Avatar

Social Media Tips For Businesses

5 November 2015
No Comments
4,270 Views

 

unnamed

Gone are the days where as a business you can blindly post a promotion across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and expect to see extremely beneficial results. Constantly evolving and increasingly popular social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest have spent the majority of 2015 buckling down on user experience, which unfortunately for businesses, means audience members seeing less of their promotional content. Simultaneously, the platforms are constantly evolving, making it even more difficult to keep track of what to post where. Frazzled by social? Don’t be. Below are 6 quick tips to keep your business on top of social media for the remainder of 2015 and into 2016!

Tip #1: Planning/Optimizing is essential
  • If your business doesn’t involve selling yourself personally/ you aren’t the brand, DO NOT use personal profiles as the sole social presence for your business. It decreases credibility, professionalism, and gets messy very quickly. Create separate business profiles for your company and go from there.
  • Run an audit of your company’s social media presence. Benchmark follower counts, record URLs, search your company on Google, and then evaluate their effectiveness. Are your channels on brand? Are there any imposter profiles? Are the usernames the same across each platform? Is the information in the about me sections updated/optimized? Record all of this information, and keep it in a safe place to refer back to when it comes time to analyze efforts.
  • Create a social media plan. What are your social media goals and reasonable KPI’s to track progress of these goals? What do you want each network to portray as your business? What is your competition doing on social? How often do they post? How often do you want to post? What kind of content does your audience want to see? Once these questions are answered, the easiest way to plan out content is by making a calendar in excel with content and messaging per channel for each day you want to post.
Tip #2: Content is the most important thing on social
  • Social media sites reward good content by increasing reach. Before posting ANY content as your business, ask yourself ‘Who will engage with this post & why? What is in it for my audience members?’ If you don’t have a legitimate answer to the question- don’t post it. Always keep in mind the Social Media Rule of Thirds: 1/3 of content should be based on personal interactions and personifying your brand, 1/3 social content should be surfacing and sharing ideas and stories from thought leaders in your industry or like minded businesses, and 1/3 of your content should be promotional.
Tip #3: Utilize paid social
  • Basically every social media channel has adopted paid social to some extent. Utilize it. Used properly, these measures promise beneficial results. Even if you don’t have a huge paid social budget, a little goes a long way, and platforms will reward you for using them. The bigger takeaway from this tip is to outsource paid social efforts if you don’t have adequate time to immerse yourself into a paid campaign and learn the do’s and don’ts of each paid channel. Things can get costly if done incorrectly. Leave this part to the experts.
Tip #4: Be Social
  • You don’t log onto Facebook to be bombarded by promotions and advertisements from brands. You log on to catch up with friends and things that matter to you. The biggest mistake that brands make on social media is being overly promotional. You must be social and entertaining to succeed! Figure out the voice that your brand should have on social. Are you planning on establishing your brand as an informative industry leader? An entertaining, light-hearted resource? Decide what voice and persona works best for your audience, and from there, make sure that all posted content is engaging to your audience members and adheres to the voice.
Tip #5: Know the platform
  • Social media is not a one size fits all deal. Each platform is a completely different entity. Audience members have different mindsets when they are on each social platform. Recognize this, and shape your content to match up with each social media “personality”. Adhere to best practices for each channel, and make sure to stay up to date with trends and changes for each!
Tip #6: Schedule to save time
  • Platforms like Instagram and Snapchat do not have advanced scheduling capabilities yet, but platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have scheduling options to help save you time! Social media management products like Sprout Social and Hootsuite are also great for scheduling means.

Remember: Social media management and analytics monitoring can be a full time job, and if you aren’t posting correctly, your presence on social can do more harm than good. Before you take on the hurricane that is social media, ask yourself if you or a team member have enough time to devote to the matter. Include planning, posting, monitoring, engaging, and analyzing when deciding. If the answer is no, it is best to look into outsourcing your social media efforts to an awesome digital agency. HAVE FUN WITH IT and keep an eye out for our best practice guide coming soon! Cheers!

About Morgan Jones

Morgan is a graduate from the University of North Carolina Wilmington with a BA in Communication Studies and a minor in journalism. She brings to the table a vivacious spirit and unique creative energy that she uses in all things SayItSocial. When she isn't being an awesome Digital Account Executive, you can find her running the Wrightsville Beach loop with her dog Grizzly, out on the beach, or on her front porch reading her nook.

Like What You Are Reading? Subscribe To Read More

Like What You Are Reading? Subscribe To Read More

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

You have Successfully Subscribed!