In the early days of social media, posting online was seen as a passing fad to catch up with old friends and to share photos of your latest trip. Since then, social media has come a long way with over 2.3 billion (and counting) active users that make it a very valuable marketing tool. Despite the clutter and the never ending information sharing, businesses can market themselves effectively with many positive results.
Since this is not a passing fad, social media is now a necessary resource to help your business. Many reports suggest up to 80% of businesses that use social media said this type of marketing drove more traffic to their websites, increased sales, built customer loyalty and provided them with invaluable feedback. Unfortunately, there are many that are still unsure how to use social media to best helps their business, leaving many to rely on trial and error. These key strategies can help:
1. Post on a consistent schedule: Make posting online a regular marketing habit. When you take the time to schedule regular posts this will become routine. This strategy has proven to be the best way to build your audience while marketing yourself online.
2. Post at peak times: There are many theories that suggest there are certain peak times for certain apps. While it is good to try what many experts suggest, it’s also a good plan to find the best solution that works for you. Monitor your apps closely and see when you receive the most feedback and interaction.
3. Post on the weekend: Many forget to post on the weekend because it’s not a standard work time. Social media does not stop. It’s a 24/7 online conversation that does not adhere to regular business hours so don’t forget to keep adding useful information on your sites. Even if you are busy, you can always pre-schedule posts to keep it all running smoothly.
4. Always respond to comments and feedback: Be real and talk to your audience the same way you would in person. The more human and down to earth you are the better it is for you and your audience. This helps to build a good reputation and online loyalty.
5. Post quality, curated content: Writing up content that you can cut and paste into posts is a safer way to make sure your information is professionally written and spelling error free. If you take the time to write out your information ahead of time then you will not feel the rush to get it out there. By editing your information this gives you time to add keywords and useful hashtags.
6. Post professional looking images: Great looking photos promote quality and help build your brand. Always use natural lighting and try to create a style that is consistent throughout your posts. Make sure you know what sizes all your social media apps use by using an image size cheat sheet.
Now that we’ve gotten to the nitty gritty of how to get the social media ball rolling, it’s good to look at the big picture about why all this effort benefits your business. It’s true, social media takes work, planning, and scheduling. Some days you’ll see results and some days you’ll shake your head wondering why your latest post only got 10 likes. Don’t despair. It happens to even the top social marketers. Keep in mind consistent social marketing is a resource that helps to market your business. In the long run, social marketing can help you in the following ways:
- Your hard work will build loyalty and trust.
- All your constant posts will help increase website traffic.
- It will give you valuable insights and feedback about who your audience is and what they like.
- Social media makes it easier to share valuable and promotional information.
- It opens you up to new opportunities.
- It helps promote your brand online to a very wide audience.
- It’s an inexpensive form of marketing that has many benefits.
- It helps to boost your SEO rankings when you use consistently use key words in your posts.