As a business owner, you know that Social Media is important. But what are the best ways to use Social Media for your business? And how can you make sure that your efforts are successful? In this guide, we will take a look at tips and strategies for Social Media Marketing success. We’ll cover everything from setting up your accounts to creating effective content to measuring your results. So whether you’re starting out or you want to take your Social Media Marketing to the next level, this guide has you covered!
Table of Contents:
- Introduction to Social Media Strategy
- Setting Up Your Accounts
- Creating Effective Content
- Engaging with Your Audience
- Advertising on Social Media
- Measuring Your Results & Conclusion
Introduction to Social Media Strategy
As a business owner, you know that Social Media is important. But what are the best ways to use Social Media for your business? One way is to use social platforms to create a strong relationship with your customers and followers. Another way is to use them to share your content to reach a larger audience by encouraging followers to share your posts and videos. You can also use social media to advertise your business or products using paid posts.
Before you dive in too deeply, create a Social Media Strategy that outlines your goals, objectives, and target audience.
⦿ First, think about the WHAT/WHY and HOW of being on Social Media. Specifically, WHAT do you want to accomplish and WHY (your goal), and then HOW are you going to achieve this (your objective)? Do you want to increase your customer base? Do you want to engage more fully with your current customers? Are there customers you cannot reach any other way? Be brutally honest here. Social Media is just that – “Social” – so don’t expect to set up some accounts on various platforms and then walk away. You HAVE to commit to being Social with your followers.
For example: “Our goal is to become the go-to business for our customers in the Social Sphere. To meet this, our objective is to use Social Media to announce company changes, product and service launches, and learn what our customers like/love in order to drive engagement with current and prospective customers.”
⦿ Next, decide: Who is your target audience? What is their demographic? Are you a local company that will target only those in your area, or will you include those who are also INTERESTED in your area? What age group would be appropriate for your posts? WHO will help you meet your Goals and Objectives? Be as specific as possible.
⦿ Now you need to determine how far out you would like to plan your Content Calendar (30 days, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year?) and which holidays and/or special days (National Chocolate Day, Coffee drinkers day, etc.) are appropriate for your business to showcase. Next, determine how many times per day/week/month you can commit to posting, and decide if you will include Holiday/Special Day posts in that count. It’s important to be consistent, so be realistic with your time commitment.
Setting Up Your Accounts
The first step in Social Media Marketing is to set up your accounts. This includes creating profiles on each platform and populating them with information about your business.
Which platform will work best for you? This might take some research, but if you want to jump right in, start with the easiest platforms that will help meet your goals. Having your Target Audience in mind will help with this as well.
- Is your company video-driven? Start with Tiktok, Instagram, and YouTube (especially Shorts)
- Is your company image-driven? Start with Facebook and Instagram.
- Is your company in a more professional arena? LinkedIn and Facebook will work well for you.
Each platform has extensive instructions for setup steps (that change fairly often), so I’ll let you take the wheel for the exact setup process.
REMEMBER: Be sure to populate each platform with the same information about your business to maximize SEO.
Creating Effective Content
Once your accounts are set up, it’s time to start creating content. This includes both posts and images. We’ll start with a Content Calendar, filling in Holidays and other special days first, and then inserting business-related posts.
➼ With your Target Audience and Content Calendar timeline in mind, determine which Holidays (& other special days) will most appeal to your future followers and make a mark on your calendar (my clients use a large “H”). Using a physical calendar is often most helpful during this step to get a birds-eye view while filling in your posting schedule. (Don’t worry about generating posts yet — jot down ideas as they come to you.)
➼ Next, take a look at the dates that are left on your Content Calendar. Your posting count decisions will be important here. Did you determine to include Holiday/Special Day posts in your count? Do whatever math is necessary to figure out how many posts you’ll need to create to fill in the Calendar to meet your post commitment (how many you are doing every day/week/month).
➼ Think about your Target Audience — when do you believe they are online? Are there days that would be more popular than others? Are there times the majority of your future followers might be online?
➼ This is the time to start marking the days/times you’ll plan your Entertaining (“E”), Educational (“Ed”), and Informational (“I”) posts. This is also a good time to mention you’ll want to include (of course!) PROMOTIONAL posts (“P”). Try to keep these at 25-30% of your total posts — no more (unless you’ve got a big promotion or product/service launch).
➼ Now that your calendar is filled with H’s, E’s, Ed’s, I’s, and P’s, you’ll need that notepad you’ve been jotting ideas on. Holiday/Special Day posts are relatively easy, so I encourage creating those posts first. Informational and Promotional posts are next easiest, followed by Entertaining and Educational.
My current favorite tools for Social Content Creation are:
- Canva – for images/videos (they have an excellent content calendar option)
- Stencil – for images
- Socialbee – for scheduling posts
- Hootsuite – for scheduling posts
Engaging with Your Audience
Once you’ve started creating content, the next step is to engage with your audience. This involves liking, commenting on, and sharing other people’s posts about YOUR product/service.
Showcasing top customers with their products or followers who have tagged your page builds creates a strong bond. Do you have a new product or service announcement? Social Media is the perfect place to create the hype you need to make the launch successful!
Aside from that, remember to be consistent and kind.
Advertising on Social Media
Advertising on Social Media is a great way to reach new customers and clients. Since you’ve fleshed out your Target Audience (above) and created awesome posts, you’ve got the hardest parts done!
Most of my clients prefer to dip their toes in Social Media advertising by using the Boost feature. This is TOTALLY FINE, but you have to ensure you’re using Targeting so you’re not throwing your money away. So when you’re ready to try this out, choose a post with the most engagement and give Boosting a try — don’t throw too much money at it ($10-15, or even $20 is fine) and take a serious look at all the Targeting options available to you (check out what’s available on mobile AND desktop – you’ll see there ARE differences!).
While your boosted post is “running,” be sure to engage with those who comment and/or share. After your first Boosted post time/money ends, take a look at the post itself. Be sure to invite those who have clicked “Like,” “Love,” etc. to follow your page, and make sure you’ve replied to each commenter.
When you’re ready to do some serious Social Advertising, each platform has its specific advertising space:
Measuring Your Results
The final step in Social Media Marketing is to measure your results. This includes assessing your reach, engagement, and conversion rates – both for your Organic AND Paid Social Media Marketing. While measuring social media results, it’s important to track when your followers are online (days and times) so you can adequately adjust your posting schedule (Content Calendar) to maximize viewability.
Both of my favorite posting platforms (Socialbee and Hootsuite) have “analytics” that will provide information about your Social Media Marketing. Each of the Social platforms provides measurement metrics, as well. If you have Google Analytics installed on your Website, you can measure the direct impact Social Media has on your Website, as well.
Social Media Marketing is a great way to connect with customers and clients, attract new followers, and build trust and engagement. By following the tips, techniques, and strategies in this guide, you can set yourself up for Social Media success!
Are you confused about anything I’ve mentioned? Do you need help getting started with your Content Calendar or initializing and optimizing your Social platform(s)? Let me know – I’d love to help!