95% of people aged 18-34 who are online will find out about and access a brand through social media.

1 in 4 users (at least) are following brands on social media from which they will make a purchase.

Mobile shoppers who see product reviews on social media are 133% more likely to buy.

The above mentioned stats are not surprising. At this point, they are really more par for the course than anything else. This is not a debate on the evils of social media and ‘the internet’ so the only commenting we will do is; it’s a good time to have something to market.

Your posts are your doorway into this world of possibilities so you really have little option but to do your best. For that you might need a sense of direction or maybe just a breakdown of the rather overwhelming options and techniques being used out there. That’s just what we’re here to give you.

To help you out, we’ve put together a list of 12 things you should be doing to boost your social media game and get more engagement and possibly, could it be…conversions?

Post more

This is the most important thing. Putting hours into planning one post every week or so is not enough anymore because guess what? Bob, your arch nemesis is doing 5 a week! Everyone is going to him and you have been forgotten.

It’s a fast, cut throat industry and you have to be fast and on your toes to keep up. You should be putting out more than 3 posts a week at least on all your accounts.

Don’t just keep pushing the sell

You’ve got your website for that (although we suggest you to put blogs there too). Social media is meant to engage, build brand identity and relationship with your audience. If every post you put out says ‘buy my stuff’ what is anyone going to say to that? Once is fine but the same thing every week will be the death of your social engagement.

Be more interesting and encourage people to answer. Be accessible. How to do that? Read the next bit.

Go live and do Q and As

Most social media platforms now allow you to go live and talk to your audience in real time. This brings your brand to life. It might not look like it’s a big deal but one on one conversation with someone from the company they’re buying from gives the audience a sense of affiliation. It makes them think they know who they’ll be dealing with and buying from.

The best thing to do is to conduct Question/Answer sessions. This keeps things from getting awkward when you go live because it gives you something to talk about. And mainly it allows you to connect with the audience and answer any questions and put their concerns to rest. It shows that you believe in your product/service and are not shying away from talking about it.

It will also genuinely give those who are at the brink of buying save for one little reservation or confusion the chance to address it and take the decision you want them to take.

Don’t be afraid to give others a chance

If you like something someone else wrote or post about, a bit of information that can help you, share it. It shows self-confidence and authenticity. Coming from someone who is not you definitely wins you a whole lot of validation.

It also shows that you have nothing to hide and are not paranoid about only letting your followers read your own words.

Do polls for some decisions

For small decisions of course-we’re not asking you to let the customers decide the prices or anything. A little this or that will make them feel involved though. It could even be a marketing person saying, ‘should I use this product or that one?’ And then whichever one the audience votes for, you use that one and show to the audience.

Little things can go a long way and make the audience feel heard and like they had something to do with a decision and that you were ready to listen.

Respond and personalize the responses

When you post something and you get some replies, don’t just walk away. That is your chance to engage. Respond to comments and replies and the best thing to do is call the person by their name. You can also ask a question to get them to come back.

If someone complains about something, reply and ask them to message you so you can in detail and work towards sorting their issue out. Build a relationship.

Be unlike a robot

Be animated and show emotion. A robot is what you do not want to be. They’ve got their Siris and Alexas. Well to be fair even they exhibit some range of emotion…that just goes to show you how important it is- when even robots have to have it. Use emoticons, smileys, make a joke every once in a while, if it’s bad news express sadness.

All of these tips are basically ways for you to humanize your brand so that people can relate and feel a connection with it.

Less reading material more pretty colors

80% of all marketers use visual images in their ads and social media posts. If such a big number is doing it there must be something there.

You don’t even have to go far to understand why it’s important, just look at your own inclinations when looking at ads.

Would you prefer to get introduced to a product through 3 paragraphs or a nice picture that succinctly explains why you need it?

When we say colors we basically mean anything that’s not just text. Videos are included in this. When you visit a website and they have a video on the homepage, or you open the services page and there’s a video there, or you get a ‘how to use’ video from their social media, you will be very likely to watch it.

No doubt this kind of post making will require more brain power and time. We’re not saying do every post like this, but we suggest you do it as often as you can. You can devise a strategy based on your resources and time.

Let the algorithm help you

Use hashtags so that the explore pages can point people in your direction. Do posts covering a variety of topics so that you can use more hashtags and reach out to more people. You never know where you might find your next client.

Giveaways

There are many takers for free stuff. And although giving away free things when you’re trying to sell may seem counterintuitive, we assure you in digital marketing it’s not.

The first thing it does for you is that it brings in a lot of engagement. Usually giveaways come with one or more call to action. This will increase engagement on your post and help with the algorithm.

Secondly, once someone samples your product (the assumption here is that it is a good product) they are likely to buy the next one on their own.

Thirdly, the promise of future free things keeps them hooked and gives them an initiative to stick around and for new people to join. This will keep the follower number up.

Show your credibility

Post reviews of your product that other people have posted. This will achieve two things.

Firstly, people will know that you have not been making false claims all this time. You can look into sponsorships too with the influencer trend on the rise. Send your product to someone and ask them to review it. Of course all this should be done with transparency. Partnering with influencers also introduces you to their audience.

Secondly, sharing other’s posts will encourage people to write about you so that they can get featured on your page too increasing your engagement rates and helping out with popularity.

Don’t ignore current events

This is in line with the ‘don’t be a robot’ point. You don’t have to get political, but you can surely post about hot topics. For example, if there’s an important spots event coming up you can lure in the sports fans through a well designed post. If there is a national event/holiday coming up you can post about that.

Show the people that you understand their lives and consequently they will be able to relate more easily.

These are only some ways for you to get your social media game up. These are not all the things you will need to do rather the things you should definitely already be doing. So are you? Don’t answer that we don’t want to know if you’re not. Jokes. But seriously get on it now.