I’m preparing for a small presentation this afternoon with some local farmers about using Social Media to improve their marketing strategy, and I wanted to share some of these tidbits with our readers so you can make the most out of your social management with advice from legit social marketing companies.
Quite simply, Social Media is necessary for all businesses.
When I’m out and about with my husband and we’re running errands or shopping, I’m looking up products and businesses on my cellphone. I’m looking for quick directions or hours, I’m reading reviews, I’m seeing what they are up to on Facebook to see if they have specials that I can take advantage of.
As I’m scrolling through the web of social, I am also occasionally seeing a sponsored ad on Facebook for a product or service that has been targeted at my demographic. In a few split seconds I’ll have determined whether I will click to find out more, or scroll past and continue on my day. That group of seconds are all it takes for someone to make an impression on whether they want to do business with your, or even read more about you.
Knowing you only have that little bit of time to make that impression, it’s imperative that you make a good one. So we’ve compiled a very basic and quick list of the “Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media” to help your small business gain traction through your own social strategy, or any social marketing initiatives you decide to try out.
Social Media Advice from Social Marketing Companies
Do
- Include your brand whenever possible in the items you post on social media in order to promote brand recognition.
- Share articles from other websites as long as it pertains to your industry.
- Post consistently, at least 1-2 times per week if not more.
- Use images with your posts whenever possible. Users are visual by nature so will pause more when seeing an image in order to read more about it.
- Base your content around your customer base, not your personal preference.
- Pay attention to your insights to know when to post and who you are posting to.
- Have a personality and provide good customer service even on social media.
- Link your social media on your website so users can follow your brand.
- Fill out your social media accounts completely with as much information as possible.
- Entertain and Inform more than you sell. Provide substance to your users to keep them interested and grow your following.
- Keep your brand consistent across all social networks.
Do Not
- Boost posts that link to other websites or that don’t have a call to action to like your page or visit a website to perform an action once there.
- Make posts of a personal, religious, or political nature unless it pertains to your industry.
- Post without proofreading your posts for spelling or grammatical errors.
- Share too much. Followers will get annoyed if they see tons of posts from you throughout the day.
- Delete negative comments. If a user is unhappy and posts about it on your social media, use this opportunity to show your quality customer service. Censoring your facebook will not go unnoticed and may do more harm than good.
- Use too much automation. It’s fine to use technology to cut down on time, but you should always continue to provide your own personal flare to your brand and respond in a timing manner and in a way that is intelligent to that social network.
- Type in all caps as this looks unprofessional.
- Abuse hashtags. Use relevant hashtags but overuse looks unprofessional.
To really sum it all up, all you really need to do is put your best foot forward and be personable and professional with your marketing. Just enjoy the ability to be able to reach out to customers easily and sell yourself. As a tool, Social Media can do wonders for your business, and it’s the most affordable advertising platform we’ve ever had as business owners.
Utilize it.
