Let's face it, social media is time-consuming and you don't always see the results as quickly as you would have hoped, but having a digital shopfront is very important for the survival of your business. We know how hard it is to juggle everything yourself so we have list 10 social media tactics to help you plan your business's social media.
1. Establish a plan
Content is KING! Great content is essential but it is also essential to plan when and what you are going to share. Using a content calendar will help you save time. Block three hours out in your diary once a month to plan, create and schedule content. Creating content in blocks makes it a lot easier to be creative.
2. Know your customer
Knowing your customers and what they want to see is key. For example, if you are a business coach you might like to post a Monday motivation quote, whereas if your local builder or plumber you would prefer to see photos of their jobs rather than motivational quotes. But saying there is no right or wrong so if you decide to do something create a series of posts so that it looks intentional rather than just a random post. You should know the following of your target audience: age, location, average income, job title or industry, and interests. This will help you to know what tone of voice and images you need to use.
3. Be a resource
Provide information about your products or services and offer advice on similar products and services to help your customers understand how you are different from your competitors. If people find your information helpful they will follow you. Aim to become a resource where people come to find a solution for their problems. Providing help, hints, and tips is also a good way of getting yourself noticed. To make the user experience more personal consider hosting live Q&A sessions. When people interact with you they are more likely to become customers.
4. Choose your channel
Social media is one of the most effective ways of getting your business out to potential customers, however, not all social media platforms are the same and each has its unique ways of interacting with content. Instead of trying to be present on all channels take time to research and understand your target audience. Find out where they are hanging out and focus on those channels. For example, Facebook and Instagram are great for a business interacting with consumers and LinkedIn is great for interacting with other businesses. YouTube is a great platform for everyone and it will also increase your rankings in Google searches.
5. Create brand consistency
Brand consistency leads to brand recognition! You can achieve consistency when all your content has a similar look and feel. You can use your colour scheme or fonts to tie content together or you can just add your logo to your images.
6. Make it personal
People like to get to know the person behind the brand, people will buy you before they buy your product. Share a bit of what's happening behind the scenes but be careful not to overshare. If you are not comfortable sharing personal beliefs or photos then create a list of things you are happy to talk about. As long as you can showcase your amazing personality then you are putting a face to social media.
7. Be visually appealing
Written text content will always be an integral part of your social media but the secret to succeeding is to create amazing visual content to set yourself apart from the rest. Adding a mix of visuals and text to your content can improve your social media results. You can drive more interest and clicks to your posts, keeping your customers interested and engaged. Fact, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual.
8. Diversify your content
If you post the same thing over and over your followers will get bored and go somewhere else. Use a combination of images, videos and GIFs. What questions do you think your followers have? How can you answer that in a way different from your competitors? Being unique will make you stand out from the crowd.
9. Manage your reputation
It's important to have reviews and recommendations. Consumers trust online reviews from others just as much as they would trust recommendations from their peers. Think about your own behaviour. Will you buy a product on Amazon if it only has a one-star rating? Ask your customers to review your products and services. Regularly re-post these reviews to win over new customers.
10. Be resilient
Resilience within a business means it can overcome obstacles, move with the times, tackle evolving challenges and make the most of opportunities that come its way. Don't overreact when someone has written a comment on your social media that you don't agree with. Before you respond ask a friend what they would make of the comment. They are further removed from your business and will give you a better idea as to how you need to respond. Remember a bad comment can allow you to grow your business in an area that you might not have thought about.
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