Many businesses know how essential it is to be active on social media, but few truly understand how to get the most out of it. Perhaps you are one of them. You launch a Facebook and Twitter profile, link to a few blog posts, then give up when the flood of targeted traffic fails to materialise.
But there is much more involved if you want to enjoy success with social media, and here are a few best practices that you should follow.
Create a Publishing Schedule
Plan well in advance with your social media posts. Create a publishing schedule for the year and decide which types of content will you be publishing at Christmas and any important dates throughout the year related to your business, including trade shows and holidays. Plan your ideas so you have them ready in advance and then you won’t have to come up with posts in the moment.
Don’t Produce All Your Own Content
You will want to create a large amount of authoritative content and share this with your social followers. But don’t try to do everything. Spend time searching for existing content that provides value to your followers, including blog posts, videos and any other form of content, and become an aggregator as well as a publisher. This is also a good way to build connections with other influential social media users.
Monitor Your Brand Mentions
Be smart with social media. People can and will say anything about you, and comments can be both positive and negative. Don’t ignore either of them.
Use a tool to monitor brand mentions. And reply to positive reviews and comments with a thank you to show you appreciate it. When a negative comment is left, show that you care. Respond quickly, address their concerns and ask how you can help. Other people will see that you care, and this can help your reputation.
It’s Not a Numbers Game
Big numbers are good, and it never hurts to show off a large number of followers. But it is not the be all and end all. You should focus on loyalty first, which means building a smaller number of loyal followers and building relationships with them over time. Social media is not instant, and it can take time to see results, so be patient.
Get Your Followers Engaged
To get your social followers engaged, you need to focus on interactive content. Don’t just present articles or videos, and instead use polls, competitions, quizzes, webinars and more
Start Selling Slowly
You may have heard that social media is not about selling, and that it is primarily about building relationships. But that should still translate into sales. Start by connecting and engaging with followers, but don’t be afraid to send out details of offers after a while.
You may want to experiment with advertising. Both Twitter and Facebook have advertising options, and these can be very effective. You can use the ads to target your audience very specifically and reach out to the right people, so it is worth giving them a go.
Start Getting Results from Social Media
These are a few of the tactics you can use to improve your social media strategy. If you have not been getting the results you feel you should be from your social media activity so far, see if you have been following these best practices, and make the necessary changes to start getting more from the amount of effort you put into your social accounts.
