For businesses both big and small, social media is essential to maintaining a digital presence and growing your business. Popular across the board, from millennials to gen xers and baby boomers, the right approach to social media provides an easy way to bridge the age gap and connect with just about any target market.
Signing up for a profile is simple, but from there, the waters grow murkier. Having a social media page and using it properly are two very different things, so how you conduct yourself is a critical element in success. If you want to succeed on Facebook, these ten tips can get you started on the right foot.
Don’t Forget To Fill Out Your Profile
An empty profile page says more than it doesn’t, implying to your future clients and followers that you have nothing to share about your business.
Instead of making your social media page a guessing game, take the time to complete all of the profile fields. Post as much as you can, including:
- An engaging andinformative summary
- An about blurb with a strong call-to-action
- Contact info
- Hours of operation
- Photos
- Reviews
Do everything possible to ensure your page is informative and well-rounded. The more your followers know about you and why you matter, the better.
Appoint a Dedicated Manager
Social media is a major part of modern marketing, and a half-assed approach can be a detriment to your overall operations. Simply checking in every now and then and making posts when it’s convenient isn’t enough; your social media tactics need to be treated as a central part of your social strategy.
In order to ensure a compelling presence, appoint a social media manager who can make running your accounts a primary job. With numerous advantages, like an improved ROI and higher engagement, a dedicated resource can make a big difference.
Be Yourself, But Stay Professional
Social media, as the name implies, has a long history of facilitating social interactions that eventually lead to business. However, this doesn’t mean you can take a casual, lackadaisical approach to your posts. Everything you post online represents your brand, so unprofessional, insulting, or off-color content can potentially damage your reputation.
No matter what you think your followers would like to read, keep all communications reflective of how you want to appear to your target audience. Social media is a great opportunity to build your brand, so take advantage of it.
Post Selectively
Have you ever followed a page on Facebook, only to later unfollow it due to an onslaught of never-ending posts? We’ve all been there. Posting on social media, like most marketing tactics, is best done in moderation. In order to be truly successful, you need to find the sweet spot between posting enough to keep fans interested and posting excessively to the point of annoyance.
Target frequency will vary from one company to the next, but the we suggest an average of two posts a day for most companies. At the complete other end of the spectrum, is an ecommerce site for kids toys that has a 24-hour posting schedule. Try out a variety of schedules and see what works best for you.
Offer Value
Posting is an essential part of maintaining a social media page, but you can’t post just anything. Instead, focus on offering a mix of value with the content you share. Simple greetings and one-off comments aren’t enough to engage your audience; instead, you need to focus on providing interesting news, beneficial opportunities or sales, or discussion topics that your fans will want to respond to.
Prior to pressing send, take a step back and ask yourself, “what value does this add?” If you’re coming up empty, take a step back and rethink your message.
Be Social
It’s in the name: social media is a place to be social. Too many companies think posting is all they need to do to succeed, but being truly great at Facebook marketing goes beyond that.
After you post, monitor your notifications for questions, comments, and messages that you can leverage to increase your interactions. Taking the time to respond to customers can be very advantageous, giving you an easy way to build loyalty and spread information. With over 40% of social media users expecting answers within an hour, how and when you respond can have a big impact on your brand’s public image.
Engage Your Users
Sitting back and waiting for customers to come to you isn’t good enough. When you want to really make a statement with your marketing, you need to keep your fans and followers engaged, active, and interested.
Some social media users like to comment on everything, but most need a little coaxing. Some posts are more engaging than others; when you want to draw attention, try:
- Offering incentives
- Asking for feedback
- Promising exclusive access
- Holding drawings or give-aways
There are many ways to boost engagement, so get creative and try some ideas outside-the-box.
Utilize Visual Content
Did you know that content with images gets 94% more views than content without? That’s a pretty big difference. If you’re looking for a way to really make a statement with your marketing, the use of visual content is a must.
When you’re posting content, whether from your blog or simply as an engagement tactic, pairing your post with images can be the boost you need to get your followers to pay attention. Video content can make even more of a statement; with over 8 billion video views a day on Facebook, there’s no better way to make your message heard.
Time Your Posts
If you want more people to see your posts, when you publish them can make a big difference. For example, many people check Facebook during their lunch and after work during the week, but far fewer are up and socializing at three in the morning. The same is true of weekends: many users are busy on Saturday and Sunday, and are less likely to be on Facebook.
Timing your posts appropriately can impact how many people see and interact with your page.
Analyze Your Success
There’s no room for uneducated assumptions in business, and the same goes for social media marketing. Not everything you do will be successful, but without a way to track your progress, you may not know until it’s too late.
Analyzing your performance is an often-forgotten step in Facebook marketing, but it’s one you can’t afford to bypass. With a built-in analytics dashboard, you can begin to monitor your progress from the very first post, determining what works well and what falls flat. By understanding the response to your activity, you can ensure your campaigns are headed in the right direction.
Finding your footing on social media can be a big advantage for your company, expanding web presence and increasing visibility. With a plan in place and a solid understanding of what works best for your brand, it’s possible to put Facebook at the center of any digital marketing campaign.
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