With 79 per cent of Australians on social media, according to Sensis, there’s no denying it – your business needs to be on there too. 

If you’re new to various networks, however, building and amplifying your brand can seem daunting. Fortunately, there are several ways to immediately boost your impact. Let’s take a look at five surefire ways to increase reach, boost engagement and help you see serious ROI from your social accounts.

1. Take advantage of new updates

Change may be the only constant on social media. While this can be frustrating for marketers, it’s also something they can use to their advantage by viewing each adjustment as an opportunity rather than a challenge. 

Take Facebook’s algorithm update earlier this year, for example. In January, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg announced the company would be making “a major change to how we build Facebook.”

“As we roll this out,” Zuckerberg explained, “you’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media.”

While many businesses may have decried the end of organic reach, savvy marketers would have strategised instead, launching influencer marketing campaigns sooner rather than later and increasing their paid promotion budgets. 

Social networks really keep their updates secret. As a marketer, it’s your responsibility to stay up-to-date and aware of what’s evolving on the platforms you use. Otherwise, you could miss out or get left behind. 

2. Give your profiles a good clean

It goes without saying that business profiles should be free of typos, grammatical errors or inappropriate content, but could you do more to ensure your pages are truly spotless?

The answer is usually yes. To get the most bang for your buck on social media, go through each account and check for the the following:

• Contact details – Has your business changed address or updated your phone number? Makes sure the details on your social profiles are accurate. 
• Brand consistency – If you have profiles across different platforms, make sure it’s clear that you’re the same business by having the same profile picture, similar bios and a consistent tone and style. 
• Review your tagging settings – Avoid embarrassing situations and negative press by ensuring you get to view customer-tagged content before it goes on your Timeline. 
• Account fields – Facebook in particular will add new fields to account profiles, so check occasionally as blank fields look lazy and unprofessional. 

Having squeaky clean, consistent profiles is an essential first step in bolstering your social media presence.

3. Focus on visual content

People really like to look at pretty things – pictures, videos, infographics, you name it. So, make visuals the focus of your social accounts. 

A staggering 82 per cent of marketers say visual media is their most important tactic for optimising content on social media, according to a survey by Software Advice and Adobe. It’s no suprise either – visuals are proven to generate interest, increase engagement and make your content more memorable.

It’s not enough, however, to chuck up some bland photos and call it a day. For real results, follow these tips for using visual content on social media:

• Avoid cliched and stodgy stock photos,
• Post behind-the-scenes photos and videos,
• Share custom graphics from your website, 
• Make sure all photos are crisp, clear and high-quality,
• Embrace user-generated-content if it’s professional and on-brand. 

4. Go a bit crazy with links

When you’re trying to raise brand awareness, it’s important to drive traffic from your website to your social accounts and right back the other way.

You can do so in a number of ways. Add social share widgets to the bottom of your blog posts, use Instagram captions to invite users to “Find out more on Facebook” and be sure to link to all social profiles in your bio or even your email signature. Never miss an opportunity to turn visitors to followers and followers to customers. 

5. Be smart about who you like and follow

When you log into your business accounts, it’s important to remember that you now represent that brand – not yourself. Everything you do will be public to your followers, so it’s important that likes, follows, comments, mentions, shares and other interactions are in line with your brand’s message. 

If you’ve been on social media for awhile, it’s a good idea to go through your friends lists, groups and liked pages to ensure everything is consistent. This might mean doing a bit of a purge, but it can be necessary if your social media efforts have been haphazard in the past. 

Cleaning up your profiles this way will not only boost the perception of your business online, but could also help you network or connect with other influencers, particularly in the B2B sector. The right people will find you easier through mutual connections and common interests. 

To find out more about social media marketing and other helpful tips, check out our insights page.