Social Media Tips From the Pros

Social Media is a critical component for any business. When you effectively and consistently use social media to promote your product(s) and/or service(s), you are creating a powerful window into your world for viewers, as well as both new and existing customers, to see how on-the-ball you are. It's your chance to impress anyone looking for what you offer at any time. Yet many businesses fail to seize this powerful opportunity to shine by not taking their company/brand's social media seriously enough. Follow these social media tips and you'll be on the road to success in no time!

Content is, and will always be King 
You have to be in it to win it! Great content has always been the key to social media success, it allows you to build brand awareness, promote your services, and find your audience. By posting diverse, high-quality content you will be sure to capture the correct audience while increasing your company/brand's visibility. Make sure your content benefits your customers. What’s in it for them? Understand what they care about and deliver content that is relevant and useful.

Check out Facebook Ads, they are HIGHLY targeted
Facebook’s Ad Manager enables you to target your audiences based on specific criteria, including Life Events. When people let their friends know about a new change in their life by adding it to their timeline, it allows you to display your ads to these people directly based on that Life Event. For example, if someone posts on their profile that they have purchased a “New Vehicle,” you can serve up ads for automobile insurance. You can also target people based on interests, recent behaviors (such as entering retirement or recently engaged), income, relationship status, education, and so on. Otherwise known in the trade as demographics and psychographics, these aspects and characteristics help you to better reach consumers who are most inclined to buy, need or want your product(s) and/or service(s).

Maintain proper channel management
Once or twice a day is a good rule of thumb for posting on the "Trinity" - Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Less than that, two to five times a week might be good – once a week if your audience is strictly B2B. Instagram works best when are consistent with your frequency – the number of posts per day is less important. 

Be human
Related to the previous tip on engaging in conversations, consider posting real time photos of your team. It shows your brand as human and approachable. This can include images of your team while working or during “bring your pet to work day,” birthday celebrations, and so on.

Be conversational
Again, related to the previous post, you should adopt a “voice” that is friendly, authentic and conversational. Don’t “hard-sell” or strong-arm your audience. Use the power of the visual to your advantage and be genuine; tell viewers what the facts are without being aggressive.

Use hashtags
Target your audience with creative use of hashtags – whether B2C or B2B. It also helps you start a conversation, and allows you to track a promotion’s success across multiple platforms.

Create infographics
Infographics are visual representations of complex information, data or knowledge presented in a clear and quickly-grasped way. Infographics are shared far more often than other content.

Be consistent
Ensure you have brand consistency across all platforms. This seems like a no-brainer, but many marketers are using different header images, logos and colors for each social media network. This has always been a big no-no, be consistent.

Stay abreast of Facebook changes
Just when you think you have your business’ Facebook Page running like a well-oiled machine, Facebook will change the rules. So stay on top of those changes by regularly.

Plan ahead
Take time to understand where your audience spends their time – for example, Snapchat is now a leading platform among teens. Create your voice or "persona" and begin building out your content calendar and gallery – including images, videos and infographics. Decide who creates content, who posts it, who engages with the audience and so on. Don’t "assume" someone on your team will take care of things, you have to delegate and designate!