Now for some tips the will get you off on the right foot when promoting your business using social media.
Tip #1 – Use Your Website Blog To Engage People On Social Media
- Select Your Blog Topic. You’ll need to take some time to research your niche, find keywords people are searching for and see what the competition is saying about the same topic (SEO).
- Write Your Article: Be sure to include engaging images that enhance your content. Don’t forget to optimize your images. Keywords are very important, so integrate them into your article so that search engines will find it. Check out these 7 valuable tips for writing quality website content.
- Publish To Your Website Blog: Carefully name your article so that people looking for your topic will be able to find it. Do a search yourself to see if your title works.
- Post To Your Social Networks: Schedule and post to all of your social networks. As this can be time-consuming, you might consider Local View’s highly-affordable Digital Marketing Pro.
- Link Your Social Media Posts Back To Your Blog: Be sure to create an engaging paragraph and an eye-catching graphic with a link to your article.
- Evaluate The Response To Your Post: Use the social analytics you’ll find on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., plus Google Analytics and any analytics your host may give you to see how people are responding to your post. Experiment with different text and images to see what works best. Wording and images can make all the difference.
Tip #2 – Create A Facebook Page For Your Business
- Get started: You’ll need to have a personal Facebook account to get started. Then follow these steps. Be sure to name the page after your business. Use your logo and a cover photo that best represents your business on social media. Check dimensions and resolution on your desktop and mobile to confirm that your images display properly and look good.
- Start posting. Remember, this is a social media platform, so your posts should connect with people visiting your page and not be a billboard for your business.
- Strike a balance: While some of your posts may directly promote your business (special offers, discounts, products, etc.), the majority should be focused on fulfilling the needs of your visitors. For instance, a cleaning company might do a post on how to care for kitchen countertops. Or an oral surgeon might to one on how to care for dental implants.
- Post frequently. While your organic posts may have a poor reach (more about improving this later), people visiting your website will check out your Facebook page to see whether it’s active. Activity on social media can also help Google page rankings in that more people may link to your posts.
- Boost posts or run ads: Couple your organic posts with paid advertising in order to achieve your social media marketing goals. Here are some tips on creating a social media budget to suit your overall strategy
- Fan Pages and Groups: Find and follow fan pages and groups with people who might have an interest in your brand.
- Engage: Post to pages and groups, plus like and comment on posts people have made to them.
- Evaluate: See how people respond to your posts and comments to see what may interest them most about your brand.
Tip #3 – Use Twitter To Increase Brand Awareness
- Get Started: Set up Twitter account.
- Research: Search for people who might have interests similar to what your brand offers by using hashtags. Include hashtags for your city to find people near you.
- Tweet Often: You’ll be linking your Twitter account to your webpage, so be sure your website visitors will see an active presence.
- Engage: Like and retweet on a regular basis. If you Direct Message, make sure it’s not for purposes of trying to make a sale. Twitter users may view this as spam.
- Evaluate: See how people respond to your interaction with them. Use Twitter analytics to evaluate your performance.
Tip #4 – Use Instagram and LinkedIn
- Get started: Set up your Instagram and LinkedIn accounts. Here are the links: Instagram; LinkedIn.
- Use tips 1 – 3: The same social media marketing tips apply to all social media, so if you’ve got these down, you’re good to go with Instagram, LinkedIn and other social media. Whatever you do, get started.