The power of consistency on social media for businesses

Consistency, consistency, consistency - it's one of the MOST important things for success on social media! Companies continuously have to prove to customers that they are the best of the best and deserve their business. And one of the easiest yet most effective ways to do this is to be consistent! Think about it: what businesses aren't on social media? Hardly any. In comparison, which businesses come to mind whose social media presence is consistently strong? This is likely a much smaller group. And more importantly, these are the businesses harnessing the power and profitability of social media. Let's get into why consistency is so essential for businesses and which factors are crucial for consistency when it comes to social media.

Why consistency on social media is key for businesses' success:

1. Boosts Engagement

How likely are users to respond to a call to action or a request to follow an account the first time they come across a business' content? Fairly unlikely. Similar to how several points of contact (generally 6-8) with a company or product are necessary before a consumer makes a purchase (Salesforce), it takes multiple touchpoints before users are likely to follow through with an action on social media. And in order to make these points of contact, businesses need to be regularly posting and engaging on social media.

2. Builds Brand Recognition

Building up a brand on social media takes time. It takes trial and error to figure out what kind of content a specific audience wants, what practices work best, and to build up a stockpile of content. But once these aspects have been pinpointed, it's all about being consistent because this consistency is what will build brand recognition! If a company is always switching up their social media, it will never achieve brand recognition!

3. Creates Trust

Nearly 35% of consumers base their purchasing decisions around brand trust (SocialPilot). Social media is a great place for businesses to build this trust because it's literally a platform where they can highlight their values, ethics, thought processes, and insights. Once this trust has been built, it translates into brand loyalty, which means long-term business from these individuals!

Now that we have established that consistency is super important for businesses, how exactly does one achieve such consistency on social media?

four key factors every business should consider on social media when it comes to being consistent:

1. Tone

A business' tone on social media is crucial because it determines how their audience perceives and relates to its content. And as virtually every audience and niche are represented on social media nowadays, it is more important than ever for businesses to hone in on their target audience and speak directly to them. For example, if a company's goal is to teach millennials how to cook healthy foods, their tone needs to appeal to this age group, skill level, income level, and interests. And this tone needs to be consistent throughout all of their social media so that when users come across one of their posts, they instantly associate it with the business.

2. Timing

A post's timing can be the difference between a potential customer seeing it and taking action and not seeing it at all. By posting consistently at the same time every day or days of the week, users will come to expect new content and build a habit of keeping an eye out for it at those times. Making a scheduling plan for blog posts, series posts, newsletters, etc. can help ensure consistent timing. This type of consistency ensures that prospective clients and customers can easily find and view your content while also building credibility and trust.

3. Content

If a company continuously changes its logo, marketing style, or company colors, its content will never become recognizable or encourage brand loyalty. Adding underlying themes to all content, such as pops of the company's colors, a specific filter, or a unique outline, can ensure consistency. This way, when a user comes across the content, they will instantly recognize and associate it with the business.

4. Delivery

And lastly, the delivery of a post is just as important as the timing, tone, and content of it! Even if a business has great content that checks all the boxes, it's essentially useless if its followers cannot find it. Users must be able to quickly and easily access content - if they have to go searching, it's game over. So, where exactly should businesses be posting their content? The answer is wherever their target audience is consistently showing up and active. Check out this article for more information about which platforms are right for which businesses.

Now it's your turn. At AMR Digital Marketing, we challenge you to take a good hard look at the past six months of your business's social media content and ask yourself if you honestly think it's consistent in timing, tone, content, and delivery. If your answer is yes, then keep up the great work. If the answer's no, take 30 minutes to brainstorm how you're going to incorporate these four factors into your social media marketing plan. Or take this a step further and ask a colleague or a trusted friend what their thoughts are on your business' content. Let us know what your findings are in the comments below.

Written By: Leah Ross, AMR Digital Marketing, Copywriter