As a business owner, you are probably already aware of the importance of social media in today’s digital age and the engagement, and even sales, it can generate for your company. So, you’ve set up your social media accounts, uploaded a brand picture and bio, but what now? Despite knowing the importance of social media, many owners feel unsure where to start when it comes to generating real interaction with their business from social audiences. We have some top tips to get you started.
If you don’t already have a watertight digital marketing strategy in place, now is the time to get one. A report by Global Web Index, found that during the coronavirus crisis UK adults increased their usage of all social media platforms, with a particularly high rise on Facebook (47%), Youtube (18%) and Instagram (12%). Importantly, the same report found that two thirds of users said they would continue with their new social media habits after lockdown ended.
As business owners, this provides us with a great opportunity to communicate better with our clients, increase our brand recognition and find new prospects. Following our five key tips will ensure that your business is using social media within your digital marketing strategy in a way that will generate engagement.
Tip 1: Talk about your area of expertise
It’s fair to assume that ultimately, our primary reason for being on social media is to generate business for our company, but purely pushing your product on social media can do you more harm than good. Bad practice for a business social media account is just to talk about what you have to offer and featuring a call to action in every post. Good practice will aim to position you – or your business – as a leader within your field, talking about the latest news, products and events in your sector.
In turn, this will lead to more followers for your accounts, and more interaction with those who see the posts, as they will be genuinely interested and excited in what you have to say.
When talking about an update within your field, it’s also a good idea to pose a question to the reader as well, to generate discussion on your account. For example, if you’re discussing the latest update to Adobe Illustrator, finish off your post with a question, such as: ‘What surprised you about the latest modifications?’. The discussion it generates will be favourable with the algorithms used by social media platforms, as well as enabling you to build up genuine connections with industry leaders within your field and potential clients who are looking to you for insights.
Tip 2: Interact with other people and brands on social media
Practice what you preach! If you’re looking to see more interaction with your brand on social media, make sure you’re interacting with your customers and other brands as well. If people see that your account is proactive and friendly, they will be much more likely to give you a follow or interact with you in another way.
For example, if a customer tags you on Facebook with: ‘Thank you @TheBulldogPub for a lovely evening celebrating our 30th Wedding Anniversary’, reply to them, or even better share the post and add your own comment: ‘It was lovely to have you @SandraHopkins!’. In doing so, you will encourage future customers to engage with you when they visit and make the person sending the message more likely to return.
There have been some renowned interactions between brands online that have gone viral and provided (virtually) free publicity for the companies involved. A great one was when Piers Morgan responded to the release of the Greggs vegan sausage roll in an unenthusiastic way and the brand simply responded: ‘Oh hello Piers, we’ve been expecting you’. To date, the Gregg’s post has 138.6k favourites, a definite PR victory for the bakery brand.
Tip 3: Use images
People like to receive information in diverse ways. Don’t just rely on text to create your content online. Your posts should feature a mixture of images, text, graphics, videos, gifs, articles and more if you are truly going to appeal to everyone within your target market.
Of course, certain platforms lend themselves much more to specific content, for example, Instagram is a picture app and writing a long article in the comments isn’t always well received. But on platforms that have a more diverse layout, such as Linked In, you’ll want to respond with varied content.
Tip 4: Use hashtags
Hashtags are a great way of ensuring that people find your content and, equally, for finding accounts with content you want to see. Find out what hashtags people within your field are using and employ them accordingly.
However, make sure you’re using them with caution! Clients won’t want to see a post made illegible with a spam of hashtags and it may even cause them to unfollow you. Use them sparingly and consider putting them in a clump at the end of your post. Of course, it’s much more acceptable to use in-text hashtags within certain platforms, such as Twitter, whereas you wouldn’t usually see a post full of hashtags on LinkedIn. Identify the tone of the platform you’re using and adjust your messaging accordingly.
Tip 5: Post regularly – but not too much!
We’ve saved one of the best till last. If you’re not posting frequently, then your client base will unfollow you. Similarly, if you are posting too much – especially if the content is of a low quality – then people will be equally deterred from your brand.
It’s especially important to post regularly if you are publishing work on your website, as this will help boost your search engine optimisation. Likewise, the content you post will need to be original, as search engines and clients alike will become bored of reposted material, viewing it as spam.
Getting your brand on social media is not enough; you have to ensure you’re using it in the right way to see genuine results and generate engagement. Utilising our five top tips within your digital marketing strategy will point you in the right direction.
So, get in touch and find out more ways that Eonic can help build a successful web strategy for your business.