AskBuffer – Where should I start to build new social channels in my business?

Social media is a proven way to increase awareness about your company online. However, there are many sites that offer information and you might be confused on how to get started with leveraging social channels for your brand. This topic was a popular one and we are happy to answer it in the #AskBuffer edition.

We’ll also be covering how to create a social media account for your company.

Consider these things when you create a new social media channel

Although it may seem overwhelming to set up a social channel for your company, with some preparation you can make it a success. Before you start creating your channel, here are some things to keep in mind.

Find out who your audience is

There are many options available when it comes to choosing which social media platform to use. It’s impossible for one company to post on five different social media channels, so it’s not realistic. You should be careful when selecting the most important social network for your company.

You need to find out where your audience spends their most time online in order to determine what the main channel should be. To do this, you must have an idea of who your target market is. These questions can help you get started:

• What is the age of the people you want to reach?
• They are located where?
• What are their biggest pain points?
• What are their interests, hobbies, and passions?

Once you have an understanding of your target demographic, you can start to research their preferred social media channels. Although most people are active on multiple platforms, data shows that some demographics prefer certain sites.

Gen Z users, for example, are very active on TikTok and YouTube. Snapchat users, however, make up almost 40 percent of both Twitter users and Instagram users.

You can be strategic and efficient in your social media posts by choosing a channel that your audience is already familiar with. This will ensure you reach the people who are most interested in your content. .

Select the content that you wish to share

After you have decided which social media platform you will use, you can start brainstorming ideas for posts. These are some ideas for creating content.

Make sure your content is compatible with the platform

The platform you choose will determine the type of media that you create. If your community is on TikTok you will need to create videos. However, if you have Twitter as your priority channel, you would come up with text ideas and tweets. You’ll likely create a mixture of video and photos for Instagram.

Spending time on the channel yourself is a great way to gauge what content will be most successful. Follow the accounts you like and keep up with what’s hot. You can find inspiration in the work of other content creators by browsing through their posts.

Establish content pillars

Content pillars can be topics or themes that can help you generate posts. These topics should be relevant to your audience and connect back to your brand principles.

Buffer’s content pillars are remote work, social strategies, culture, and highlighting ethical and sustainable brands. These core themes are the focus of most of the content on our blog and social media channels.

You can also think about the content you want to share with your audience as a content creator. This could include:

• Provides valuable advice
• Industry trends
• Behind-the-scenes insights
• Deep dives into the products or services of your company
• Questions for your followers
• Long-form content

It is not realistic to discuss everything in your account. Oftentimes, people will follow you due to your niche. It’s a good idea for you to brainstorm ideas and come up with 3-4 content pillars.

Call out: Do you have a content idea? Buffer’s Ideas feature allows you to modify your work until it is perfect.

Your brand voice should guide your content

Your brand voice is how you present yourself to your audience as content creators. Because it includes core values and principles of your company, this voice can influence the content you share.

If your brand voice is educational you might want to share more informative and explanatory content on social media. You might post more Reels and TikToks if your brand voice is funny and silly.

Your brand voice should not be viewed as something you have to conform to, but as a tool for creating content that aligns with your goals as creators.

You can repurpose content in many ways.

Repurposing content is a great idea when you are looking for ideas for social media. Although it is important to tailor content for each channel to maximize your success, you can also repurpose content for any social media platform.

TikToks are easily transformed into Instagram Reels. Video content can be made from static graphics. Twitter tweets can be turned into images with Remix – it takes seconds to do this!

Repurposing content can be a great way of extending the lifespan of your social media content.

Plan how you will create and share your content

You must post regularly to be a success on social media. It is not a good idea to only promote one social media channel and then use it sparingly. You must have a plan for how you will generate and share content.

You can stay ahead by ensuring you have all the necessary tools and services to create and distribute social media content. These are the top tools that you should be aware of:

• Image creation A lot of social media is made up of visually appealing images. Luckily, there are many options for creating these graphics. Canva is an excellent service that produces professional-looking images. Remix and Pablo are also great options.
• Video editing Many social media platforms like TikTok or Instagram have easy-to-use native video features. These features are easy to learn, so we recommend that you familiarize yourself with them. Here’s a list with other video editing softwares.
• Scheduling – Getting your posts to the world is the most important aspect of this equation. We recommend that you use a tool to schedule your posts ahead of time, so you don’t have to take time from your day to upload media, create captions and publish your posts. Buffer does all this and more. Get started today for nothing!

Content batching is also recommended to ensure that you have the right posts at all times. This strategy allows you to work on multiple posts at once. You’ll save time and energy by creating content in small batches. This will allow you to have weeks of content that you can schedule ahead.

Learn how social media algorithms work

It’s important to be familiar with social media algorithms in order to increase the chances of your posts appearing in followers’ feeds. The algorithm is a set of rules and guidelines that govern how content is displayed on social media.

Although every social media platform has its own algorithm, there are some best practices that can be applied to all platforms.

• Being active and posting original content frequently
• Use trending hashtags and use audio
• Connecting with other users on the platforms
• This includes responding to comments on your posts and also engaging with other content.
• Keep your videos brief and to-the-point, especially for TikToks and Reels

These algorithms are complicated and depend on many factors, including user behavior. However, you can control some of these factors and know how to leverage them to increase your chances of your content being seen by your target audience.

Call out: Identifying the best time to post on various platforms, such as TikTok and LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Instagram can help you get more people to see your posts.

Set measurable goals for success

You should track the success of your social media channels once they are up and running. This will allow you to see what content is gaining traction with your followers. You don’t need to do this if you want to post blindly. This means you won’t be analyzing whether your content resonates with your followers.

This can be approached in many different ways. Buffer uses engagement rate and impressions to analyze the performance of our posts.

Call out: Buffer’s top 2022 social media posts and our analysis by the social media manager are here.

These are some additional metrics you can use to evaluate a post.

• Likes
• Comment
• How many times it has been saved/bookmarked
• Shares and retweets

It can be time-consuming to manually examine all this data. That’s why Buffer is here. Buffer Analytics can analyze your social media accounts and create reports that show specific trends. It also offers recommendations such as the best times to post and how often to post.

Social media channels are a great way for businesses to promote their products and services. Start small, with just one or two accounts. As your business grows, you can add more channels.

This is a quick checklist to help you get started with your new accounts.

• Find out who your audience is
• Find out what content you would like to share
• Plan for creating and sharing content
• Learn the algorithms of social media
• Track and measure your social media performance

Have a social media question for us? Use #AskBuffer to let us know via Twitter