To some people, social media seems like a waste of time or a useless distraction. To others, social media is an important link to friends, family, and followers. To businesses, social media can be a key ingredient in their online marketing success. With proper social media use, you can increase your brand awareness, get more traffic, and offer higher customer satisfaction.
In this blog, we’ll go over a few of the most popular and useful social media platforms so you can learn how to best utilize them to expand your business. Don’t leave potential clients on the table; learn how to post, tweet, and follow with the best of them.
In recent years, Facebook has developed a reputation as a platform that is slowly going out of style. But Facebook’s millions of daily users beg to differ. If potential customers try to look you up on Facebook, you want to be sure to provide the information they’re looking for.
So how do you build trust with a Facebook page? You have a few options for the content you choose to post. One thing you can do is share behind-the-scenes looks at your business. Use photos or videos to highlight certain events or employees. This helps your followers connect with your business more personally and can help you create more of an online community rather than just advertising your products.
While creating an online community is the goal for your business’s Facebook page, it also has a great ability to spread news of promotions, sales, new products, or events. If people follow your Facebook page, they likely are hoping for insider access to these sorts of things. Reward your customers with information and content that will help them save money when they buy from you.
Twitter has stayed steadily popular for years with millions of users each month. While it may not have as broad a reach as Facebook, its extreme accessibility means you can reach all sorts of people with ease. However, Twitter restricts its posts (tweets) to 280 characters or less. So how do you use such a small space to connect with your target audience?
Twitter is by far the most casual platform around, so you can take advantage of that fact with your tweets. Post quick online contests to generate engagement, toss up a promotion to spread the word, or tweet a funny thought related to your industry. Be sure to use relevant hashtags as well.
Be playful and fun while still providing value to your audience. And be sure to pay attention to anyone who mentions your company or asks you questions through the platform. Respond to everyone you can in a friendly and personable way.
Instagram is still one of the newer platforms out there, but with over a billion users each day, you don’t want to forget about it. While it started as a place to share photos, Instagram has since added a video feature called “stories.” These two features, photos and videos, allows you to show, not tell the story of your business.
Keep in mind, Instagram is more popular with a younger audience, and it’s built for mobile use. This means that you need to maintain a regular posting schedule to stay relevant with your audience. So how do you do that?
With Instagram, you can create fun, creative ads that won’t actually feel like ads to your audience. Drive engagement with photos of promotional items, images that show off your brand values, or videos that convey your brand’s personality. You can even use polls to get people talking. Make sure to update your story as often as you can to maintain engagement.
Because Instagram is so visual, you shouldn’t settle for the camera on your phone. Use high-quality photos and videos to show that your business focuses on quality.
YouTube
You may not think of YouTube as social media, but this platform is one of the biggest around. Audiences both young and old rely on YouTube to entertain and inform, and you can provide helpful educational videos to your customers.
Whether you use instructional videos, product reviews, or interesting fact blurbs, you can provide helpful information for people looking to learn more about your products or services. “How to” videos are some of the best you can post, especially if you sell products that require instructions of any kind.
If you don’t sell products, you can still post videos describing your company, showing your team at work, or personifying your business values to help your audience learn more about who you are and what sets you apart.
To reach your audience, you have to title your videos with the keywords you’re aiming for and make sure to tag your videos accurately. Also, YouTube is great for linking to other social media platforms. You can easily direct other users to your videos to answer their questions.
Conclusion
While social media marketing isn’t exactly easy, it’s definitely worth it. Billions of people use these platforms each month, and even if you reach a tiny fraction of those users, that extra engagement can really boost your business. If you want to learn more about how to maximize your social media efforts, talk with Grow Team today.