Building A Social Media Presence: What Every Brand Needs To Know

Most of your accounts probably use social media. But are their efforts successful? The analysts at Sprout Social surveyed over 2,000 consumers about their interactions with brands on social media. Building a social media presence in today’s market requires careful planning. Here’s how you can help your accounts.

Should Your Accounts Expand to New Social Sites?

While Facebook has long been the gorilla of social media platforms, use is fragmenting. Consumers are shifting their attention to other social sites. Some of these platforms, like Reddit, have been around for a while. Others, like Bluesky, are new.

How do these platforms gain traction? And should your accounts be advertising on them?

Sprout Social’s research indicates the following main reasons consumers give for trying a new social site:

• Their friends/​family are using it.
• They are checking out what’s unique.
• The site may offer access to niche audiences and content.

Are Consumers Backing Away From Social Media? 

Politicians and lawmakers continue to debate the negative impact of social media. In some areas, legislation has been put in place to restrict access for young online users.

But a majority of consumers, 60%, in the Sprout Social research indicate that social media “has had a positive effect on their mental health.” They are not always encountering negative content. In fact, younger consumers access these sites for educational purposes.

One topic of interest for younger consumers is financial. They want to know how to manage their money. And they’re finding answers on their favorite social sites. These are positive trends for brands interested in building a social media presence.

How to Engage with Consumers on Social Media

Brands across a range of industries can generate consumer interest on social media if they engage in the right way. These days, consumers appreciate:

• Brands that interact with them 58%
• Posts of original content series 57%

When consumers access their favorite brands on social, they’re looking for a combination of education and entertainment.

Your clients may worry about whether to invest more in their AI search findability instead of social media. But for now, Gen Zers are using social sites (41%) more than traditional search (32%) or AI-​tools (11%).

Your accounts can raise their visibility to their target audience when building a social media presence. They should always engage with consumers who post comments. And they must  find the right balance between the following types of content:

• Advertising
• Influencer posts
• Other branded content

Paid advertising on social sites matters. And using the right influencers can expand a brand’s appeal. Posting branded content, whether it’s educational or entertaining, is another way to add value to the relationship being formed with the audience.

What is the Right Posting Frequency?

Are your accounts puzzled by how much to post and in what form? Sprout Social’s analysis of 2024 activity indicates the average brand posts 9.5 times a day. Average inbound engagements per post amounted to 14. By industry, computer hardware and consumer product manufacturing reported some of the highest engagement rates.

Consumers also appear to engage most with video posts. Across all industries, 24% of brands have video content on Facebook. And 28% have video on Instagram. Retailers and consumer product manufacturers, with a rate of over 30%, are most likely to use this content form.

Using influencers and other third-​party resources to stay connected with target audiences can ease the burden of this marketing effort. Because, above all else, consumers expect engagement. If their comment is ignored, they’ll make a purchase from a competitor.

Sprout Social analysts encourage brands to post less frequently and to increase quality and direct engagement to win and keep customers. This recommendation will lead to a win when building a social media presence.

Is Social Media Now a Full-​Funnel Format?

Social media may have started out as a top-​of-​funnel format. But the bottom line is that 76% of surveyed consumers say social media has influenced their purchases. Sprout Social analysts state that social media should be considered a full-​funnel channel.

AudiencSCAN, powered by AdMall, shows that 7.6% of U.S. adults are already shopping on Instagram, making marketer interaction critical. Not surprisingly, 42% of these consumers are under age 35. As your accounts work on being a social media presence, remind them of the many ways to engage effectively with their target audience.

Image by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels.