Maintaining relevance on social media

Social media is now at the core of our culture. We use it for various purposes such as connecting with friends, sharing content and keeping up with what’s happening around the world. We can agree that social media is a fast-paced, fast-growing industry. Trends go as fast as they come. Social media platforms are constantly being updated to meet the needs of their users.

This makes it difficult to stay relevant. Even from a business standpoint, social media can be difficult to keep up with. These social media shifts make it tough to pinpoint a perfectly effective social media marketing strategy. With that being said, this article will touch on a few tips to maintain relevance on social media.

Before we get into the “how” of maintaining social media relevance, let us understand what “staying relevant on social media” means and its importance.

 

What does being relevant on social media mean? 

Everyone has their own understanding of what being relevant on social media means. There are users that think about relevance as the number of followers on a profile, the number of engagements on posts or how important the content you are posting is. To others, staying relevant means keeping yourself in the spotlight or simply creating valuable content that aligns with a purpose, while being entertaining, inspiring, and motivating to an audience. Social media relevance can mean whatever you would like it to mean to you.

 

Why is social media relevance important?

Being just online isn’t enough. Social media success requires effort to build a truly future-proof brand and business in the virtual world. Every day social media users are bombarded with thousands upon thousands of social media posts and advertisements. For that reason, it is important to cut through the noise and pass through the mental ‘spam’ filter users have created in their subconscious minds so that your message gets across. Social media users have a short attention span and their feeds are highly saturated. Therefore, the only most relevant content is going to stand out to them and entice them to hit that follow button. You should want people to relate to your content, be touched by your content, and have them feel involved with your content.

 

Tips on how to stay relevant on social media

 

Keep up with trending content

Content marketers wonder whether they should be jumping on the latest meme or social media trends to be relevant on social media. Well, it depends on whether your brand has a solid strategy behind why they are getting involved, and if they’ve ideally already been treading in those waters. If your brand really knows its audience, gets the timing right, and fits with your brand content and tone of voice, you have a much better chance of hitting the right chord.

Content marketers and creators can stay relevant by keeping up with the latest trends but remember to add their own flavour and style. Everyone will be participating in the same trends, so it is important to make the content stands out from the crowd by making it feel authentic to your brand’s personal style.

 

Produce a variety of content

One of the most effective ways to keep your brand at the forefront of consumers’ minds is to provide captivating content. Make your brand stand out with a diverse combination of social media posts. That way, you can keep social media users engaged and wanting more. By providing a range of content to your consumers, you can constantly explore what is and isn’t working. To make your brand stand out, save time, and enhance your customer experience. Don’t be afraid to experiment and be creative with your ideas. Over time, you’ll learn what types of content resonate most with your unique audience. You’ll never know what works best until you try!

 

Remain consistent

Consistency is important to social media success. The goal is to post consistently – not constantly. Producing enough content for a social media platform is only effective if you are consistent. Keep your content fresh and exciting. Consistently means making your posts predictable, so your readers and followers know when to expect something from you. Don’t be random and don’t flounder to find a post just because someone suggests posting a certain number of times on a platform. Being consistent in your brand allows you to grow in audience engagement and reach.   A great way to ensure that you are producing and posting content on a consistent basis is to create a content calendar. Content calendars are often thought of in the context of blog posts; however, many successful businesses also use a content calendar for social media.

 

Final thoughts

Social media presence continues to matter as these platforms become even more influential on consumer behaviour. To stay relevant, content marketers and creators need to understand how to best use these social media platforms for more meaningful interactions. Social media relevance is a challenge that requires a full-time commitment. If you pay attention to your audience and prioritise their expectations, your brand will be successful on social media.

Pearlmar Chauke