6 top tips for social media success

Social media is a valuable tool to communicate with your customers and there are many things to consider to get it right. It’s important to remember it’s a two-way conversation that encourages their engagement around your brand and product. Users can smell out disingenuous companies a mile away and will unfollow quickly if you’re not genuine. At realestate.co.nz we use our social platforms to understand more about the property hunting process, share in New Zealander’s successes and listen to real time feedback about our products and market reports. Personally, I use it share my beautiful family, engage with business leaders and share my thoughts. 

Here are 6 tips to help make the most of your social media at both home and work. 

1. Choose the channel

Think about which channel you are using. Who do you want to engage, and what channel do they predominantly use? Knowing where your audience (and your family) lives on social is crucial. You can then create content that is relevant to them and they will be more likely to get something out of your post. Be strategic when choosing your platforms, it’s better to pick one or two and put in the time to make them quality channels than be everywhere and execute poorly. At work, we use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest – at home I use the same channels. Fortunately for me, I am our target market.

2. Choose the content

Again, quality over quantity is key. Good content will always go well organically, so spend your time creating quality content that your audience will engage with. You can create content specific to your brand, but remember that social media is about sharing and engaging with a community, not selling. Facebook is about telling the story, Twitter about engaging with industry peers, Instagram about is visual side of life and Pinterest for reminding you of all the good things in life. 

3. Choose the conversation

Choose the kind of story you want to tell with your content - what do you want people to do? Do you want them to share it, tag people, feel inspired or just feel part of your life/brand? Choosing certain types of content will result in different outcomes, so have a clear intention of what you want people to do or feel with the content you share.  

4. Specific content for specific platforms

When you are busy posting be mindful of the channel you intend to share it on and make sure it fits, as one does not fit all. For example, when we generate our monthly New Zealand Property Report we generate a post on our blog which we push via Facebook Ads, we create a Facebook post for our real estate agents to share with their vendors and buyers, create a LinkedIn post to share with our business community, and use Twitter to push key statistics and share media pick up from news agents. By taking the time to tailor content to your platforms, it will feel genuine and relevant to the users. 

5. Think about who you are.

Make sure you are clear on who you are, ensure your social presence envelopes your brand and values – whether it be for personal or work. At realestate.co.nz, we are clear, positive, knowledgeable and considered in everything we do and my personal brand doesn’t stray too far from these either. We use these values to craft every aspect of our social communication, from content to direct communication with customers and I use them when engaging with people on my personal channels. Social media can sometimes be a bit of highlights reel, so how can I be considered about this when I’m posting. 

6. What does your audience want?

Social media is designed to have conversations, build relationships and engage with followers/family and friends. It’s a one to one channel, so ensure your brand story and values are strong across all your content. Remember this is not a place for marketing and sales messages – if you want your audience to stick around. In both my work and personal channels I focus on creating content that lives up to our/my brand promise. I encourage you to think about your personal brand promise if you haven’t done so. 

 

Vanessa Taylor is realestate.co.nz’s Head of Marketing. Vanessa believes there is no such thing as 'because that's the way we do it'. "Let's break the process, keep it simple, automate if possible and do it all for our customers". This article first appeared in M2Woman magazine.