Improve Your Social Media Presence
The power of social media to take businesses to new levels is incredible. Social media makes it easier for friends and family to support your business while also displaying your products to new customers. People are constantly on social media throughout the day, so it’s important that businesses invest their time in creating a strong social media presence.
As you establish your social media presence, we have curated a list of ideas to keep in mind.
1. Have a Strategy
Decide on the following before you start to revamp your social media…
Who your target audience is going to be
Which platforms you plan to use
What kind of content you want to post: content ideas source: Forbes
How often you will post
2. Use Multiple Platforms
Using multiple platforms will broaden your reach and help you get noticed…
Instagram - Target audience includes people who are below 50 years old
Facebook - Great for all audiences
TikTok - Target audience includes people who are below 30 years old
LinkedIn - Great for those whose target audience is other businesses or professionals
Twitter - Great way to interact with local community members and potential customers
Pinterest - Great for restaurants, fashion, art, travel, and event-planning oriented businesses
YouTube - Great for products that require a guide: tutorials on how to use your product or videos on how the product is produced
Yelp - Applicable for any business that has a physical storefront
Google My Business - Applicable for any business that has a physical storefront
3. Add Social Icons to Emails & Your Website
Social media icons on your website and email help increase traffic to your pages, which will help things like search engine optimization (SEO). Icons are small so they don’t distract the customer and also make it easier for customers to learn more about your products.
4. Create Content with Your Audience in Mind
When you are creating your content, you can use the “what kind of content to post” resource.
You should create posts with your audience in mind in order to keep them interested. Customers follow your page because they want to stay informed about new products or sales. If your posts tend to be unengaging or off-topic, customers will begin to unfollow you.
5. Maintain Presence
Do some research on what the most popular time and day to scroll among your target audience is
Post to your social media regularly, preferably weekly, whether it be stories or posts
6. Use Apps to Schedule Posts
Use an app that allows you to schedule posts to Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. One such app is Later.
The benefits of using these apps include…
Not having to create social media content in real time - create content in one day for the rest of the week/month/etc.
Not having to remember or make time for posting to social media every day - the app can do it for you by scheduling posts in advance
Use their analytics tools to see how your posts performed - level of engagement on different posts, best posting times etc.
7. Engage with Your Audience
Engaging with your followers and potential followers is important in showing your customers you care about them and their feedback. It allows you to gain trust and interest in your business.
When you aren’t posting, you should be…
sharing posts
asking questions
addressing complaints
liking posts and comments, etc.
8. Hashtags
Using hashtags is one of the easiest ways to bring traffic to your page.
Example: If you own a jewelry store in SoHo, Manhattan, you’ll want new customers in that area to stumble upon your page when they search #sohojewelry and #sohoshopping
Make sure you are not using hashtags excessively; the average number of hashtags businesses use is ~11.
Hashtags also help engage people with your brand. Create a specific hashtag for your business, so when customers share your product to their own social media they can use the hashtag. This will…
allow people to click on the hashtag and find your posts, as well as other people’s posts.
make it easier to interact with customers and re-share.
Example: If your jewelry store was named Ruby Designs and located in Westlake, Seattle, your business specific hashtag could be #RubyDesignsSeattle or #RubyWestlake
9. Share Reviews
Ask your customers to share their purchases with their friends on social media. Your email confirmation page or physical receipt is a great place to add this.
Share their posts to your pages as well as reviews they may have written on Google Reviews, Yelp, etc. Customers love this because it makes them feel acknowledged. This will also help affirm to potential customers that existing customers are happy with your product/service.
10. Customer Service
Many customers will comment their issues on your posts or tell you them through direct message. In order to keep customers happy, respond as quickly as possible. This is essential in limiting the spread of negative reviews and providing quality customer support.
In order to measure what’s working and what’s not, you will have to watch for new followers and engagement. Every business is unique, so there is no perfect formula for every business.
Don’t be afraid to try new ideas to see what works and what doesn’t!
