The modern business model must include using social media in the right ways if a company is to achieve long-term success. However, this is a fairly recent change in business management and many people have yet to catch on to the relevance of using social media in order to build their brand name. Often, these entrepreneurs never figure out why their businesses fail, only that they do and their dreams along with them.

Though the old-school model focused on one-way communication, released directly from companies providing all of the material consumers encountered regarding the brand. However, that is not the case with social media. As a result, to achieve successful brand awareness and trust, you need to utilize the two-way communication model that social media platforms provide.

Today a strong social media presence is an integral part of many marketing efforts. If you’d like to make use of this tool yourself, one of your first challenges is creating profiles that people pay attention to. Cultivating authority is an important part of the process. Serving up the right content to your followers is vital to build the sort of reputation you’re looking for.

Have Something Worthwhile To Share

Nobody likes having their time wasted and online fans are particularly sensitive to content that comes across as self-serving and useless to them. Make sure that your content is going to be informative and helpful before you start promoting it. This is especially important if you’re using social media to link followers to content posted elsewhere. A tempting Twitter link that dumps followers onto a generic opt-in page is going to generate a lot of ire.

Although you may need to run analytics before figuring out what works best for your target demographic, you should always strive to provide valuable content that will inspire them to share your posts with others. Your work should be authoritative and be free of grammar and spelling errors.

Engage With Followers

While there are valid marketing strategies that employ social networks merely to raise awareness and extend your reach, if you want to reap the rewards of increased authority from your social activity you need to be prepared to engage directly with your audience. Answering questions, responding to comments, and participating in discussions will all enhance your authority.

You can use and build on this powerful opportunity to reach out to your customers, connecting with those who had satisfying experiences and those requiring issue resolution. By monitoring these accounts and incorporating the info into the customer service aspect of your brand, you can prove to that person and others who view the interaction that the company genuinely cares about their satisfaction.

The social media sites that you choose to use is another aspect of planning that merits attention. The wide user-base of Facebook and Twitter make them both great sites for most to use as part of their marketing strategies. Beyond that, you will need to use those most appropriate for your niche.

For example, LinkedIn is a great place for B2B relationships, whereas, GooglePlus users are largely involved in the tech industry. You want to go to where your target audience already is rather than expecting them to come to you.

If images are a part of your strategy, Pinterest or Instagram are likely candidates and the Reddit platform is gaining popularity for members of various business communities to interact directly with customers via their AMA (ask me anything) sessions. In fact, you should have that type of open rapport with the public anyway. Your customers and potential customers should have their questions answered and otherwise, receive excellent service from your business accounts. Inconsistency and ignoring them are both to your detriment.

Engaging With Other Authorities

While great content and user engagement will slowly amplify your online authority, it will be a slow process if you’re not hooked into the popular thought leaders in your niche. Don’t be afraid to comment on, share, and respond to the social activity of existing authorities in your field. Intelligent, well-thought-out comments may earn responses from even the biggest names, and those big names often carry a lot of attention and authority with them.

Keeping Your Brand Consistent

Finally, remember that your objective is not just to build authority at all costs but to build authority within your niche. In order to do this, you have to maintain focus in your socil media activity. If you’re trying to promote a restaurant, posting political diatribes or funny cat pictures may earn you attention but it does little to advance your restaurant over the competition. Before you make a post or share your content, double check to make sure it’s directly related to the field in which you want to be seen as an authority.

The fonts, logos, profile pictures and everything else associated with your content should be the same for every social media business account operated by your company. They should recognize the colors and images without relying on text information to tell them who made the post.

Although there are many different strategies you can use to build up authority with your social media posts, virtually all of them respect the basic points outlined here. If you take a moment to verify that your content is relevant, consistent, and engaging you’ll see your social media authority start to climb in no time. Obtaining the services of a social media marketing expert can help you make your business dreams a reality. Remember to follow through on these vital aspects of using social media to maximize your success.

Dori O’Neill is in the business of helping individuals and business owners achieve success through proper business practices and reputation management. He maintains offices throughout the world and has lived in Canada, United States, Japan and Hong Kong. If you need more leads for your business, visit LeadLures.com today.