We all hear that as a business you need to be on social media, but it can be daunting to know where to start and how to invest your time and money. Here are three quick tips that can help you succeed.
Tip 1: Determine the best social platform for your business.
Each social media platform has its pros and cons and is targeted toward slightly different audiences so it is a good idea to do your research on each platform to understand which one(s) will work best for you and your business. To do this, it is a good idea to first understand your target audience and have a think about the content that you will be able to create easily and regularly.
For example:
- Instagram is a photo-based platform that has a slightly younger audience. It works well for businesses that are able to easily use images to tell a story, promote their brand or evoke emotion.
- Twitter is a fast-paced platform that works great for news and current affairs, sports updates and entertainment.
- LinkedIn is a professional networking site aimed at connecting professionals with similar interests, job searches and articles.
- Facebook is great for businesses as it combines many of the features of the other platforms into one social media service. Boasting the most users worldwide it offers great reach for businesses but can take a bit of navigating to ensure your content reaches your target audience.
Tip 2: Share your links.
Once you have created your social media accounts, it is important that you provide as much detail about your business as possible to help your customers find you. Then, it is important to provide links to your social media accounts on your website, in your marketing materials and your email signatures.
Tip 3: Content, content, content.
Content and engagement are the keys to success for businesses using social media so it is important to create a social media schedule or plan and stick to this by posting regularly. This provides potential customers and clients insight into your business and as most social media sites use complex algorithms based on engagement, your content is more likely to enter the newsfeed to be seen by your target audience if you are posting regularly and getting engagement.
Content should be short, sharp and capture the attention of your preferred audience within seconds. It is also important to ensure you are using the correct content for the platform you are using. For eg: There is no point writing complex business articles on Instagram as that is not what the users will engage with.
So what next?
Once you're up and running, be sure to keep an eye on your content to see what is working and why, this will help you continually improve and reach new customers/clients.
