We caught up with Filipa Cebola, Digital Marketing Executive at Reach.

She specialises in both organic and paid-for social media strategy. This Q&A aims to guide you through the very noisy social media landscape on how to get started or how to improve your current tactics.

Q: What are the 3 things businesses should be doing if they want to grow their social channels? 

A: Your focus should align with the nature of the business, but I believe these three things are non-negotiables. Focus on them regardless of what you are trying to achieve with your social media pages.

• • Engage with your audience and similar accounts

Learn how to speak the algorithm’s language. The algorithm reads and understands through engagement patterns. So feed it as much information as you can through actively using the platform. Set aside time every day to interact with similar accounts as well as your audience, on both yours and their posts.

• • Understand what your audience follow you for

It’s a common mistake across social media that marketers are often too focused on gaining new followers and reaching wide audiences. This results in broad messages and generic content. The key is to be specific when it comes to your audience’s pain points & interests and post content that resonates with them.

• • Look at your analytics at least once a week

Not everyone loves looking at numbers, however, I promise you over time this will dictate your page’s growth. To make informed decisions on what topics and formats to use you should know what your audience likes engaging with the most. Set time aside, at least once a week, and record your findings so you keep track of your progress.

Q: How do I come up with brand-new content every week? 

A: It’s natural to struggle to create new content ideas every day. So, if you are starting or still learning your way through social media, use what you have to hand. Any videos, pictures or website content you have already can be repurposed and turned into insightful and entertaining content. Make sure you are also repurposing that content into different formats if possible, so you can make the most out of it. Keep an eye out, create a ‘Saved’ folder and save any posts from other brands you come across that could be of inspiration. Use free AI tools to brainstorm basic concepts and don’t overthink it. Just put yourself in your customer’s shoes and think: what kind of content would my audience want to see?

Q: How often should I post on social media? 

A: This is the million-dollar question. Of course, posting regularly is important to be at the forefront of your audience’s mind. However, it should not be prioritised to the detriment of the quality of your content. If you are struggling to post meaningful and valuable content every day, reduce how many times you post by a couple of days and focus on making the content more engaging, shareable, and insightful. I would take quality over quantity any day from brands I love. If you are not saying anything relevant, over time your brand will become wallpaper.

Q: Should I put a budget behind my content strategy? 

A: If this is something you have the means to do, and if this aligns with your overall business goals, why not? Look at your analytics and boost content that has received a lot of engagement or that showcases your product/services in a fun way, it’s a social media platform after all. Try a few different formats to test and learn, and see which ones generate the most results depending on your goals.

Q: How can I promote my products/services on social media? 

A: Social media platforms have evolved and are now an intrinsic part of consumers’ shopping habits. However, we should remember the core purpose of social media and why people use it. Entertaining and educating should come first, so if you only post pictures or videos describing your products and services, you won’t get much traction from it. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t be shouting about them and how they can help your audience, however, how you deliver that can make all the difference. Focus on user-generated content, product tutorials, video testimonials or behind-the-scenes content to promote your product in a subtle, yet interesting way. You want the content to feel native to the platform and for people to resonate with it.

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