Most entrepreneurs realize that they need a social media presence to communicate with customers, decrease marketing costs, and increase sales, brand awareness, brand authority, traffic to their website and search engine rankings. However many of you struggle with how to be the most effective on social media. It very likely takes a large chunk of your time. You need to do everything possible to make that time and money a good return on investment.
Use these seven tips to increase your social media effectiveness
Start with One Network
Although it’s true that you need to have a good grasp of all the major social networks, specializing in one social network to start out will help achieve success. Choose the platform where your target audience is spending their time. After establishing success there, you can add another. If you’re not sure where your audience is, consult the latest stats and research found online. This article has detailed demographics.
Proofread. Proofread. Proofread.
A typo every now and then is not the end of the world but chronic typos, misspelling, and/or grammatical errors could destroy your credibility. Read before you post AND after you post. All platforms have an edit button so USE IT. If you have even the smallest question in your mind about spelling or grammar, look it up! You can even have someone proofread your posts.
No one says you have to be perfect (except maybe the grammar police!) but if you consistently post poorly written musings, it reflects poorly on you and your business.
The good news is you don’t have to rely on only your eyes. Use the tools available to you. I highly recommend Grammarly. Sign up for the free account and it will automatically check everything you write so all you have to do is pay attention and follow its’ suggestions.
And please, apply this to any memes you create or even share! You will be surprised how many are passed around that have glaring typos or grammatical errors. Even if you didn’t create it, it reflects on you if you share it.
Follow the 60/20/20 rule for posting
60% helpful/useful information
20% support your followers/friends
20% self-promotional
In your excitement to promote your product or service, you may forget that it is SOCIAL media. We get so wrapped up in promoting and marketing that we forget to GIVE. If you use the majority of your social media posts to drive people to actions you want them to take, you will come off as just another money-grabbing shark.
Before you post ask yourself, “What value can I provide? What are my followers looking for and what do they need?”
A business coach may offer a tip of the week to handle employee relations. A graphic designer may suggest the best colors for your logo. The technical expert can post regarding the newest tech gadget with a link to more information. What can you share?
- Provide Top-Quality Tips. Sharing tips that make your follower’s lives easier or business’ better is the best way to catch the eye of your target audience. If you can combine really useful tips with the latest-breaking changes in the industry, it is even better!
- Be Generous – Credit and Share. If someone else has written a post you found useful, provided a fabulous list of resources or a juicy tip – share it and give credit to the author! Never be afraid to share other’s knowledge with your audience. You’re proving you have their best interests at heart and that you are all on the journey together. Just as important, share your followers’ posts and tips too (people love to be noticed and acknowledged; particularly by experts).
- Engage with Your Followers. Ever had a one-sided conversation? Not interesting. If you are speaking to someone in person and they answer, do you just ignore them? I hope not because that would be rude. So when someone is interested enough to comment on your post, at least acknowledge them! Even a brief “thanks for the input” will make them feel valued.
Simply said: Be Social.
Illustrate your Posts and Links with Graphics
People have become immune to links and many have conditioned themselves to gloss over them and keep the eye moving. A photograph helps stop people in their tracks if it “tells” them instantly what they’ll get when they glance at the photo. You should use this tip with blog post links especially.
Keep these tips in mind:
- Double-check graphic sizes for each platform as they are always changing.
- Graphics of people often convert better than graphics of things.
- You can use online tools like Canva or Visme to create amazing social media graphics that will get attention and results.
Be Consistent
Set up a posting schedule and stick to it. Like websites, your social media pages should be consistent and coherent. This involves updating on a regular basis with content that is always related to your business. Irrelevant content will do nothing but push important and relevant content down your timeline or feed.
Be Nice
Don’t you just love it when someone totally goes off on you in a post? It’s even more special when you can’t quite figure out what you have done to upset the poster. I had someone send me a private message (thank goodness it was a PM!) blasting me for not giving away my services for FREE. I did not know this person from Adam but they had decided I was a bad person building my fortune on the backs of the downtrodden. Yikes!
No matter how much you really want to let loose, put on your nice hat and be professional. In my case, I explained what I do and how I provide a legitimate service for business people. This didn’t actually improve the other person’s disposition but I left the conversation on a positive note from my side. A few weeks later, I actually received a note of apology from the person. Lesson learned: Everyone has a bad day (week, month) in their life. So instead of making it worse for them, be nice.
Hashtags
I admit it. I find the seemingly lovable hashtag annoying. There I said it. But they are inevitable in social media so I have caved and actually use them myself.
When you use a hashtag, your content will be accessible to all users interested in similar topics who search for your hashtag. Choosing the right hashtag can greatly broaden the reach of your social media posts to thousands of potential followers, fans or customers.
My beef with hashtags comes in when they are overused and abused. To keep yours under control following these simple guidelines (compliments of Wix.com)
- Keep it short: To save everyone the headache, don’t squish too many words into one hashtag. For example: #IReallyHateLongHashtagsLikeThisOne.
- Don’t overuse: Another thing you want to avoid is writing your entire caption with one hashtag per word. #Because #if #you #do #this #noone #will #read #it. As a rule of thumb, only put a hashtag next to the words that are really significant. And, please, put it at the end of your text.
- Think strategically: This applies to the ‘content hashtags’. By definition, since you won’t have created them, they are probably used by other brands. Which is a good thing, since people will look at this hashtag. But at the same time, when a hashtag is overcrowded, you can be sure that your content will go unnoticed. So it’s highly recommended to mix content hashtags with a high volume, with other hashtags that are more specific.
Also learn the best practices on each platform.
Are you using these seven tips in your social media marketing strategy?
If not, take the time to re-evaluate if you are as effective as you want to be. What do you need to add or change? If you have any additional tips, please share them in the comments!
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