Summary: Here are the best social media tips that will give your emerging business a boost.
Starting a new business, or even trying to revamp your current one, can be stressful enough, but now you’re supposed to figure out social media too? Many new businesses don’t have the capacity to hire a full time staff-member dedicated to social media, but that doesn’t mean you should let it slide. According to Hootsuite, there are over 2 billion active social media accounts, which means that you could potentially reach a LOT of people with very little investment. If you’re new to the social media world but want to use it for your business, here are some great social media tips to help you get started without driving you crazy.
- Commit. One of the biggest keys to running a social media account is consistency. Whether you post 5 times a day or 3 times a week, just make sure you’re consistent. You don’t want to post sporadically or people will be less likely to follow. They want to know how often they’ll be receiving your content.
- Give value. You have to ask yourself: why would someone follow my account? What’s in it for them? There are millions of companies and entrepreneurs out there trying to get followers, so you need to look at your account from your target audience’s point of view. Give them value, whether that’s motivational quotes, stylish outfits, or tips and tricks in your trade.
- Encourage involvement. To get your accounts off the ground, ask your staff, friends and family to follow your account. Your staff especially should be willing to like and comment on things that are posted, or share any interesting articles from your page.
- Include a call to action. Posting a great picture or sharing an article is nice, but the key to social media isn’t just sharing content, it’s also about getting engagement. You want your followers to feel involved and that their opinions matter. Include questions at the end of posts to encourage conversation.
- Always respond to comments. Unless you’re at the point where you’re getting hundreds of comments per post (and if you are, you probably don’t need this article!) then you need to respond to each and every comment, even if it’s just a “thanks!” Engage with your followers as much as you can.
- Develop an editorial calendar. You want your postings to be organized and have some consistency and purpose. Anchor your postings around events and happenings. For example, if a new product is launching on a certain day, you would start a few weeks before and then build the excitement as the day gets closer.
- Share other people’s content. Not only does this save you from writing your own blog posts, but it improves connections and makes you a source of information. Look for shareable content that your followers will find valuable or interesting and include a comment or question to encourage discussion.
- Keep your branding and message consistent across platforms. Social media is meant to drive traffic to your website, so include links. Be sure the brand across both is consistent.