Chances are you understand the growing importance of social media in attracting customers and prospects to your website, as well as announcing a special event or product promotion. And while there are many different forms of social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.), most users don’t know how to use them effectively to help improve the ROI of marketing communications. Just “having” social media accounts isn’t enough these days; you need to understand the best practices for using each and nurturing your accounts on an ongoing basis.

For example, if your social media accounts have not been updated in the last thirty days, your customers and prospects may question your reliability, reach, quality, and professionalism. Your social networks are a direct reflection of your brand and what follows are some simple guidelines to improve it.

Relevant social media content improves ROI

Content that is relevant to your current and potential customers is critical to developing significant trust in your brand, both in the short and long term. In today’s world, trust is very important and a clear and basic method to improve the customer’s purchase. On the contrary, posting anything can be more harmful than simply not posting anything. What seems smart today may be harmful tomorrow. Your content, both images and text, must be well thought out to meet the needs of your current and potential customers and therefore improve ROI. And it must be creatively presented to be received by an often skeptical audience.

With the recent news about fake accounts and posts, Facebook and Instagram are trying to improve their algorithms to weed out accounts that post irrelevant content or use popular hashtags just to gain visibility. These tactics will now get ghost accounts blacklisted. This means that your account is visible only to those who search for it directly, but your content will not be displayed on anyone’s timeline.

How to implement hashtags to achieve maximum participation

Hashtags and social media are as important to each other as oil is to your engine. To perform better than just getting likes here and there, you need to research relevant hashtags. General hashtags can be used as long as they are relevant and not abused.

For example, when I create a post on Instagram (this same post will also be shared on Facebook), I always start it with #GoodMorning #GoodNight depending on the time. There are over 91,500,000 posts on Instagram with the same hashtag. Hashtags are the equivalent of meta keywords on your website: they must be relevant to your post and you must not abuse them.

Publishing consistency also improves ROI

Strong growth doesn’t happen intermittently, and how regularly you post is key. Work with your team and, based on your knowledge of your audience, set a minimum number of posts and perhaps ideal times as well.

And in today’s increasingly distrustful environment, “Writing longer posts, spending more time crafting them, and posting less often can go a long way toward building trust in your brand. Posts went from 808 words in 2014 to 1,142 words in 2017.” – Orbit means. And, of organizations using social media today, only 3 percent post daily, 22 percent post weekly, and most post only multiple times or less in the last six months. Therefore, your consistency in posting becomes even more meaningful to your customers and prospects, making profitable growth more attainable.

Remember, it’s all about the brand

Traditional media, digital media, and social media, in particular, must work together to improve brand and marketing ROI. When your audience shares your post, you are extending your brand to reach new audiences and your existing audience is demonstrating their loyalty to your brand.

And don’t forget your website. It’s the focal point of your brand, and while you can go much longer without updates, search engines are specifically looking for updated content, and new, professionally developed content can significantly increase your brand’s ranking.

Marketing communications consultants can help

In a recent CMO Digital Benchmark study, 97 percent of marketing leaders said social media spending made only an “average” or “below average” contribution to their company’s performance. So if you have concerns about what you’re doing, you’re not alone.

Social media is growing rapidly and, as with any new process, there is a great need for professional help. Without understanding best practices and/or not having the time, energy, or skill to improve your social media efforts, it’s like burying your head in the sand. As Will Rogers said, “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”