Digital Marketing Solutions: Social Media Tips and Best Practices for Your Business
When it comes to social media and building social media best practices, it can often be a whirlwind to find out where to event start. Let alone to find advice for you to practically build social media with actionable steps and support.
And when you dive in, Simply creating a social media presence doesn’t guarantee success. It doesn’t even guarantee you views. Social media is living, breathing and it needs to be tended to every day.
So we’re breaking down social media tips and best practices to help you refine your approach to social media, no matter what industry you’re in:
Start small. I know, many experts advise going big, launching an all-out assault on social media. You need to be everywhere to capture different demographics, they say. Being on several different platforms demonstrates a coordinated marketing strategy, others will add.
I’m here to tell you that if you’re a small business owner doing all the ordering, bookkeeping, stocking, pricing, customer service, cleaning, and more, then you don’t have time to monitor and post on multiple social media platforms. Pick the one or two you’re most comfortable with to start, make them amazing and then expand from there when you have more time – or even a social media manager - to dedicate to the task.
Take advantage of scheduling tools. I know we all have the best intentions. Often I start the day thinking that I’ll open up for business, respond to a few emails, and then hit up social media. Then, a customer comes in, a vendor calls, a crisis needs to be addressed and before you know it, I’m exhausted and ready to go home. Late-night when you have some downtime is no time to make business posts. Use this time to schedule them instead.
Create a short, simple message. When it comes to social media, your audience is looking for something specific, and they don’t want to spend much time looking for it. You want your message to be short, simple, and straight to the point if you want to grab their attention. Let’s stick with the dog bed business for our examples.
If you sell dog beds for large breed dogs, instead of piling in as many words as you can, only use language that your audience is looking for – make your message read “Large dog? Here’s their new favorite bed”. That message is clear, concise, and it will hook the viewer and make them want to learn more.
Always have a call to action. Consumers are being shown so many different things daily that they need to be walked through a sale. For every social media piece you run, always make sure to include a call-to-action telling them where to go, or how to buy. This will lead them right into the sale.
Use strong action words and always include a call-to-action for guests. Based on your brand voice, decide how you would like to say words like ‘learn more’ ‘check out below’ and ‘click our site’
Have a Clear Look and Feel. Visuals should remain consistent in branding. Brand colors, brand fonts, length, angles, tone of voice, and even influencers are all considerations when keeping brand consistency. When a user looks at your page it should be consistent. When they are not on your page, you want them to know this is your brand without having to even click through.
Identify a Brand Voice: If brand strategy gives a guide to what you do as a brand, Brand Voice is the filter through which you bring that strategy to life. Your brand personality is described in an adjective. Choose how your brand will show up and stick with it. Are you friendly and casual, professional and polished, or quirky and humorous? Have a consistent tone will help give recognition to your brand and an experience people will come to know.
Content Choice: What photos do you use? Stock? UGC? Creative? What about emojis - do you use them or no? GIFs, Boomerangs, Slo-Mo, etc. … Get aligned on what is ok and what is not.
Here’s A Quick Checklist To Follow:
Choose your platform(s). We all have a personal preference to which channels we share and/or which we’d like to build. Identify which channels you’d like to share your content. Note, it can be more than one.
Follow best practices for each channel. There are character limits, image sizes, time constraints, check them out and follow them.
Use active words to encourage engagement. For example, using words like keep reading, learn more, read my latest, etc.
Encourage sharing way more than just inserting a link because it prompts action from the reader.
Share your social media channels, in your email signature. This is a reminder to outside audiences that you’re on social & sharing!
Remember, building an audience takes time. When it comes to sharing on social media, it’s a long-term game. Audience and engagement will build over time, so keep sharing & building!
Don’t forget to engage. How frequently will you conversate with customers? On what channels? What about negative responses?
Invest your time wisely. Sometimes we have a little time to devote to a project and other days we have more. Set aside a chunk of time each weekend to relax and devise a social media brand media strategy. Chip away at these goals a little each weekday when there are more demands on your time.
If you’re overwhelmed by the thought of taking on social media to help grow your small business, give us a call or send us an email at marketing@hackettbrand.com. We’re happy to help develop social media services that work for you.