Six social media resolutions you should keep this year!

Work-related resolutions can be a bit overwhelming whether it’s being more organised or taking a fresh look at your marketing or branding strategies. However, if not now then when? This is the ideal time to revisit your social media strategy to stay ahead of the game. Here a few valuable resolutions to propel you in 2024.

Resolve to not just post for the sake of posting – Just as you live your life with purpose, in 2024, aim to publish content with a purpose as opposed to just maintaining an online presence.

Ensure you have a social media strategy that aligns your messages with your brand’s mission, goals and target audience. Every post you make should contribute to the bigger picture, drive user action or foster engagement among other things.

Let go what no longer serves your brand/business – All over my timeline, I have seen posts emphasizing what should be left in 2023. Well, why not do the same in business? How about releasing certain things and make room for better things? When was the last time you subtracted something from your pile? E.g. you may have a significant following on Instagram but few of them connect with your content daily. Should you drop Instagram? Absolutely not! But what it means is that maybe your large following is not directly proportional to an increase sales. What action should you take? Drop or let go of vanity metrics and focus on actionable metrics. Yes it looks great that you have a huge following but how is it affecting your bottom line. Here are a few tips:

– For Facebook/Instagram, ad reach is a vanity metric, instead focus on the amount of revenue generated from your ad campaign on either of these platforms. Depending on the nature of the product or service you offer, it can be a case of how many enquiries were generated as a result of the social media ad campaign.
For organic reach, don’t solely focus on the number of followers, pay attention to the % of followers who engage with your content.

– For all social media platforms, what was your click through rate or % of the audience who took action as opposed to the post reactions or reach?

– For your website, page views are a vanity metric, focus on the bounce rate.

If people are visiting a specific page that’s great but if all they do is look around and leave without doing anything at all – no clicks, no scrolls or conversion, what is the benefit to you?

Preplan – Create a week or two-week calendar that includes all pre-approved images, publishing dates and even event related activity and stick to it! Once you have these things in place, you can pre-schedule your posts and of course, check in and see what the reaction has been to your content!

Get your aesthetic right – Consistency and a strong brand identity go hand in hand. Aim for high quality, authentic imagery that resonates. Depending on your product or service, an aspirational lifestyle aesthetic can make your brand more relatable and appealing to your audience.

Seek visual inspiration – Let’s face it, not everyone is capable of creating the right graphics for the right content and idea generation is not always easy. It is true that there are tools to make it easier but you still need to come up with ideas so as to create appealing visual content that your audience will appreciate.

Focus on purpose and not just product/service – Take a page from Red Bull! What are you selling? Red Bull doesn’t just sell energy drinks, they sell excitement and adventure; a quick scan of their IG page tells that narrative. Focus on the essence of your brand and not just the product/service. This creates an emotional connection that resonates with your audience’s interests and lifestyles. If you have used a Dove product, you must have seen one of their ads or campaigns; Dove doesn’t just sell soaps and those lovely body washes, they sell self-esteem for example and their content reflects this. What are you really selling? Does your social media content reflect this? Let your social media strategy evolve in 2024 and make your brand more engaging and relatable!

Candice Sealey is the Founder & Principal Consultant at Ignite! a Full-service Marketing & PR Consultancy that helps businesses/brands to stand out and communicate the right message to the right people at the right time through Strategy, Marketing, Media services and Design solutions. She is also a freelance content writer, advertising copywriter, voice over talent, media personality. Follow us on FB & IG @igniteresults Phone:784-432-2223. Email: igniteresults@gmail.com