Is your business new to Social Media? For many, venturing into the world of Social Media is like being told to visit the relative you hate. You don’t want to, and you put it off for as long as possible. But in the end you have to go, so you do.
Whilst we can’t help ease the pain of seeing that relative, we can help with the social media side. We’ve compiled a list of the top 13 Social Media Marketing tips to help get you started.
What is Social Media?
At its core, Social Media is a promotional tool that can allows you to connect with your target audience, turning the researcher into the buyer, or the one-time shopper into the loyal customer.
Nowadays, social media is easily accessible and in constant use, thanks to its association with the millennial glued to their phone.
Social Media Tips For Business
1. Looking Back can be a Good Thing.
If your company has been using Facebook and Twitter for a while, that’s great! Taking a look at what’s been written before is a really useful way of making sure you’re not posting something completely off tangent to what you’re trying to achieve. However, if you haven’t used these platforms before, don’t worry, it’s easy to start if you read the following tips.
2. Know Who You’re Targeting.
Not knowing who you’re targeting when sending out a post is like playing archery blindfolded. You’ll never know where you’re aiming and how far your arrow will reach.
Having a specific demographic can be easily defined by who reads your posts, buys your products and searches for items or services you provide.
This is a great start to writing a meaningful post that will resonate with your audience, making them buy into your company again.
3. Plan, Plan, Plan.
Remember when your teacher at school always said that creating a plan will make writing the essay easier? It’s the same for creating marketing content.
Planning in advance will take the stress away! And thankfully, because it’s only a plan for now, it can easily be changed! Got a big event coming up? Schedule it in! Enticing new customers with a discount? Schedule it in!
4. Timing is Everything.
Another good reason to look back on previous posts is to determine when the best time to upload is. It’s easy to analyse which posts have done well and which ones haven’t based on the number of likes and shares it’s received.
What time of day do you get the most engagement?
Take a look at Facebook Insights – their free Facebook Analytics Tool. It provides you with a helpful breakdown of Page Views, Reach, Post Engagements and your 5 most recent posts – including how many people they’ve reached (both organically and through paid boosting).
Twitter also has its own tool for analysing data, simply head to your Twitter Analytics to view a 28 day summary.
5. Not all Social Media Channels will Suit You.
Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest…do you really need to have an account for each one? Unfortunately, this is not a one size fits all approach – wouldn’t it be easier it was? But who said Social Media Marketing was easy?
So, how do you know which social platform will work best for your business? Well a good starting point is knowing where your audience lies.
Find out where your customers are and then join the party.
6. Waffles are to be Eaten, Not Read.
How many times have you seen a post on Facebook and just scrolled on, because it’ll take ages to read? If the answer is always, then you’re not alone.
On average, a person spends 35 minutes of each day aimlessly scrolling through Facebook. And although that doesn’t like a short amount of time to be on the platform, they only read the bits that catch their eye. So, if it’s short, sweet and to the point, you can’t go wrong.
7. #OnlyWhenNecessary
In today’s society, there’s no escaping the hashtag. They’re everywhere, from TV adverts to billboards.
But are they professional enough to use in your posts? And is there a limit to the amount you should use?
In short – yes. If used correctly, hashtags have the capability to open up doors to a plethora of different people, who may be looking for your company’s help. Although, being generic with your hashtags may hinder your post being seen. Use a hashtag that’s specific for that post, and it’ll go in the right direction.
Before you ask, yes, using more hashtags that actual content can keep the likes and shares coming in, but overloading on every post is likely to attract the wrong kind of ‘followers’.
Hashtags are like hair gel. Use sparingly and only when absolutely necessary.
8. Focus on the image.
What’s more interesting to you, an image or a chunk of text? We’d go with the image too.
It’s important to keep your customer in mind when creating your posts. If you scroll passed the chunks of text littering your newsfeed and only focus on the ones with colourful images, so would they. Uploading an image or gif with your text will instantly make it more interesting.
9. Consistent Delivery
Being bombarded with so many posts in a short amount of time is similar to walking down the road with copious amounts of strong wind blowing in your face. You just want it to stop.
Spacing your posts out over a few days will not only keep your followers intrigued and eager to read more, but will make sure you don’t run dry too soon! Being consistent with your delivery will give your customers a routine and, eventually, they’ll expect your daily posts.
10. Ready, Get Set, Now Forget About it.
Worried about having to manually upload your planned content every day? Let me introduce you to something that will free up a lot of precious time in your day. Something that will make your social media uploads a lot easier. Something called a Social Media Management Tool.
For anyone who hates uploading everyday, tools like this are a godsend! They allow you to input your upload, choose the date and time it posts, allow it access to the social media account, and leave the rest up to them. Fancy trying it out before you commit? That’s okay – some offer free trial periods to see if that particular tool suits you.
Outsourcing your uploads allows you to concentrate on other ways to advertise your company without worrying about the time constraints.
11. Not All The Straw You Spin Will Turn To Gold.
The part that a lot of people tend to get disheartened by is the fact that the post you uploaded this week may not have received as many likes as the post you uploaded yesterday. But the good thing about social media is that it’ll be on there forever. That means, people can go back and like it whenever they want.
12. Making First Impressions Count.
Would you trust a friend request from someone who doesn’t have a profile or cover photo? So why trust a company who doesn’t have one either?
When a company is searched for on Facebook, the first thing people see is their profile photo. Having a photo that is representative of your company, i.e. a photo of your logo or team, is essential to creating the right first impression. Without it, you could be losing valuable business, or potential customers.
Whilst the same can be said for cover photos, more emphasis is put on them to change regularly. The best way to show someone you have something new or you’re offering a fantastic discount is to let your cover photo speak first.
Changing it often could drive a lot of traffic to your other social media pages, your website or even your telephones, as it’s the best call to action around! Nothing says “Hey! Look at us!!” better than a vibrant cover photo.
13. Size Matters.
Every so often, social media platforms like to surprise us and keep us on our toes by updating themselves. And with updates, comes different sized specifications for your pictures.
As a business, it’s important that clients, old or new, see a clear image of what you’re offering. Having a high resolution image shows that you don’t cut corners to get sell your services.
However, replace that beautiful image with a blurry one, and you can kiss goodbye to your new clients. With loads of websites covering the information, it’s easy to find the most up-to-date image size and format specifications, so there’s no excuse to not update yours!
Social Media Marketing Campaigns
It seems like every other week another company is running another campaign. From Red Letter Day’s ‘Mum’s Day Off’ campaign (#MumsDayOff) to Worldwide Breast Cancer’s #KnowYourLemons, marketing campaigns such as these are taking the world by storm. They’re engaging, relatable and rewarding – three things customers are always looking for.
Remember, if people are going to follow you on social media, then you have to give something back.
Written by ICAAL Academy Graduate, Karishma Patel. Looking for marketing work experience in Southampton? Join our ICAAL Academy.
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