How do companies succeed in Social Media?

The Game is On - no this is not about the latest episode of Game of Thrones. It addresses something that is more realistic and closer to every business day, and about the big game called Social Media Marketing!

It's a game, and after all, we need to stay on top of the ground to succeed in social media marketing, no matter what we do for our personal profile building or our business purposes. As simple and straightforward as it can be seen from the outside, social media marketing is much more than just creating a well-designed post, posting it on your profile, and then waiting for likes, shares and recommendations to flow in.

In this post you will get some pretty simple and straightforward rules to follow to become a champion in this game. So, let's take a look at these ground rules that can help you succeed in the game with social media.

1. Invest time, a lot of it

There is no shortcut to success - no matter what field you are talking about. And social media marketing is no different. If you thought there was a magic potion you could drink and become the master of social media marketing, you were completely wrong.

The key to success in this field lies in spending plenty of time. You need to invest time to understand how to get the most out of social media for your work, ie personal branding or business marketing, because social media works differently for different purposes. Professional tips:

Start by finding the 5 most popular profiles in your niche, study what they do and how they do it.

2. Automation power

Technology provides power, if used properly. The same goes for social media marketing. There are many automation tools and applications available out there that can help you automate your posts and sharing on social media.

While the hard work of creating unique, engaging and eye-catching content will be yours, you can save yourself the hassle of posting and disseminating it using the right technology. The time you save, you can use to learn more about the technology, engage with your followers / customers and other important things.

Professional tips:

Instead of going for paid tools and apps at once, try some free options first.

3. Do not try to be EVERYWHERE

One BIG mistake that everyone makes when it comes to marketing on social media is that they are trying to capture all the platforms at once. They try to be ubiquitous. While doing this, however, they forget that each platform is different.

Twitter is different from Facebook. Facebook is different from Instagram. The strategy that worked for one platform may not work for the other platform. To make your social media marketing work a HIT, try focusing on one, two or a maximum of three platforms at a time. Identify those who have the maximum potential for your business, and put your best efforts on them instead of focusing on too many and getting nothing in return.

Professional tips:

Start with two platforms first, and once you have a good grasp of them, move on to more platforms.

4. Build a community

As the name itself says - Social media. It's about making connections, interacting with people and getting to know their views and thoughts in the process. Just like it happens in a social community.

It would not be wrong to say that the real power of social media lies in the one thing people have done since the beginning, ie to build a society. Only this time we do it online. To get the most out of social media marketing, try to build a community of like-minded people, attract people who relate to your field, get to know what they are talking about and become an active contributor in the conversations.

Professional tips:

Be active on the social network and try to participate in a conversation. Never leave an opportunity online to be noticed and share your knowledge and expertise.

5. Ask questions, give answers

This point comes as an extension of the point mentioned above. As someone who wants to build a society, you must follow the basic human pattern, ie ask questions, give answers.

Asking questions is the best way to engage people on social media, because it makes them feel valued. As someone who starts with social media marketing, you need to get people to share their thoughts and ideas. Things like Twitter Chat, Quora Sessions - all of these are great places to start. Professional tips:

Start by participating in Twitter Chats, and when you have a loyal following or when people start recognizing you, you can host one of your own chats.

6. Current events and influencers

The one SUPERPOWER in social media is that things can spread faster than fire. Latest events, current news and much more - they can reach the world in seconds.

To succeed in social media marketing, you need to know how to leverage this speed. Try to stay up to date on current trends, the news picture and other relevant topics that may be related to your business or the industry of which you are a part. Also try to get the eyes of influencers related to your industry directed at you by mentioning them regularly, tagging them in your post, sharing their content and following them actively on social media.

Professional tips:

Stay up to date and share your opinions on what is happening with you and elsewhere around your industry. Let people know what you think.

7. Be visual

Last but not least, not only focus on writing good content for social media, but also pay attention to the visual aspect of it. This includes elements such as videos, banners, infographics, posters and images that are eye-catching and enhance the visual appeal of your social media posts.

In fact, statistics show that posts on social media with photos produced 650% more engagement than posts without photos. To get the most out of social media marketing, you need to use a combination of both visual and written content. Research online to see what content is most interested in the news, and how you can maximize your return on social media by incorporating visual elements into your marketing efforts.

Professional tips:

it only takes 50 milliseconds before something creates an impression on people online - make sure your content influences during this time.