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Level Up! A Strategic Plan to Grow Your Social Media Followers

By February 11, 2020No Comments
strategic planning socials

Did you know that according to Emarsys, social media statistics from 2019 show that there are 3.5 billion social media users worldwide? That equates to about 45% of the current population.

At Fort Lauderdale and Aspen-based public relations agency Durée & Company, we strive to bring new insight and creative strategies to help our clients achieve bigger goals.  If you aren’t using social media for your business, you are likely missing a large chunk of your target market and consumers. From the way we get our daily news and trending stories to the way we interact with our family and friends, social media is powerful, unavoidable, and it’s here to stay.

Once you optimize your social media for success, you will not only gain a loyal following, but you will begin cultivating leads and ultimately converting visitors into consumers. Here are four tips to strategically grow your social media following.

  1. Identify your goals. 

What are you trying to accomplish? Come up with clearly defined objectives to work towards.

  • It’s important to ask yourself this key question: Are you building brand awareness, driving traffic to your website or selling a product?
  • What good is a goal without knowing how to measure the success of it? Come up with a plan on tracking your progress by keeping tabs on your number of followers, website traffic coming from social media, customer retention rate, and of course product sales.
  1. Be consistent. 

Consistency is key. From the tone of your messaging to the aesthetics of your profiles, you need to be recognizable to stand out among your intended audience.

  • Come up with a weekly content plan. Ever wonder why Durée & Company posts a blog every Tuesday? It’s strategic and consistent. Utilize weekly occurrences such as #MotivationMonday, #TestimonialTuesdays, #DidYouKnow, etc.
  • Have consistent aesthetics. With a brand style guide in place or a color scheme for templates, this creates consistency and coordination in your images and posts, which has a greater impact on customers and makes you easy to identify.
  • Repurpose evergreen content. Keep track of your website’s analytics to see what posts have performed best in the past month and even the past year. Keep your content evergreen and reinforce your message by re-sharing it. It may seem counterintuitive to share existing content, but we have found it to be effective for reaching people in different time zones, new industries, and new followers.
  1. Grow Your Presence. 

Don’t just share content promoting your services because you may only be attracting a small (and similar) audience. Try creating infographics or other eye-catching visual content that would entertain your target audience in some way or the other.

  • Use hashtag holidays. There’s a day dedicated to almost every food, place, object and so on. While there are numerous national holidays, you don’t need to jump on all of them. As with any other social post, it’s essential to keep your brand and audience in mind and participate in the days that are a natural fit.
  • Incorporate user-generated content (UGC). Today, everyone relies on social media to receive validation from their peers. However, it’s important to decipher what is a paid ad and what is simply just a person enjoying a product. Today’s society is drawn to authenticity which is why UGC is so effective. Some forms of UGC include: reposting, testimonials from real-life customers, and Instagram takeovers. According to Sprout Social, User-generated content allows your followers to serve as billboards and provides an incentive for customers to interact with you. Whether it’s using a hashtag or posting a photo, encouraging customer content is a smart move for boosting your engagement rate.
  1. Focus on Engagement. 

According to Later.com, tons of brands and businesses are getting on board and showing a more honest, real, and vulnerable side to their brand and business, and getting huge engagement returns from it! A high level of authenticity can go a long way in building a stronger connection to your audience. When you can showcase the good with the bad, the struggles along with the wins, your brand will be more relatable to your audience.

  • Grow a community rather than a following. Have conversations with your followers, like posts, comment on them, retweet them, etc. Contribute intellectual thoughts to build relationships, connect with new leads, and grow your reach.
  • Stay up to date on trends. If you’re not currently creating videos, it is time that you include them in your marketing strategy. According to statistics compiled by Go-Globe, 82 percent of internet traffic is expected to be live video by 2020. Whether it’s a quick video on TikTok, an Instagram story or a YouTube channel, videos are the future of social media.
  • Timing is everything. Although this saying may seem dauntingly true, it’s important to make timeliness a priority. According to Sprout Social, it’s important to post at the best times to engage, if your brand isn’t there to communicate, what’s the point of posting at the “preferred” time? Instead, try to ensure your social media or community managers are available and ready to answer any product questions or concerns when you tweet or post.

While it’s important to implement these tips year round, it’s also important to anticipate the unknown. Social media is spawning a whole new vernacular, as it changes constantly. Need help getting your 2020 strategy together? Our team is ready to help you grow your social media following strategically, transforming visitors into consumers.

 

About Durée & Company 

Durée & Company, Inc. is an award-winning, full-service public relations, marketing and special events firm founded in 1999. The firm has offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Aspen, Colorado. Durée & Company serves the corporate, agency and nonprofit arenas for local, national and international clients. Services include public relations, social media, marketing, content development, advertising, special events, branding, radio promotions and more. Durée & Company clients include well-known names in business, fashion, hospitality, travel, wellness and CBD, marine & yacht, art and culture, nonprofit organizations, legal and professional services and real estate. Durée & Company is a member of PR Boutiques International™ (PRBI), an international network of boutique PR firms. To learn more, go to https://dureeandcompany.com/, visit Durée & Company on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DureeCoPR/, Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/dureecopr Twitter at https://twitter.com/dureecopr or YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/DureeAndCompany, or call 954-723-9350.

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OFFICIAL CONTEST AND GIVEAWAY RULES NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. A PURCHASE DOES NOT INCREASE THE CHANCES OF WINNING. PARTICIPATION IN THE PROMOTION CONSTITUTES YOUR AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND BY THESE OFFICIAL RULES. OPEN TO LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES (EXCLUDING PUERTO RICO, THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS, AND OTHER COMMONWEALTHS, TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS), 18 YEARS OR OLDER.

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  1. Official Rules: Entrants must fill out all required fields on the entry form to participate in the Contest. After submitting the required information on the entry form, the entrant will receive one (1) entry into the 20/20 Contest. The Contest will begin on January 20, 2020 at 8:30 A.M. ET and end on February 20, 2020 at 8:30 A.M. ET (“Contest Entry Period”). All times in the Contest refer to Eastern Time (“ET”). Contest is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws. Limit one (1) Entry per company during the Contest Period. Entries generated by a script, macro, or other automated means or by any means that subverts the entry process will be disqualified. Entries must be received before January 20, 2020 at 8:30 A.M. ET to be eligible for the Contest.

 

  1. Eligibility. Contest is open only to individuals participate in the Contest or submit an entry and who are eighteen (18) years of age as of the date of entry (“Entrant”). The Contest is only open to legal United States residents who have at least one physical location in Florida, and is void where prohibited by law. Employees of Durée & Company, its affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, and suppliers, (collectively the “Employees”), and immediate family members and/or those living in the same household of Employees are not eligible to participate in the Contest. The Contest is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations.

 

  1. Agreement to Rules. By participating, the Entrant agrees to be fully unconditionally bound by these Official Rules. Entrant represents and warrants that they meet the eligibility requirements. In addition, Entrant agrees to accept the decisions of Durée & Company as final and binding as it relates to the content of this Contest.

  

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  1. Prizes. The Winner(s) of the Contest (the “Winner”) will receive 20 hours of free services per month for 3 months. No cash or other prize substitution shall be permitted except at Durée & Company’s discretion. The prize is nontransferable. Any and all prize-related expenses, including without limitation any and all federal, state, and/or local taxes, shall be the sole responsibility of Winner. The prize is awarded “AS IS” and WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. No substitution of prize or transfer/assignment of prize to others or request for the cash equivalent by Winner is permitted. Acceptance of prize constitutes permission for Durée & Company to use Winner’s name, likeness, and entry for purposes of advertising and trade without further compensation, unless prohibited by law.

 

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  1. Terms & Conditions: Durée & Company reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest should virus, bug, non-authorized human intervention, fraud, or other cause beyond Durée & Company’s control corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, or proper conduct of the Contest. In such case, Durée & Company may select the Winner from all eligible entries received prior to and/or after (if appropriate) the action taken by Durée & Company. Durée & Company reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who tampers or attempts to tamper with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or website or violates these Terms & Conditions.

 

Durée & Company has the right, in its sole discretion, to maintain the integrity of the Contest, to void votes for any reason, including, but not limited to: multiple entries from the same user from different IP addresses; multiple entries from the same computer in excess of that allowed by Contest rules; or the use of bots, macros, scripts, or other technical means for entering. Any attempt by an entrant to deliberately damage any website or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest may be a violation of criminal and civil laws. Should such attempt be made, Durée & Company reserves the right to seek damages to the fullest extent permitted by law.

 

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  1. Disputes. THIS CONTEST IS GOVERNED BY THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES AND FLORIDA, WITHOUT RESPECT TO CONFLICT OF LAW DOCTRINES. As a condition of participating in this Contest, participant agrees that any and all disputes that cannot be resolved between the parties, and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, exclusively before a court located in Minnesota having jurisdiction. Further, in any such dispute, under no circumstances shall participant be permitted to obtain awards for, and hereby waives all rights to, punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, including reasonable attorney’s fees, other than participant’s actual out-of-pocket expenses (i.e. costs associated with entering this Contest). Entrant further waives all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.

 

  1. Winner(s) will be announced by March 20, 2020.

 

  1. Sponsor. The Sponsor of the Contest is Durée & Company, Inc. 10620 Griffin Road, Suite 208, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33328

 

  1. Social Media. The Contest hosted by Durée & Company is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Five Things That Need to be in Your Resume or Cover Letter

To paraphrase Jerry Maguire, help us help you. As we sift through the paperwork, here’s what we are looking for:

1. What you love to do and why.

In PR, you may love writing, editing, interviewing, pitching the media, researching, coordinating events, networking, posting to social media … whew! While we would love it if you had a passion for it all, we’d never believe you if you said as much.

What part of this zany, crazy, whirlwind, yet meticulous, tedious, detail-oriented, profession calls to you and why? Help us make the connection as to how PR is really for you, and call it your Professional Summary.

2. Something you did that changed something or someone else.

If you never showed up to your last job, what wouldn’t have happened? That’s right. Erase yourself. Now which clients disappeared with you? Which articles just fade away? What press releases cease to exist? How much social media did NOT get liked?

We are just meeting you. So take a moment to spell out your impact, and it will be easier for us to see what you can do for the clients of Durée & Company. Share this under your Job Responsibilities.

3. Anything you created.

Feeling humble? Well, stop it. This is the part where you brag. If you craft a delightful blog, master a mind-blowing website, shoot crazy video or direct wonderful events, show us.

Then tell us a bit of how you did it, so we trust that it was your brilliance and not the intern’s. Let’s dub this Your Portfolio.

4. An indication of why you belong here.

At PR firm Durée & Company, we have a culture. Really, all companies do. To learn about ours, do some legwork. At this point, if you’re on our blog, you are in the right spot to begin learning. Hate pink? Not good with women? Live in Kansas? Low energy? Then you might want to reconsider applying. However, if we resemble a group that you’d like to hang out with, share why. You can do that in the Cover Letter.

5. Correctly spelled words – all of them.

Do more than hit spell check. Know how to spell or ask someone to proofread. Correctly spelled words work everywhere, all the time. Consider them the Little Black Dresses of resumes.

So consider these five tips – we’ve just given you a “cheat sheet” about what we’re watching out for. Even if our position may not be for you, feel free to use our advice for another – it may just get you the job!