With the growing number of social media platforms, more and more businesses are taking advantage of having a digital presence.
However, it's not as easy at looks - here are our 6 top tips for businesses on social media.
1. Getting your PR right.
It is fundamental to your success to make sure you have the right PR people on board. With current market factors, you've got to get it right first time and ensure that you not only attract new customers, but retain those important ones you already have. The key error many people make is putting too much focus on bringing in new clients and the existing, loyal customers they already have are overlooked. When determining which PR agency you want to work with, meet the people, talk about your aspirations, listen to their advice and most importantly trust your gut. They should share your passion, understand your goals and advise on the best ways to maximise your full potential.
2. Make time.
Social Media is not as easy as just posting a quick photo to all platforms at once. Different platforms have different audiences and it is vital that you tailor your posts to suit each audience. Social Media isn't a quick fix for your business, it takes time to refine your message and figure out what works best for your business and your audience. You can't expect instant results overnight.
3. Understand the Platform.
Each platform is different, and there are various ways to get more engagement on each one; for example, posts on Instagram that use a location get on average 79% more engagement than those without, and the best time to share a post on Facebook, is at noon or just after 7pm. You need to ensure you research what will go in your posts to make sure it's relevant and make sure you're taking time to understand where your clients are, what they're interested in and how you can appeal to that audience.
4. A picture is worth a thousand words.
This saying is so true of social media. Think about it, when you're scrolling through your newsfeed at the end of the day, you're not going to stop for some black and white writing. Clear and engaging images, or even videos are the best way to pull in your audience. Posting photos and videos on Twitter is 35% more likely to get you a retweet and 85% more likely to be shared on Facebook.
5. Monitor your insights!
Insights are a fantastic way to track what is working on your page, and what isn't. You can track which posts are getting more engagement and what time of day you are pulling in more views. This is invaluable when determining what is actually working, so you can quite simply do more of it. Insights are just as important to determine what hasn't worked so well, so that you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
6. Mix up the content.
It is important that you don't promote your own services or brand too much. Michael Foote, Founder of QuoteGoat.com said, ' a good ratio is to ensure no more than 30% of your posts promote your business. The clue in in the term 'social media' - your feed shouldn't be a stream of promotional posts but should try and engage your audience with interesting and engaging content.' It's important that your profiles aren't too corporate either, people like to relate to your business and picture themselves using your products. You've got to keep it real and relatable.