Are you looking to increase your exposure online? With so many different types of media competing for your audience’s attention, standing out can feel challenging — but it’s not impossible. 

Rather than try to implement every idea under the sun as far as social media marketing goes, try a few of the simple ideas below. Set aside an hour a day for your marketing efforts, and little by little, you’ll be able to make progress.

Get Active on Social Media

If you haven’t already, start by setting up social media profiles on the major platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Each platform is slightly different in terms of how content is presented and the types of tools available. But don’t worry about that too much right now. Just start with the basics of a profile picture, cover photo, bio, and information about your business such as website and contact information.

Then, start posting content! Does that sound scary? It shouldn’t. All it takes is a smartphone with a camera to get started.

You can snap photos of people, customers who wish to provide testimonials, fur babies who visit your location or belong to your team, community events, and other real-life people and places. These types of authentic photos will help you connect with your audience and provoke conversations online. (Nobody can scroll past a cute puppy, right?)

See our article 15 Social Media Content Ideas for Small Businesses for more ideas of what to post on social media.

Hold a Contest

Running a contest on social media can help you not only grow your following, but also build brand awareness while rewarding your loyal followers.

Some of the possible goals you might have in running a contest on social media could include:

• More views of your posts. Ask people to like and comment on your contest posts, so that more people will see them. Add a boost to these posts for even more visibility.
• Brand awareness. As more people see your content, they’ll become more aware of who you are and what you have to offer. Partner with complementary businesses and influencers to be introduced to their followers, too.
• Email list growth. In addition to asking for engagements on your social contest posts, you can also request entry via name and email address. (Tell your followers this is an optional step that earns them an extra entry, however — otherwise, you risk losing people who don’t want to provide an email address.)
• Buzz around your brand. With an exciting offer, you’ll generate buzz and increase the chances of gaining new followers.

Make sure you have a good giveaway to offer; consider partnering with a complementary brand to award a unique product or service. This way, it doesn’t cost you much to increase your exposure online, and the other brand can help spread awareness, too.

See our article 5 Easy Steps to Run a Successful Social Media Contest for specifics on running a social media contest.

Engage in Conversations 

Visit Facebook and LinkedIn groups related to your brand, and get involved in conversations to help increase your exposure online. Respond to questions that people post. Establish yourself as an expert on a topic, and drop subtle hints about your own brand.

Subtle is the key word here. Don’t use these groups as a way to pitch your products or services unless someone specifically asks a related question. 

For example, if there’s a question about the best tires for a certain type of truck, and you own a tire shop, it would be natural for you to provide your recommendation and mention that you have a special going on these tires.

If someone asks for a referral to a gardener and you’re a housecleaner, this is not a natural place for you to mention your housecleaning services. However, if you know of a gardener through your business connections, you can tag them in your reply. By mentioning another business, you build trust with the audience. The gardener might be inclined to mention your services, too, if the need arises for a housecleaner.

We Can Help Increase Your Exposure Online

It might take a little effort to increase your exposure online, but it doesn’t have to be labor-intensive. By putting in a little effort consistently, you can gradually reach more of your intended audience, grow your brand, and eventually let your followers do some of the work through word-of-mouth referrals. 

Do you need some help coming up with ideas of ways to increase your exposure online? Rather have us do the heavy lifting for you and let our technology automate the entire process? Visit rallio.com to request a demo or contact us for more information.