We get it. Social media can be confusing, especially if marketing is not your specialty. If you’re a business owner, you are an expert in your field of products or services, and social media may fall way down on your list of priorities, although, this can prove to be a fatal mistake for your business. Social media is growing in popularity and shows no signs of slowing down.
If you’re new to promoting your business on social media, here are some tips for success on each major social network.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great B2B resource, so if you are a business offering a service to other companies, you need to be utilizing LinkedIn as a social network.
The best way to find success on LinkedIn is not to directly sell, which can turn a lot of potential customers off, but you need to elevate yourself to the position of thought leader in your industry. This can be achieved by posting relevant industry articles written by reputable publications, or by posting your own content written by you.
According to a study by OKDork reported in an article by Scott Ayers on the Social Media Lab website, longer, text-only updates performed the best on LinkedIn. This means that it’s beneficial for you to put out information about your business or industry in a longer post for your business colleagues and customers to read. You can do this either on your personal LinkedIn page or on your business’ page. Just ensure that your content is not too sale-sy. Provide valuable information or tell a story. LinkedIn allows you to build relationships with others in business, so think of it as a long-term relationship building resource.
Facebook
Facebook is a great social media platform for businesses that are selling products or services directly to consumers. Though the best way to gain traction for your posts is to boost them or sponsor an ad, especially for new businesses, you can find better success with videos over text-only posts.
Videos are more and more popular, especially with the younger generations. When creating a video for your Facebook page, ensure that you are producing a quality product that will resonate with your customer base. Don’t underestimate the power of visually telling a story; it can be captivating! Do include text along with your images to allow those scrolling to watch your video and read the script if they’re in a place where they shouldn’t have sound coming from the phone. Again, use the video as a means to achieve a level of thought leadership for your company. There is great value in providing knowledge.
Instagram
For those who have more visually appealing products or services, Instagram is a must. It may be tempting to throw up any photo of your product with some hashtags, but this may end up harming you in the long run. As with the other networks, people will follow you if they feel that they gain something by looking at your content. Therefore, only post photos that are of quality, and that can be used to market your business appropriately. Be careful about using hashtags that solicit followers or likes such as “likes4likes,” because this can appear cheap and inauthentic. Utilize Instagram stories to show behind-the-scenes photos of your company or short-term sales you may have running (remember, stories only last 24 hours unless you highlight them on your profile). Again, make sure your visual content is appealing and tells a story of your product or service.
Twitter
Social media is called “social” for a reason, and Twitter is the perfect place to be your most social self. Twitter is basically one large conversation with people all around the world; therefore, it’s important that if you choose to use Twitter, you keep up with the conversation! Engage your followers and those you follow with important industry knowledge or responses to questions. Be strategic about what you post, and ask yourself, “Does this encourage engagement?” The people and companies that have the most success on Twitter are those who have quality content and who are most engaged with their followers. Give it a try! If you need help with some Twitter conversation starters, refer to our previous post on Twitter conversations.
Social media marketing can require much time and effort to be done well. We understand that business owners and executives may not have time to keep up with the engagement necessary to successfully market your company on social media, that’s why Miss Ink offers top-notch social media marketing services. Our team of experts can help your business stay engaged and relevant on social media. Contact us today to learn more about our digital marketing services.
References:
LinkedIn Post Length: Does Data Support the Idea that Longer is Better? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.agorapulse.com/social-media-lab/post-length-linkedin
