How much time per week are you devoting to your social media marketing efforts?
If you’re like most small business owners, the answer is probably somewhere along the lines of “not enough.”
Running a small business takes a lot of time, effort, and energy, and you have to choose which squeaky cog gets the proverbial grease. While many small businesses turn to hire a social media marketing agency to take the time-consuming work off their plates, others decide to do it on their own.
If you’re the DIY type, we want to share with you 15 tips that can help your small business more efficiently and effectively manage and grow your social media accounts.
Offer Value (Don’t Promote)
A recent survey found that the biggest reason people unfollow brands and companies is that they are too promotional.
Put yourself in the shoes of your audience—do you have any interest at all in viewing what amounts to a commercial that adds zero value to your life?
This is why it’s essential to add some sort of value to every social media post you make. Offer a tip, start a discussion, or talk about solving pain points (without explicitly promoting your services or products).
Create Relationships
Creating relationships and opening a dialogue will tremendously help improve user engagement. There are several different ways you can go about creating a relationship with your users:
- Start a customer service channel
- Use social listening tools to listen for brand mentions
- Create a contest or incentive
- Offer a free webinar to help solve client/customer pain points
Incorporate Videos
Videos tend to get a considerable amount of user engagement on such channels as Facebook. Most modern web cameras or cell phones will allow you to record a professional-looking video that you can post on your social media channels. Some content ideas include:
- How-to video
- Thought leadership video
- “A day in the life of…” video (of your employees at work)
- Upcoming product/service teasers
Be Authentic
Your audience can sniff out an insincere social media post in a nanosecond. It’s important to be yourself—don’t try to use fancy words or come off as someone you’re not.
Be Consistent
Consistency is key when it comes to managing a social media account. This is one area that many small businesses tend to fail. They either can’t find the time to make a post or run out of good ideas for content.
There are many tools (free and paid) out there that will allow you to schedule content for posting weeks or months in advance. This will enable you to take a Sunday afternoon to create all social media posts for the entire month.
Write to Your Audience
Know who your audience is, what they like, and what they don’t like. By providing them with content that pertains to their interests, you’ll be able to make a much deeper connection while improving engagement at the same time.
Images and Hashtags
Be sure to use images on all posts that you make. Plain text social media posts don’t get nearly as many likes and comments as those with photos. Hashtags are essential as well but don’t overdo them. Research the most popular relevant hashtags and stay away from ones that aren’t as popular.
Add a Human Element
Consider creating a couple of “employee spotlight” social media posts wherein you feature and showcase a short bio of one of your workers. You can start by giving that employee a 10-question survey in which they can describe the work they do daily, their hobbies, and anything else that adds a very real human element.
Use Newsjacking
Newsjacking is a form of content wherein you find a recent news story, paraphrase it, and offer your unique take on it. This can help spark discussions and improve user engagement.
Follow Your Audience
Follow your followers and like and retweet their posts every so often. Keep in mind that there is a fine line you’ll need to walk as it can come off a bit weird if a brand starts following you and commenting on every post you make.
Optimize Your Profiles
As “obvious guy” as this tip may seem, you’d be surprised at how many small businesses neglect to completely fill out and optimize their social media profiles. Set a calendar reminder every quarter to review your profile information for accuracy and completion.
Consider Paid Ads
Paid advertising can help draw in new likes and followers. Keep in mind that depending on your industry and chosen keywords, it can quickly get expensive. Try setting a small monthly budget and see which days/times work best.
Track Your Results
If you don’t track the results of your social media efforts, you’re no different than the person who puts a message in a bottle and sets it adrift in the ocean. Countless free and paid social media tracking tools will allow you to see the results of your efforts and dial in what works and what doesn’t work.
Experiment with Posting Times
If you’re just starting out or don’t have your social media campaigns dialed in, try experimenting with posting at different times and days. See which combination of the two gets the best results.
Target the Right Channel
Just because there are many social media channels out there doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have a presence on all of them. Determine where your audience hangs out and then focus on those channels alone.
Social Media Marketing Agency
Growing your small business social media accounts takes time, effort, and dedication. If you’re finding that you have way too much on your plate to make a concerted and honest effort, contact us today.
The Witmer Group has been helping businesses with their social media marketing for well over ten years. We offer a wide range of digital marketing solutions and can create a customized marketing strategy to help your business remain competitive.
Give us a call today at (214) 865-9484, or contact us via our website to learn more about the various marketing and data analytics services we offer our Dallas clients.