in Peru will be viewed much more positively by consumers than a brand that simply sells organic products, even if both products are of the same quality. And the former brand is much more likely to receive positive word-of-mouth through customer reviews, resulting in higher sales and revenue.

Also Read: Organic vs paid social media: Choose the right channel

Examples of brands that achieved success on social media

Dove: Project #ShowUs

• The project reached 1.6 billion people with more than 660 media pieces in 39 global markets
• Over 2000 women pledged to “create a more inclusive vision of beauty”
• In one year, the hashtag #ShowUs was used more than 7 million times on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook

BuzzFeed x Friskies: Dear Kitten

• The launch video has over 32 million times on YouTube
• 12 follow-up videos have garnered more than 3 million views each
• The hashtag #DearKitten has received more than 3.6 million views

10 ways to build a strong social media presence for your brand

Here are 10 ways you can elevate your brand’s social media presence.

1. Define your goals

In the crowded realm of social media, it's imperative for brands to break through the clutter. To achieve this, the brand, particularly the marketing and social media teams, must start by asking themselves, "Why are we here, and what do we aim to accomplish?"

Your goals should meet the following criteria:

Everyone is on social media, so brands have to work specifically to stand out from the noise. The first way to get there is for the brand (in particular, the marketing and social media teams) to ask, “Why am I here? What do I want to achieve?”

Your goals should be:

• Specific: They should be quantifiable, involving metrics such as likes, followers, views, shares, comments, sign-ups and more
• Benchmark-driven: Establish success benchmarks to gauge your progress
• Realistic: Ensure they are attainable, especially considering the timeframe in which you must achieve them
• Relevant: Align with your broader social media goals
• Time-bound: Set a timeframe within which you intend to meet your social media key performance indicators (KPIs)

Once you have a clear grasp of your objectives, it becomes easier to identify the content that will help you reach your target.

Did You Know: Social media Reach vs. Impressions: What's the difference?

2. Identify and focus on your target audience

Individuals have diverse content preferences based on their demographics and personal preferences. Content created by a tech startup will differ significantly from that of a fashion retailer. Additionally, you may need to tailor your approach to various platforms, depending on where your primary audience spends their time.

By determining the most appropriate platforms for your target audience, you'll gain a deeper insight into the type of content that will resonate with your prospective customers online.

3. Optimize your social media pages

Trustworthy brands maintain a cohesive and recognizable message on every channel. But before you start posting content or even announce your social media handles, it's crucial to ensure that your pages are in top shape. Make sure that all the necessary information is accurately filled out, and that it remains consistent across different platforms. Pay special attention to the quality of images and the language used in your bio.

Interesting Watch: How consistent brand experiences are created

Examine the social media presence of notable brands within your industry for inspiration. Focus on their tone, content quality and storytelling techniques.

P.S. Don’t forget to optimize your page and posts for SEO.

4. Humanize your content

Your primary goal is to create positive impressions among users. To achieve this, it's essential to view the world from their perspective. Regardless of your brand's offerings, they become meaningful when they address a user's needs or fulfill their desires.

For instance, if you're a beauty brand, avoid immediately diving into a discussion about your new face serum without context. Take the time to answer questions like, "Why would a customer want this? What problem does it solve for them?" Then create content that educates your audience by incorporating expert insights, perhaps from dermatologists.

Dedicate your efforts to demonstrating your understanding of your audience. Highlight real, relatable experiences and craft informative content around them. Always maintain a people-first approach, focusing on their needs rather than emphasizing your products.

Interesting Read: The simple, ingenious thing these 5 brands did to avoid a bad customer relationship

5. Stay informed about trends, updates and algorithm changes

Depending on the platform, you’ll have to create content that is rewarded by its internal algorithm. For example, the Facebook algorithm prioritizes visual content, so reels, videos, GIFs, memes, infographics and the like will get you more visibility.

On Twitter, it’s posting at the right time that will get you noticed. Rules like these apply to every platform, so your content should not only resonate with the audience but also work in harmony with the platform's algorithm.

To discover inspiration for content, keep an eye on the trends within these platforms. Depending on your industry, you can find suitable ways to discuss your customers and how they use your products without coming across as overly promotional.

Don't forget to remain vigilant for any changes to these algorithms, so that you can adjust your content to match user preferences.

6. Build your editorial calendar

Creating quality content requires planning, not spontaneity. To maintain a consistent brand voice over time, you need a well-structured social media content calendar. This calendar should outline specific posts for particular dates and categorize content by social platform, format, theme, campaign and posting schedule. Ideally, it should provide you with a comprehensive overview of your social media content for a week, month or even a quarter. Remember to distribute content regularly, with several posts per week at a minimum. Allow yourself sufficient time to craft or edit your content, although having about two weeks' worth of content ready in advance is highly beneficial. Also, factor in time for editing and obtaining necessary approvals.

You can use a social media management solution like Sprinklr Social to plan, schedule, publish and monitor social media posts, all from a single platform.

7. Engage with your community

Posting content is only one part of building a social media presence. The other part is interacting with and managing your community. How users perceive your brand is significantly shaped by your online communication with them.

It's not enough to only respond to comments with pertinent information; that's merely the initial step. Take the initiative to proactively engage with customers, followers and industry commentators. Cultivate a consistent voice, and people will begin to recognize you for your expertise in that specific market.

Participate in online discussions, focusing on discussing ideas and solutions rather than direct product promotion. Offer thoughtful responses and consider sharing a link to a relevant educational page on your blog when applicable. Your target audience will embrace you if you maintain an active, consistent and trustworthy presence within your community.

Also Read: How to build an effective community management strategy

8. Monitor everything

Once your content calendar is up and running, and you've made your initial posts, it's time to focus on social media monitoring. Regularly track the growth or decline of your chosen metrics.

Pay attention to the following:

• Which posts do customers engage with the most?
• Are the right people visiting your page and taking action?

Most social platforms provide built-in social media analytics, enabling you to measure post and campaign performance, including user actions like clicks, likes, impressions, shares and comments.

9. Complement trends with experimentation

When seeking topics to engage with, don't limit yourself to what users already like. Participating in trending conversations is essential, but injecting originality is equally crucial. Exploring bold and innovative approaches always carries some risk, but it can yield significant benefits in terms of brand visibility. However, you must exercise extreme caution to avoid any offensive language, imagery or themes.

Establish your expertise by explaining why people should listen to you and then contribute unique insights to the topic. For this purpose, it's advisable to consult real industry experts, such as your CEO, CXO or CMO. As leaders in your company, they possess the intellect required for thought leadership and are more credible than a social media marketer or a typical influencer (unless they are subject matter experts themselves).

10. Adapt your strategy based on analytics data

Not all your content will perform equally. Some pieces will resonate more with users than others. Pay close attention to what they appreciate, and create more content in that vein.

Consider the following:

• Are memes more effective than textual updates?
• Do GIFs receive more likes than still images?
• Short-form content may be attracting more views, but you're getting more sign-ups from long-form content. So, which should take precedence?

Once you discern what your customers value and where they invest their time and attention, you'll have a clear understanding of their preferences. Then adjust your content strategy to align with audience preferences, increasing your chances of exceeding your ambitious KPIs.

Build a strong social media presence more efficiently with Sprinklr Social

Managing, editing, and monitoring social media content across various channels can be a substantial undertaking, even with a large team for support. Monitoring, in particular, can be laborious and time-consuming, as it involves collecting real-time data from multiple platforms, consolidating it into a single view, and then conducting comparisons and analysis to refine your social media strategy.

Remember that you also have to identify relevant social media conversations that allow for meaningful engagement with potential customers, fostering long-term relationships. This is where a tool like Sprinklr Social can truly make a difference.

Get in touch with us today for a personalized demo.