By Thomas A. Parmalee, staff writer, Senior Care Marketing Max
Savannah Evanoff, the social media director of Senior Care Marketing Max (a division of Ring Ring Marketing), recently held a webinar highlighting how to manage and engage with social media.
Targeting her message to home care professionals, Evanoff (pictured at top) covered topics such as starting out, brand building, identifying your audience and storytelling methods.
“I want to show you what a cohesive brand looks like,” she told listeners, noting that everyone’s online identity should be their own.
When building an online brand—whether it’s for yourself or your business—consistency is critical, she said.
Set a realistic goal “and don’t stress too much about the timing,” she said. “The best time to post is when you have time.”
Evanoff cautioned against trying to capitalize on every single trend. “Only follow trends that align with your brand and values,” she said.
Other tips include:
- Focus less on your follower count and more on post engagement.
- Create sharable content to spread brand awareness.
- Think about what has made you share content on social media and try to replicate that in your posts.
- Think about your business brand vs. your personal brand and post accordingly, keeping in mind the two may be intertwined.
Think about creating a brand identity guide, so that if someone new starts managing social media, they have a blueprint to move forward, she said. For instance, while one company may want to have a personal and playful tone, another may choose to lean toward an authoritative and professional tone. Again, it’s important to be consistent, she said.
On the webinar, Evanoff shared examples of strong brands ranging from Wendy’s to Smithsonian, as well as the National Park Service, Carhartt, the Minnesota Orchestra and more.
She even delved into Pinterest, sharing examples of how Comfort Keepers uses that platform to drive engagement. “It goes to show that there’s a lot more you can do on social media than you might realize,” she said.
When identifying members of your audience, she recommended considering demographics and psychographics, which include lifestyle, moral values, interests, budget, activities and motivators.
“The platforms you need to be on are the ones your audience is on—you need to meet them where you are,” she said.
Then, she reviewed content pillars, sharing proven ways to educate, engage, inspire, promote and educate.
It’s also important to keep the social in social media—you are there to engage with others. “You get what you give,” she said, emphasizing how important it is to respond to comments and participate in conversations. Engage with content posted by other businesses, especially the ones that could be potential referral sources, and tag other business profiles or individuals.
“I set aside time every day dedicated to social networking, and I highly recommend you do the same,” she said.
It’s also critical to analyze your performance, which doesn’t necessarily mean comparing yourself to larger companies.
“Use your past posts and follower count as benchmarks,” she said, noting that the key is to show improvement over time.
