Top 10 Social Media Tips for Business Owners
Elizabeth Adams | @elizdashiz
Oftentimes the world of social media can be foreign to business owners. Here are ten tips to get your business started on social media.
1. Define your top three business goals and incorporate them into your social media strategy. Who is doing running your company's social media? Is it an intern that has 500 followers on Instagram? Is it a fresh-out-of-college employee that volunteered because they use Twitter? Ask them today if they can list your business goals. Just because they know how to use the platform, doesn’t mean they know how to use it effectively. Every post should have the intention of getting a step closer to your business goals.
2. Start using video. 75% of executives watch work-related videos weekly. By 2017, video will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic, according to Cisco. Short, low budget clips are trustworthy and easy to make.
3. Choose the right social media platforms and abandon the rest. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Pick the channels that your target audience uses and don't try to spread yourself too thin covering them all.
4. Train your sales team. They can systematically use social media to increase sales. People often only update their personal LinkedIn profiles while they are searching for jobs. If they are applying for a sales position, their bio may say “they could sell anything to anyone.” If they don’t change this, the people they are selling to may feel taken advantage of. Don’t be scared to help your employees with their LinkedIn page but remember to trust them.
5. Create the right content. Use The Social Media Business Equation. With The Social Media Business Equation, your business will have just the right mix of content to keep followers coming back for more while still getting your company name out there.
6. Post easy-to-find links to all social channels on business homepage. Make sure your website contains prominent social media icons on your homepage that link to all of your maintained platforms. Ask someone that is unfamiliar with your company website if they can get to your social media pages within 30 seconds. They should be able to.
7. Maintain the company's voice on social channels. Just because it’s Twitter, doesn’t mean that you can use improper punctuation. Even if you are a very serious company, you can still be entertaining without compromising your voice. Humor is doable for a respected medical company just be sure to draft an overall voice and maintain it.
8. Have a consistent frequency of posts. Hold yourself accountable to a posting schedule. Don’t fall into a hiatus and don’t flood people’s feeds. Consistency makes shows you value your social media without overdoing it.
9. Repurpose content across all social channels. Try to avoid copying and pasting posts across platforms. However, you can utilize the same information in different ways. Post content that is to-the-point on Twitter, post content that is visually attractive on Instagram and Facebook, post content that is business-oriented on LinkedIn. Tailor your posts to the platform and your audience.
10. Establish a simple, safe and effective way to track ROI. ROI doesn’t always have to be likes and follower numbers. A return can be an in-person meeting with an industry leader. It can be a number of shares on Facebook. Always relate your tracking analytics back to your business goals.
Social media can help you take your business to the next level. With these ten tips, your company will be well on its way to garnering more attention and higher sales. If you need assistance with your social media, give our Social Media Services page a glance and see how we can help you.