Why should you be consistent with your social media marketing?

Most people feel they have the basics of social media down. They have a good page with nice graphics and good content. But they have a problem with succeding with their page. Why? Often, it’s the lack of consistency in social media letting you down.

I don’t want to sound like someone’s dad, but in life consistency is key. Yeah, the same goes for social media marketing, you must be consistent, for you to build a brand your audience recognizes. The consistency in a brand brings growth in audience engagement and reach. From the tone of voice used in messages to the aesthetics of your profiles, you need to be recognizable to gain traction among your intended audience.

Consistent Posting

Imagine you have a boyfriend or girlfriend. Bae sends you like three texts in one day and fiam! Nothing for the next five days and then two random texts. But you are a good sweet person, you took your time to respond and when you did that, it takes days for you to get a reply. That doesn’t look like a great relationship, right? That’s the relationship you’re building with your audience. No one likes to feel like they’re being ghosted.

The Algorithm

All social media platforms have their algorithm, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter create your timeline based on the type of content you engage with and most likely resonate with. That is why you see ads for products you’ve been searching for saying hi on your feeds. Engagement = Clicks = Cash; these people have to make money one way or another. Facebook and Instagram decrease your views on people’s timelines if your posting decreases (especially when you are a business page) and Twitter shows tweets from accounts of people you interact with. They say the more social you are, the more air time you get, as long as you are not spammy– and believe me, that line is very thin.

The good thing here is the fact that once you start posting regularly, you will likely see an increase in your engagement level which will help boost your posts for future engagement. It’s a cycle you can work in your favor, especially when engagement = brand awareness.

Perception is what Matters

Almost half of the millennials can’t go more than 5 hours without checking social media. I am a millennial and I like seeing new content constantly and quickly, but I am not the only one who likes insights and instant satisfaction, every active social media user spend over 2 hours a day on social media.

So, quick question. Why should I follow you and your business if you have nothing new to contribute to my addiction?

If you post irregularly, let us say, once a week, the perception is you don’t have the content to offer and there’s no real benefit from following you on social media. However, be careful with this, as much as people love content, they don’t love to see salesy content that’s all about you and your business. Yeeeah, there is a balance you have to maintain.

You see the thing is, people’s perception of your business is their reality. With social media, you have the power to influence the narrative. If you’re only trying to push sales on social media, it’s all about you instead of your customer and your audience will tune you out, consciously or subconsciously. But if you provide helpful content, like tips and tricks, insights or industry news or explanations, you’ll engage your audience and create a connection.

Data is Importanter

Take out time to learn more about your audience. By responding to comments, enquiries, feedback, and checking your insights. The growth you want to see on your social media channels can only be achieved if you take the time to invest in the quality and value of your content to your users. Analyze your posts, check your Twitter analytics, Facebook and Instagram Insights to see what your followers are engaging with the most. It will help you identify what is working, and what is not. By utilizing data and feedback, you can only grow!

How To Build Consistency

I believe that’s enough about the importance, let’s round it up with how to build consistency:

1. Create a Content Calendar: Social media isn’t all about you, it’s about your followers. Test and study the content that works and add those types of posts to your calendar. Here is a social media calendar template you can use
2. Set Realistic Goals: When planning your calendar, make sure you don’t get too excited and set unrealistic goals. It is best to keep to the schedule you create. If posting eight tweets a day is too much for you, research, test and see what times are best for your followers, and set a realistic goal. Four times consistently is better than eight times in a row and then nothing for weeks. Don’t ghost like our imaginary bae.
3. Make Use of Tools: Don’t make the mistake of deciding you’ll post when you have the time or something interesting happens. Free posting tools are plenty, the Facebook scheduler is a great way to schedule Facebook posts, Later for Instagram, Tweetdeck for Twitter. Research what works for the channels you’re on and provides you with the easiest user experience for the way you like to work.
4. Watch Your Engagement: Now that you’ve scheduled the time to post, you need to plan and schedule the time to interact with your followers. It’s called social media for a reason.

Quickly responding to messages and comments on your posts makes your followers comfortable with you and it puts a face on your brand. Decide what works for your day. I recommend setting a time in the morning, afternoon and evening to check the page, ensure the posts went out correctly, answer comments/questions and repost and comment on other people’s posts.

Posting consistently and frequently to social media will only strengthen your brand. By being consistent with your followers, you’ll build loyal followers that will share and talk about your brand, you know what they say about word of mouth.

To round it up this week, take this from me to you Social Media takes time, just because you are present, doesn’t mean your target audience will see you. Remember to pay it forward by liking, sharing and commenting on other peoples and pages posts first. Don’t be hard on yourself, social media is a slow burner in terms of marketing tools. Providing value with consistency will at the end give you results.