How to Increase Visibility on Social Media
Social media is a diverse, populated ecosystem. Over half the world is active on social media, committing an average of 2 1/2 hours daily to various platforms. Social media is a wealth of possibility for organizations who know how to properly engage with their target audience.
Visibility is a first step to valuable engagement on social media; it’s also one of the most challenging. Social media’s widely expansive audience is a double-edged sword. The benefits are obvious – your target audience is on social media, scrolling until they come across your aptly placed post. However, social media platforms are congested. Billions of users mean billions of pieces of content. Newsfeeds are full, overflowing with content, organic and paid.
Increasing visibility on social media requires strategic intentionality. Follow along as we explore a few tips to maximize your visibility potential on social media platforms.
Engaging Content
This point may seem obvious, but it cannot be overstated. Create high-quality, visually-engaging content. Your posts should prompt your target audience to stop scrolling and take note.
Use real photos on your posts
This tip is two-fold. First, use imagery. Only rarely should you post a wall of text.
Next, limit the use of stock photos. If possible, take real photos of your real organization, products, team, etc. These photos should match the momentum of the post. Hire a professional photographer to take photos in line with your upcoming posts. Alternatively, use a high-quality phone to take pictures yourself – just make sure they look professional.
Use graphics
Along with photos, considering transforming your top-performing posts into graphics, charts, and graphs.
Share reviews
Incorporate reviews into your content calendar. Reviews are more compelling for a prospective buyer than an organization doting on itself – obviously. Most buyers read multiple reviews before making a purchase, making carefully crafted reviews and testimonials engaging on social media.
Host a contest/ giveaway
This will not be applicable for everyone, but if a contest or giveaway would benefit your business, give it a try! B2C companies often find the most success here. Contests and giveaways engage and entice your audience. Additionally, many companies require participants to follow their page, share about the giveaway on their story, or tag friends, driving visibility to their brand.
Content Variety
Don’t post the same types of content all the time. This applies to post type and copy. For example, don’t always promote your organization. No one likes the person who always talks about themself, and the same principle applies to social media content.
At RivalMind, we recommend splitting your content into thirds.
- 1/3 Promotional
- 1/3 Inspirational
- 1/3 Educational/ Informative
Promotional content is, well, promotional. Under this category, you are permitted to share about your services, great reviews, your upcoming event, etc.
Inspirational content should be inspiring to your target audience. This category will look different by industry, but could include relevant quotes, helpful tips, etc.
Educational/ Informative should be, well, informative. We incorporate curated content into this category. Curated content includes studies, blogs, infographics, etc. that relate to your industry, originally posted by an industry expert. You will share this on your page, along with your take on the post.
Your own articles or blog posts can be included into the Educational/ Informative category as well, just avoid making the post too promotional.
The Rule of Thirds, as we call it around here, can be adjusted to best fit your industry, organization, and social media platform of choice, but the principle remains the same – add variety to your posted content.
Hashtags
The role of hashtags changes regularly for every platform. However, used properly, they have the power to improve the visibility of your posts. This is the most up-to-date role of hashtags, per platform, at the time of publication.
On Facebook, use a maximum of 2-3 hashtags per post.
Hashtags can be searched in the Facebook search bar or within Facebook groups. Additionally, individual hashtags can be clicked within a post, showing a feed of Facebook posts using the same hashtags.
If you want to monitor the use of your branded hashtags, search facebook.com/hashtag/_____ to view public profiles using the hashtag.
On LinkedIn, use a range of 1-5 hashtags per post.
Hashtags can be searched in LinkedIn’s search bar, and hashtag suggestions appear while writing an update. Additionally, trending hashtags appear in the “new and views” section of the home page.
Use hashtags appropriately on LinkedIn. The platform is professional.
On Twitter, use a maximum 2 hashtags per post. Users can also incorporate hashtags into comments, in replies, and in Twitter bios.
In Twitter’s trending topics, users can see trending hashtags. Additionally, users can search for a specific hashtag within the platform’s search bar. Hashtags can be strategically added to the beginning, middle, or end of your Tweet to accomplish various purposes.
On Instagram, use a maximum of 3-5 hashtags per post. Hashtags can also be added to Instagram Stories and profiles bios.
Hashtags can be searched in Instagram’s Explore section, and specific hashtags can also be followed. Followed hashtags appear in feed.
As a rule of thumb, add hashtags to the end of your posts, or in the first comment, rather than in the middle of the caption or comment.
Strategic Posting Times
When you post on social media platform matters!
While there are strategic posting times unique to the global engagement of each platform, two best practices apply to social media overall in 2022.
- The best times to post: Tuesdays – Thursdays at 9 a.m. or 10 a.m.
- The worst day to post: Sunday
RivalMind: Social Media Management
Do you need help increasing your visibility on social media? At RivalMind, we’re experts in managing social media profiles for clients in a range of industries, and we would love to see how we can help you.
Reach out at 331.228.9636 or via our online contact form! A specialist will be in touch shortly.
Meet the Author
Jessica Goodrum
Director of Creative Services
Jessica Goodrum is a digital marketer with over a decade of experience in digital project management. As Director of Creative Services at RivalMind, she is responsible for the success of website design and development projects, as well as social media client growth. Her approach to management – both projects and staff – is “transparency.” She consistently outlines project objectives and the steps to get there, assessing how RivalMind can improve upon every client’s experience.
Specialties: Duda Web Development, Keeping It All On Task
Looking for more organic website traffic?
Welcome to RivalMind. Our purpose is to help your business thrive. We are a digital marketing agency that offers SEO, PPC, Web Design, Social Media and Video Solutions as tools to our clients for online business development and growth.
Contact us today to get started!
Blog Contact Form
Connect with Us:
