As we all know, the world of social media is full of opportunity. Most times, we’ll get caught up in the stories we have to tell, announcements to make, and information to share. However, as we work through our creativity, simple yet important tasks in social media management can fall through the cracks.
Social media, when done correctly, is a useful tool to connect with your audience and to provide them with the information they’re looking for when searching for your product or service. In addition, it promotes your brands’ expertise alongside an audience that may be otherwise hard to reach. Whether you’re looking to increase your social media following, get more people to attend your event, or increase brand awareness, this list is for you!
Create a Social Media Calendar
Like many things in life, planning ahead will save you time, maximize your resources and allow for a proactive, strategic approach to generating content. Oftentimes, when businesses begin posting on social media without plan, their content can be of low quality, lack engagement and can come off more ‘reactive’ vs ‘proactive.’ Without a plan, it can easily get put on the back burner because beyond everything, your business comes first. Take preventative measures by planning your social media content ahead of time. Start with one week and work your way up to a month ahead of schedule and you’ll be a pro in no time.
Post Consistently
Consistency is key in the social media world. It’s such a fast-paced environment that your content can disappear quickly from your targeted audiences’ feed, which is why it’s crucial to post high quality content often. This will help increase your brand awareness, improve your social media engagement, and plus, the algorithms on each platform will favor your posts, enabling more people to see your content. Start small and publish 2- 3 postings a week and increase as you feel more confident.
Keep Your Information Updated
When was the last time you updated your Facebook bio? Have your business hours changed recently? Have you added new services to your business? Your business is constantly evolving and your potential customers need to know it. Make sure you update your business profiles, especially on Facebook and your Google MyBusiness Page. Fun fact: statistics have shown that when individuals research a new business, they do 1 of 2 things: Check out the business on Facebook, or Google them. If either is outdated, non-existent or featuring inaccurate information, you may risk losing a potential client or customer. Set a reminder to update your business profiles every quarter or so to reflect your company’s growth and ensure your customers are always viewing the right information.
Test Out New Hashtags
Have you been taking advantage of hashtags in your social media strategy? If not, there’s still time to incorporate it into your current social media game plan. Hashtags were made to connect people with one another based on similar interests. This is your chance to expand your reach and start researching which hashtags work the best for you and which don’t. It’s always helpful to create a list of hashtags for different posts to evaluate which hashtags have helped you connect with new customers and which aren’t effective. Not sure where to start? Here’s a helpful hashtag generator to get you started!
*Pro-Tip: Create your own hashtag for your business to help spread the word about your product or service! Take your time to brainstorm the perfect hashtag because it’ll represent your brand, but keep it short and sweet!
Collaborate With Your Community
Social media was built as a way to bring people together.. As a small business, we often strive to connect with like-minded businesses to promote each other and engage with our target audience. This strategy can help you gain new customers, build your brand awareness, gain attention from potential collaborators and/or those who can refer you and more. To do this, start liking and following more business pages, engage with their content using reactions, share relevant posts that perhaps you can lend a unique perspective on, and don’t forget to comment back to your followers!
All in all, maintaining your business social media profiles and engaging with your audiences is something that requires dedicated time. . We get it, the constant changes in the digital marketing landscape can be overwhelming and at times daunting, but with these simple tips, you’ll be able to get the hang of social media in no time. Looking for additional tips on how to engage with your audience and beef up your marketing efforts a bit? Check out this article for more info. You got this!