Social media goes hand in hand with entrepreneurism. It’s the best way to connect with customers from all over the globe, instantly. Being on social media is vital to growing your company. While being involved online is a good step, there are certain measures to take if you want to be a social media superstar. There is etiquette to be aware of, tips on getting people to notice your brand, and a million other little tips and tricks to put you at the front of the line. We asked entrepreneurs and business owners what their tips were for solid social media.
#1 – Tailor Your Content
My biggest suggestion for businesses looking to improve their social media outreach is to tailor their content to each specific platform. It may be easier for a company without a dedicated social media or community manager to simply publish the same content across all platforms, but there are fundamental differences to each platform that necessicate variation. Twitter, for example, is similar to a commercial with only 140 characters to catch the reader's attention, so the message must be catchy and memorable. Meanwhile, Instagram, as a visual-based platform, should focus on more detail-oriented photographs where users can see your product in action. While it may be more time-consuming to schedule and prepare separate posts, it ultimately pays off in the long-run as organic reach and interactions will grow.
Thanks to Jessi Carr, 365 Business Tips
#2 – Specific Audiences
One of my best tips for social media is to get specific with your target audiences. I like using Facebook’s Ad Manager tool because it lets me setup my audience based on a very clearly defined set of criteria. My favorite one in particular is the ability to target by Life Events. For example, a Life Event would be getting a new job, or perhaps getting engaged to your significant other. Facebook lets you display your ads directly to these people. So if someone just got engaged, they’re probably looking for certain kinds of products and services. This gives you the ability to turn those opportunities into legitimate leads.
Thanks to Chasen Nick, RAMS Home Loans
#3 – Valuable Hashtags
If you’re looking to increase social media engagement, try using hashtags that reflect your brand. While the main purpose of hashtags is to help users find content in different categories, you can also use them to get people interested in your brand while encouraging them to share content. Also, you can use the same hashtag across all of your social media platforms, as opposed to just one. This is free advertising and can really help you engage with your customers.
Thanks to Dan Roberge, Maintenance Care
#4 – Don't Stretch Too Thin
Don’t feel like you have to be everywhere, all the time. While it’s a good idea to create profiles on all the big social networks to point people to your website and other social media profiles, stretching yourself too thin to build a large presence where most of your audience doesn’t hang out isn’t the best use of your time and money. Instead, focus on a few platforms that really resonate with your audience and business, and pour your efforts into those. There will be plenty of opportunities to invest in covering more social media ground later, once your initial efforts start paying off.
Thanks to Kathryn Casna, Vivid Visual Solutions
#5 – Stay in Your Lane
My suggestion would be to stay in your lane. Know what kind of time and resources you want to put into social media and go from there. If you want to be on every channel, that is fine. You will just need to plan for it. If you want to keep your budget small, consider going after only the most relevant social media topic. No matter what you do, do it right by having a strategy based around your goals. Everything you do should point back to your goals. If you have no goals or strategies, you campaigns will fall off pretty quick.
Thanks to Peter Schroeder, RendrFX
#6 – Set a Reminder
Social Media can be a great asset to a business, especially when used wisely. Posting consistently, sharing relevant content, and connecting with customers (and potential customers) in an authentic manner are the keys to using social media to your advantage. Set a reminder for yourself to post on a regular schedule (ideally every day or at least every other day). Alternatively, you can pre-schedule your posts to publish when designated. Either way, be sure to follow-up on the post and respond promptly to any comments or questions. Knowing your ideal customer/client is important also, enabling you to publish content that they can relate to and that provides value to their daily lives. Consistent, connecting content is key!
Thanks to Carrie Seibert, Soap Commander, LLC
#7 – Authenticity
Business class social media success is all about being yourself, and being consistent. It is a common misconception among businesses of any size that social media is strictly a tool for pushing products or services. This is flat wrong. Social Media is about messaging and like any messaging situation, consistency and honesty is crucial. Don't fake social media. Reveal true interests and useful information and links. Finally, to be successful on any platform, a business must focus on posting consistently. There can be no gap in action. For this reason it is usually advisable to pick one network and truly own it. Certainly large companies can attack all of them, most business cannot however. If a business is true to itself and strives to really inform its audience on social media, and does so regularly, there will be a great deal of success.
Thanks to Ryan Bradley, Koester & Bradley, LLP
#8 – Optimize Your Profiles
Optimize your social media profiles and ensure they are cohesive with the branding for the rest of your company. When someone goes to your social profiles they shouldn’t have to question if it is the same brand or not. Make regular posts that are interesting and offer some value to your audience. People are more likely to share if something resonates with them or they get something they want from the post. Be present and be social! Don’t keep your fans waiting, make sure you answer questions and reply to comments promptly. And one big thing for increasing engagement on your social media profiles is actually interacting with other people and business pages. Comment on others post and share share share! It is about being social after all.
Thanks to Anna O'Toole, The Edge Prep
#9 – Keep Followers in the Loop
Keep your followers in the loop. Make sure that the people who are following you on social media know what your company is up to. The should know how much you value their opinion. Being sure that they play an important part in your company’s life is crucial for the engagement on your social media profiles. We always seek the opinion of our followers and for this purpose, we have created a discussion group on LinkedIn. There, we ask our peers questions that help us determine the future development of Kanbanize and generally speak to our audience about everything that might be an issue for them.
Thanks to Dimitar Karaivanov, Kanbanize
#10 – Find the Right Time
Social media is very important when promoting your business. But you can’t just put up any post at any time, there’s a science to really utilizing social media to benefit you and your business. It’s important to know the correct times to post certain content for each platform. And be sure to look at what’s trending and jump on that bandwagon to gain more interactions. For example, on Twitter you can find out “what’s trending” in the “moments” tab. Social media posts don’t mean anything if you don’t get any or many likes, comments or re-posts. Another important thing to remember is consistency. You won’t gather many followers if you post only once in awhile or if you post way too many times in a given period of time.
Thanks to Jordan Barker, Sorenson Advertising