Social media visibility is a key ingredient to business success. Without visibility on that channel where many of your potential customers are, you can’t possibly grow your small business. People won’t buy from you if they’re not familiar with your brand. Just look at the statistics. A staggering 59% prefer to buy from brands they’re already familiar with.
As essential as social media visibility is, it can be difficult to achieve. More than 91% of companies use social media. That means it can be hard to stand out and “be seen.”
Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. In this article, you’ll learn four techniques you can apply to increase social media visibility for your small business. Let’s get started!
1. Use hashtags strategically
Hashtags allow your target audience to find you easily. People tend to search for hashtags to look for content on social platforms. If your content contains the hashtag they typed in, it will show up in search results.
But that’s the thing. For social media visibility, you need to ensure the hashtags you use in your posts are actually being searched on your chosen social platform.
So, do your research to find the most popular hashtags in your industry. For this, you can use your social platform’s search function, which usually has an autocomplete feature. On Instagram, for instance, just click on the Tags tab, then type your niche. You should see suggestions of relevant popular hashtags from Instagram. You could also check the hashtags your competitors use and pick the relevant ones you can add to your social media posts.
That’s not to say those are the only hashtags you can use to increase your social media visibility. You can create your own, too.
Unique hashtags tend to bring together like-minded individuals. So, they can help you build a community of loyal followers around your brand. Once you decide what your unique hashtags are, you just need to promote them so people will use them. You’ll see an increase in your brand’s visibility as soon as people start posting their own content using your hashtag.
Redbull, for instance, encouraged its audience to use its #PutACanOnIt hashtag in posts showing them using the product. To further promote the campaign, the brand reposted some resulting user-generated content on its social account and used the unique hashtag in the reposted content. Many people followed suit, and started posting pictures of themselves with the product and #PutACanOnIt. The hashtag campaign generated over 10,000 posts on Twitter and Instagram within months.
Technically, you can use many hashtags per post. However, this isn’t recommended. Too many hashtags can be an eyesore and may lead to failure in getting your key messages across. To be safe, just follow the recommended number of hashtags per post per platform. On Facebook, for instance, the recommendation is one to two hashtags. Instagram suggests one to three. Twitter (X), on the other hand, recommends no more than two hashtags per post.
2. Optimize posting times
Posting at the right time is one of the essential online strategies to boost social media visibility.
By the “right time” we mean at that time your target market is active on your chosen social platform. Think about it. The whole point of social media visibility is for your brand to be seen by your target audience. How else can they see your brand on social media if they’re not logged in? Okay, sure, they may still see your posts at a later time. But the chances of that are slimmer than if you publish your posts at a time they’re active on the platform.
Besides, if you post at a time when your target audience is active, you can also increase the possibility of them sharing your content then and there. Your content can also generate more likes on Instagram or comments on Facebook instantly. All these can further help enhance your online visibility.
That said, use the built-in social media analytics feature of each platform to find out the optimal times to post content. You can check the days your followers spend the most time on the platform and the time they typically engage with your posts. Publish your content accordingly.
What if you don’t have that historical data? Don’t worry. You can start by posting your content on those times recommended by research. Check out this comprehensive guide for that. Then, as you go along, tweak your posting strategy according to your own brand experience.
3. Engage with your audience for social media visibility
When you engage with your audience, you increase your social media visibility as well. How? When you leave a comment, like, or share a post, your brand name appears on viewers’ screens.
But that’s not all.
Engagement strategies like responding to questions, comments, and direct messages can help you build a relationship with your target audience. So, they won’t hesitate to share the content you post with their own social networks.
How do you engage with your audience? You can use powerful tools for social listening to check any mentions of your brand on social media channels.
Then join conversations online that are related to your brand or the products you offer. This will also give you the opportunity to position your small business as a trustworthy source of information and products for your audience.
If you find complaints online, acknowledge your audience’s concern and inform them of the steps you’re taking to address the issue. In the same manner, if you get positive comments on social networks, thank the people who posted them.
As mentioned earlier, you can also engage with your audience by sharing relevant content they posted. This is a great way to boost your content marketing as well.
4. Create high-quality content
High-quality posts can help boost your social media visibility, too. It’s easy to see why that is. High-quality content catches social media users’ attention as they scroll down their feed. It isn’t just likely to be consumed. It’s also likely to be shared with a larger audience. That’s why high-quality content, whether these be infographics, videos, or other visuals, are an essential part of any social media marketing strategy.
But what is high-quality content in the first place? It’s content that isn’t just visually appealing. It’s something your target audience can relate to as well. This is why you can’t possibly create high-quality content without knowing your audience.
So, before anything else, understand your target market. What are their preferences and needs? You can get the information you need via surveys, analytics tools, or your historical data. Then create an audience persona, a fictional representation of your target audience. That should serve as your guide in social media content creation.
To ensure high quality, make sure your social content is accurate, too. If you’re posting statistics, they should be updated. Your copy shouldn’t have spelling and grammar mistakes.
Whatever high-quality pieces of content you post, ensure visual style, voice, and tone consistency across social media sites. This will help you, not just build a strong brand presence, but also help boost brand recognition.
Does all this sound overwhelming? Don’t worry. A generative AI platform can help you create high-quality social media content. AI tools can also help ensure you stay on-brand.
In Closing on Social Media Visibility
If you want to succeed as a business, you need to have social media visibility. Many of your potential customers are on social media. If you want them to buy from you, you need to ensure they get to know you and become familiar with you.
You learned four techniques to increase social media visibility for your small business. Start by using relevant hashtags in your post to make your content discoverable on social platforms. Optimize your posting times as well. Don’t forget to engage with your audience. Finally, create shareable high-quality content.
So, go start boosting your social media visibility now. You’ll see excellent results.
