In this day and age, it’s a no brainer that you should be using social media for your business. Social media marketing is a “must do” for any business owner. However, to do it correctly and get the most out of your social media marketing, you need to understand all of the nuances of each different social media platform.
Here are some tips for making the most out of your social media for your business:
Who’s Your Audience?
There are multiple different social media platforms – far too many for one company, large or small, to try to be the best at all of them. You need to know where your audience is and what platforms they are using. This is the only way you’ll really be able to connect with your specific target audience.
For example, if you are a highly visual company with high quality visuals, then you will find your audience mostly on sites like Pinterest and Instagram, where you can use high quality photos to interact with your audience.
For a more professional audience you’ll want to be on LinkedIn, and when you want word of mouth then social media sites like Twitter and even Facebook are best for that. Don’t just limit yourself to these one of two social media platforms, though. Just be sure you focus more of your target efforts for your audience to the platforms where you audience will be.
Don’t Just Sell You on Social Media
The whole point of social media is to be social. This means you must interact and engage with your customers. Don’t always be asking them to do something or buy something, but rather make a social connection with them.
Do be careful in how you respond to customers, too. When someone is lashing out at you, it might be tempting to lash back, but that creates bad word of mouth for you. You should address praise and criticism in a professional and courteous manner.
Be Transparent and Own Your Mistakes
Sometimes you might say the wrong thing on social media. Maybe you thought you were signed into a personal account or maybe your words were misunderstood, or you said something in haste without thinking about it first. It’s okay; it happens, but you must address it.
Don’t delete and say nothing and think it’s just going to go away. Own up to your mistake and if necessary offer up a sincere apology. Don’t make a hasty response, though. That’s what likely got you in trouble in the first place. You might think you need to react quickly for damage control, but taking the time to think about how to properly address something will help you keep your foot out of your mouth.
Post Frequently
This doesn’t mean so frequently that you come off as spammy, but try to post on a fairly regular basis. Perhaps that’s just once a day, or maybe it’s two or three times a day. Be purposeful in your postings, though, and be sure you take the time to post.
Responding to Negative Feedback
Let’s face it; you’re not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. It’s the way of life, but just because someone doesn’t like you or your company or what you’re selling doesn’t mean they are wrong. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion.
Negative comments can be very upsetting, but if you ignore them and don’t deal with them, then it can be much more damaging to your reputation. Maybe you’ll win them over; maybe you won’t. Offer up a way to help the customer resolve their issue. Ask to take it to private message, and perhaps a phone call will be in order to try to direct it off of public social media posts.
Track Your Social Media
Know what kind of posts are getting the most interaction and what time you’re posting them. This will help you connect better with your audience by knowing what they like to see and when they’re most likely to see it.
Social media marketing can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Following the above steps will be a great start to creating highly interactive communities around your business on social media. If you would like to start the journey toward Social Media, let us know!
