It’s no secret that social media is a powerful marketing tool. For entrepreneurs like you, it can be the most effective way to reach your target audience.
A successful social media campaign relies on a lot of factors, but consistency is one you shouldn’t overlook. Why? Your followers (whether they realize it or not) want to know what they can expect from you on social media—and if they see your posts less often than usual or with content that doesn’t match the previous messages, it might not take long before they stop following you altogether.
We’re often told that “consistency is key” when it comes to managing our social media channels. But what does that actually mean?
Well, for a busy business owner like you, consistency means showing up in a way that makes it easy for followers to find and engage with you.
Let’s dig a little deeper…
Why is consistency on social media important?
There are lots of reasons why it’s important for you to maintain a consistent presence on social media.
✔️ It helps followers recognize content from your brand
✔️ It helps people understand your key messages and values
✔️ It ensures a level of professional quality across all content
✔️ It provides an opportunity for consistent engagement (increased followers and leads)
The benefit of consistency goes beyond the surface, too. When you post on a regular basis, it’s easy for followers to find and engage with you, since they can expect posts from your account any time they go to their feed or timeline. This in turn helps them stay engaged and connected to your content by giving them an idea of what they can expect when coming back after a few days—or weeks!
Consistency means showing up in a way that makes it easy for followers to find and engage with you.
Where you need to be consistent:
Bios, Cover Photos and Profile Pics
Over time the information on our different social media platforms can get out of sync.
Perhaps you set up a Facebook page years ago but your new focus is on Instagram; does that mean your Facebook cover photo is now out of date? Maybe you’ve never got around to changing that old profile picture on LinkedIn?
The power of branding is not something to brush off. Consistent messaging and design can be the difference between attracting more customers and being forgotten.
This is not only important on your website but having a cohesive visual message in your social media bios, cover photos, and profile pictures too. Consistency in branding will make it easier for followers to find you or identify your posts on social media sites. Since you don’t know where a new prospective customer might find you, it’s important to have a cohesive brand image across all channels – even if you’re not using them.
Action: Check your social platforms. Ensure your profile pics, banners, and business information is the same. If you’re not active on an account, update it to let people know where they can find you.
Posting
When it comes to posting on social media, being consistent is good for you and your followers.
This means keeping to a regular posting schedule and not posting too much.
Why you ask? Well, it means you’ll have to work twice as hard (or however many posts your making) to get the same level of engagement from each individual follower- which is much more difficult than maintaining consistency in frequency.
When you decide which platforms you’ll post on – and how often you’ll post – you can factor in the work that needs to be done. It means you can plan ahead (more on that later) and be purposeful about your content.
Regular posting will make it clear what your followers can expect from you. When they don’t see anything from you in their feed for a few days, they may check your profile to see what they’ve missed. I know I do this with accounts I love. If they see there is nothing new, this could prevent them from checking your account in the future!
With the right plan in place, you can take advantage of automated social media posting tools. You can speed up the actual posting process by using an automated scheduler! Tools like these allow you to schedule posts and set reminders so that you never miss a day. This is especially useful for those who work full-time outside their business because it means they don’t have to worry about missing an important event on social media, even if they are out of the office.
I currently use Sked Social but you could try Buffer, Later, or Hootsuite which have a free trial.
Action: Choose your core platforms and decide how many times a week you’ll post. Remember you don’t have to be on every platform and you definitely don’t have to post every day. Do what’s achievable and manageable.
Brand image
It helps people to recognize your brand wherever they find you.
Social media has become the ultimate communication tool. As such, it’s critical that your social media channels work together to create a cohesive message for your followers.
When your branding is all over the place it’s hard for followers to spot your posts in their busy feeds.
They may also start to question the quality of your content.
It’s important for businesses that want to get ahead on social media, as they can then use consistency as an opportunity for branding and marketing themselves with actionable tips from their profile page.
Make it easy for them by establishing a clear look and feel to your imagery. You can do this by creating templates in Canva, or using an app such as Wordswag.
If this isn’t something you’re confident about let me know and I can help.
Action: Head to Canva and create a set of branded templates.
Planning
When you’re consistent with your planning you remove the headaches of posting on the fly.
This is not to say that you can’t change things up every now and then, but if your aim is for consistency this will help.
You can use planning to determine the types of content you want to post, the topics of your posts, and, of course, the timing of your posts.
Setting a recurring time each week where you plan out the next few days worth of posts on your channels is one way to avoid burnout.
I recommend you set aside one full day a month to plan your content. As you get faster you can spend less time on it, or perhaps do just a few hours a week. Either way, putting that time in the calendar is essential.
There are lots of ways you can plan your content. You can do it in a Trello board, use a spreadsheet or – if you prefer good old pen and paper – you can jot ideas on Post-it notes then stick them to a monthly wall planner.
Action: Block out time in your calendar to plan next month’s content. Do it now. Yes, now.
Engagement
When it comes to consistency, this is one area you can’t afford to skimp on. Consistently responding to comments and DMs is super important, as is taking time to engage with other accounts.
This simple, albeit time-consuming, habit is the best way to improve your reach and help you to build new and lasting connections. Networking is so important for entrepreneurs- connect, collaborate, build each other up, and cross-promote.
Engagement also provides opportunities for feedback, which you can use to improve your strategy and increase profits.
Action: Make 10 thoughtful comments on 10 different profiles by the end of today.
Conclusion
It’s hard to keep up with all the content you need to produce, especially if you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur. Creating a lot of content on your channels right now might be exhausting. It’s not an easy feat when you’re trying to keep up with everything and make sure that each post has its own appeal
Staying updated and current with all the new platform updates and knowing what people want from your content can be overwhelming.
A few websites that help me stay updated are:
Social Media Today
Social Media Examiner
And any scheduling tool’s blog (Later, Buffer, Hootsuite, Agorapulse etc.)
If all of this sounds intimidating and you want help enacting these principles, let me know. I am ready to partner with you to get you started on your own social media plan that will resonate with your audience. I also provide one-on-one coaching sessions where I walk you through how to create a strategy and an engaging and consistent content calendar tailored just for you.
Here’s how I can help…
- Book an audit. I can cast a fresh eye over your platforms and show you where you can make them more consistent
- Attend a planning workshop
- Provide an in depth strategy
- Full social media management. Hand it all over to me and I’ll take care of it
- 1:1 Coaching- learn how to do it yourself with me at your side every step of the way
