Social media has become a driving force in the marketing world. With new platforms on the rise and what can seem like a heavily saturated field, your business will have to nail down a social media strategy that can put you at the top of everyone’s feed. It can be a headache knowing where, what, or how you should post; so to make engaging on social media a little easier, let this be your guide to generating top content your customers won’t want to miss out on!
Social Media Basics
Before you start planning your content, it’s important to make sure you’ve optimized social media accounts for your business. Optimizing your social media can be done in a few different ways. Your first step is to declare your account as a business page. This gives you a wider variety of analytics and promotional options the average user won’t have access to. Depending on the platform, you’ll be able to see when your audience is the most active, how often users visit your page, promotional deals to make your posts into advertisements, and more. On some platforms you can even sign up to get paid for the interactions your audience makes if you have enough followers.
The next step to optimizing your page is to include descriptions in your profile bios that accurately reflect your business. Include common keywords using terms people search for that’ll lead them to your business, such as the product you sell, your profession, the type of service, or anything you use to regularly categorize your business. Including these key terms will help secure your spot in the platform’s algorithm. These help to land your content in the hands of users who actively pursue purchases or view content in that specified category. The description you craft for your bio also tells the user a quick summary of what you’re offering and including a line mentioning your mission statement will go a long way here. Users could turn away if there’s too much to read and not a lot of information for them to interact with.
Include a linktree in your bio tot allows users to see all of your important business information, including your website and other social media accounts. This can guide a user to fully commit to the customer journey and continue to engage with you on other platforms.
Choosing A Platform
It’s exciting how many platforms there are to post on, but you should keep in mind that not every single one will be best for your business. Short-form content, primarily found on TikTok, has quickly become a trendy way of engaging with users. Photo-based content can be utilized best on platforms like Instagram or Pinterest, which can even be used as a sales point. Instagram can be a great way to jumpstart a customer journey, as they offer a ‘shop’ feature where you can tag items in a photo that the user can then click on to view your site. It’ll directly put them on the page where the product is being sold and from there, you’re one step away from making a sale! Pinterest has also rolled out a similar feature that allows users to click on an image to direct them to the product page with ease.
It can be challenging to keep up with social media’s constantly changing algorithms. Still, if you’re able to master your approach on one platform, it can be easy to transition users to other mediums. Focusing on one platform for too long can hinder your reach, so having a diverse approach to your content can help strengthen your brand even further. A multichannel approach to content can be a tricky thing to master, which means you should cater your content to what the platform supports instead of trying to make one piece of content fit every platform.
This is your opportunity to use your social channels as a business portfolio. Users will be more interested in interacting with content that varies from post to post, and creating a brand identity can play a strong role in this. But, generally, surprising users with different approaches to your content can keep your engagements higher when algorithms change.
With that in mind, it can be easy to get caught up in trends that evolve within platforms. It’s great to cater to a fun trend every now and then, but making content to constantly fit fleeting trends or posting to go viral won’t help you establish a strong customer base. Trends should be used to reach new audiences and if you’re choosing a platform based on the trend, it may not lead to long-term or sustainable sales. Staying true to your brand image and style will gradually bring you the target audience your business is aiming to reach, so don’t wait too long to distinguish your brand!
Content Schedules
The key to making a sustainable business page for customer engagement lies within the consistency of your content. Content schedules are a great way to keep yourself accountable and make a great visual to refer back to. If you’re looking to make a detailed list of your content or go the extra mile to link your platforms together to create that multichannel posting approach, using content management tools can help you keep everything together and even provide you with an all-encompassing analytic report to ensure you’re informed on how your content is performing.
As you make your schedule, it’s important to keep in mind the relevancy of the content. Aligning your posts directly with product release dates, giveaways, or even keeping in mind specific holidays or social events will keep your content relevant to users and has a better chance of performing. To keep yourself from falling behind in the production of your content, it’s best to plan a little more than a month ahead of time. Planning this far out will give you enough time to create powerful concepts and allow you plenty of time to execute your ideas.
If being a full-time business owner and learning the tricks of the media trade is too much to do on your own, hiring a social media manager can help lighten your load. Their job is to stay on top of trends, produce content, engage with your audience through comments and direct messages, and help you maintain your brand image. If hiring a social media director or investing in content scheduling tools is out of your budget, getting the proper funding can help you kickstart your internet presence and get you on your path to being a social media forward business.
Now that you’re equipped with the basics to be strategic with your social media, you should enjoy the fun that can come with brainstorming for your social media campaign. Your business is your own creation and at the end of the day, using social media can be a powerful tool in your marketing plan. So be sure to proudly share content to represent your business, and happy posting!
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