Whether you’re starting a small business based in Missoula, an online-based service available across the world, or just considering how social media can better your existing business, you’ll want to know the best ways on how to use it.
- Be Aware of Your Platforms
There’s nothing wrong with having a profile and presence on every social media platform – in fact, it’s encouraged – but you should understand the ways in which certain platforms can work best for you. Depending on what your business and product is, there may be one social media platform that is more suitable than the rest, and therefore should have a large focus.
You can also use statistic research to better understand which kind of audience is most using certain platforms. Snapchat statistics, for example, reveal the age range and popularity of the social app, so you can see whether this is popular with your target market.
- Organize All Your Content
Something spontaneous may arise which you really want to post about, spur of the moment, on social media – and that’s absolutely fine. However, spontaneous posts should be posted alongside well-structured, well-formulated and organized content which you have developed well in advance.
Although social media doesn’t require as much in-depth organization as large chunks of content such as blogs do, it still requires a methodical approach in terms of relevance and tone of voice, as well as preparing appropriate imagery.
There are many content creation tools and suite systems you can use to better plan and schedule your posts in advance.
- Don’t Use Social Media Just to Promote
Although the whole point of your business using social media is to promote yourself and gain new sales, you don’t want to be overly promotion-focused. You can create new sales just by having interesting content and posts, even if they are completely unrelated to your product. If you develop a personality for your business and a rapport with consumers based on the general content you post, they will be more likely to click on to your services and place an order with you.
You should, of course, still post advertisements and promotions of your business via social media, but it shouldn’t be every single post, all the time.
- Engage with Others
Using social media isn’t just about waiting for consumers to come to you. You should actively visit other profiles and interact with all relevant content and discussions with individual personalities or businesses. Like or comment on other people’s posts, and encourage engagement as much as possible, whether through questions, discussions or even giveaways.
- It’s All About the Visual
With so many posts a day for consumers to scroll through, it’s often an eye-catching photo that stands out. Ensuring that you focus on your visual means you can attract the right person before delving a little deeper via your descriptions and text.
Video is also a great medium to use, especially on Instagram if the video is programmed to start playing automatically when scrolling. Anything visual and interesting which attracts attention is a huge plus, and this is the kind of thing people like to see on social media.