What’s your social media strategy look like? Unfortunately, many business owners turn a blind eye to social media, assuming it offers little-of-no value to them. It’s now until their competitors begin to steal their business when they realize just how important this platform is.
#1) Complete Your Profile
Upon creating your social media profiles and pages, you should fill out your profiles to include as much information about your business as possible. Even if a field is labeled “optional” — which many are — it’s recommended that you fill it in. Consumers often use social media to locate the street address of a business. Failure to include your business’s address in your social media profiles may result in fewer sales.
#2) Use Hashtags
While they were originally designed for use on Twitter, #hashtags have since spread into other social media networks. You can now use them on Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Tumblr. Whenever you make a post on social media, try to get into the habit of including one or two relevant hashtags that reflect what the post is about. Doing so will increase your posts’ visibility by allowing users to find them more easily.
#3) Post Daily
According to BufferApp, brands will receive the highest level of engagement if they make two posts on Facebook per day. If you have trouble remembering to log into Facebook to make daily posts, consider using a third-party scheduling app like HootSuite. Using this app, you can schedule all of your social media in advance, allowing you to focus your attention on other aspects of running and growing your business.
#4) Don’t Use Your Facebook Profile
An all-too-common mistake made by small business owners is using their personal Facebook profile to promote their products and services. This may seem harmless enough, but it’s against Facebook’s terms and services, and violating the terms could result in your account being close. If you are going to use Facebook for commercial purposes (hint: you should!), set up a dedicated Facebook Page by visiting https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/ and follow the instructions.
#5) Diversify Your Content
You can increase visitor engagement on your social media profiles by posting a variety of different content types. On Facebook, for instance, try to include a combination of text posts, links, images and videos. Mixing up your posts with different types of content can make a world of difference in attracting new followers to your account.
#6) Consider Paid Advertising
When promoting your brand on social media, you have one of two different options: you can take the free route, or you can take the paid route. Many social media networks now offer advertising solutions for business owners. Facebook Ads is one such platform on which business owners can promote their brands for as little as a couple cents per click.
