Social media is a free and powerful weapon in your digital marketing armoury, but many businesses fail to truly maximise on its potential. Here are 6 easy tips to help you make the most of it.
- Engage with your audience
The key to a successful social media presence is to interact with your followers, so set aside some time each day to respond to any comments you’ve received. The key is to build connections and establish the long-term relationships that are increasingly key to a brand’s success. If you’re just posting updates but not interacting, you can’t expect loyalty or interest from your followers.
2. Plan, plan plan!
It’s easy to think you can just make it up as you go along, but the most successful social media accounts are usually the result of meticulous planning. Set aside some time each week to schedule posts with accompanying pictures. In the long run this will save you time and it can also help you ensure that you create a good variety of types of post – for example, sharing interesting content, company updates, competitions and conversation starters.
3. Get the pictures right
Social media is a visual media so make sure you consider not just what you’re saying but what images you are going to post alongside it. Images that give insight into your business are a great idea, but spend some time learning the basics of photography so that the images look great. Remember, your phone has picture editing software on it that can hugely improve the look of the pictures you take. Also, take a look at other accounts and imagery you like and try to replicate some of their techniques.
4. Reply promptly to DMs
It’s important to be responsive – otherwise your customers will think you don’t care. Keep an eye on any activity and try to reply promptly to any messages you receive – these might be important questions that will determine whether someone becomes a customer. In times of the coronavirus pandemic, you are especially likely to get questions from customers checking things such as your opening times. A friendly, prompt response can go a long way to winning customer loyalty.
5. Be consistent in what you post and when
Social media algorithms favour accounts that are consistent in terms of the type of content that is posted and when it’s posted, so try to keep things steady. Additional ad hoc posts are fine, but they should be backed by a regular pattern of content.
6. Include a call to action
To encourage interaction and maximise on your audience, every post should include a call to action. This could be an invitation to visit your website, leave a comment, or take part in a survey. If your post is directly encouraging someone to buy something from you, make it as easy as possible by including the relevant link.
