Have you been working hard on your social media only to find that your efforts haven’t been getting through to your audience, or that there are too many factors playing against you online? Imagine standing on top of a skyscraper in a busy city and conveying a message from the rooftops. How many people do you think would hear you? Unless you’re a superhero, probably not very many… That is how social media can be sometimes. Don’t fear, though; your message doesn’t have to fall on deaf ears. We’ve outlined a few social media communication techniques to help you cut through the noise.
1. Don’t build an audience. Build a community
Colloquial language, branded hashtags and common phrases related to you can give your community that insider feeling. And let’s be honest, people inherently love being in an inner circle or knowing about things that other people don’t. The more you do this, the more you will create habitual interest in what you have to say.
You can also spend some time getting to know your community. All of your social media platforms can provide inside information into what makes them tick. Do some research to get a good idea of what kinds of communication your audiences respond best to.
2. Timing is key
People are drawn to relevancy and it’s being relevant that makes someone take note. A new trend or a large event can become the catalyst to helping your message gain traction on social media by putting it in front of the right people. The right trends turn into feeding frenzies on social media and people everywhere consume everything around it. Make sure you’re in that mix.
3. Use humour & empathy
These are two very powerful social media tools, and most of us have funny moments and experience empathy naturally on a daily basis, so it shouldn’t even be difficult to keep things sincere. Because of the prevalence of try-hard humour and false empathy, using them on social media can be a high-risk / high-reward strategy.
For example, humour may resonate well with some people, but can easily offend or fall on deaf ears with others. Empathy is great for community building because it shows your audience you listen and care, but jumping onto every bandwagon can leave a sour impression. This is because people know that people don’t desperately care about absolutely everything.
With humour, sense check what you’re putting out there with other team members and departments first. And when it comes to empathy, rather focus on a few things you really care about (and do it well, making it about the issues and not your business), rather than trying to have something to say about every cause.
4. Be bold
Someone once said, “You’ve gotta risk it to get the biscuit.” The same can be said for social media. Sometimes, you just have to try something to see if it works. With a slight caveat… Don’t jump into this technique mindlessly. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, even online. Crossing the wrong line can put you in a lot of hot water, having the opposite effect of what you desired. But knowing this also shouldn’t stop you from trying something new every once in a while. This can include changing up your tone, social media design style, posting a video when you never usually post videos… Think of things that you think will do a good job of catching your audience’s attention. When they see you breaking your own status quo, or conceptualising something completely different overall, they will be inquisitive. Just because you’re playing it safe, doesn’t mean you can’t play it smart.
5. People like puns
Enough said.
6. Can you say that again?
A technique that often gets overlooked is simply saying something more than once. Social media’s algorithms are no secret, and you can bet that a large portion of your audience is missing your messages. Plus, they aren’t all online all the time or at the same time. The best way to combat this? Say it again! There are countless ways you can repackage the same message, making sure audience members who are seeing it twice don’t become fatigued. Different channels can also be used to reach different people, so make sure you’re posting everywhere with the kind of post best suited to each platform.
Social media is a powerful tool for communication and great at promoting yourself or your business. We would love to help you along that journey. Click here to get in touch.
READ MORE: 7 strategic video ideas for social media