Social Media is instrumental for most modern businesses. With some hosting millions of users everyday, and some users spending most of their time on the sites, ignoring social media would be a fool’s game. Each service provides a unique platform for customer engagement and marketing. They give you a tool that can reach out to thousands or even millions of users. The best thing about social media, though, is that it’s all completely free.
When it comes to using social media for marketing, you really need to be on the ball. The Internet moves at a very fast pace, and things can change at breakneck speeds. But, keeping up to date or even starting in the first place can be a challenge. So, to help you out, this post will give you all of the information you need to get on with your social media marketing.
First, let’s take a look at some different social media sites. They’re all good for different types of marketing and content. So, below you’ll find a breakdown of the most popular social media sites, as well as what they’re all good for.
Facebook is so popular that it’s almost a challenge just to find someone who doesn’t use it. The site itself lets users share photos, videos, statuses, and much more. It’s a good all-rounder site that can be used for a host of different purposes. You can create business pages, to share your business. Or, create events to let people know what your business is doing.
This is the one social media account that every business must have. It’s great for posting near enough anything; even posts from your other social media accounts. The best times to post on Facebook are 1pm and 3pm, on a Friday or Sunday. Facebook is a great place to start when it comes to social media.
Twitter is a much more stripped down social media site. It doesn’t have as many features as Facebook, but for some users, that will be a great benefit. Twitter uses a tagging system that allows users to assign a phrase to their posts. These phrases are searchable, and when they become popular, they can be found by near enough anyone.
Twitter is great for short posts, as it has a word limit. It’s great for updating your followers or sharing teasers and other small adverts. You can share photos and videos on Twitter, as well. Twitter makes it very easy to have public conversations with your customers. It’s best to post on Twitter on a Wednesday, between 3pm and 6pm. Most people will use Twitter during their commute from work.
Instagram is designed purely for sharing images. But, you can also share video, too. Just like Twitter, Instagram using a tagging system. But, instead of just being searchable, Instagram has created a system that shows people images with similar tags to ones they’ve liked in the past. This gives you great potential for outreach if you use the right tags.
Instagram is great for hosting competitions or just sharing nice pictures of your products. Image quality trumps all on Instagram, so it’s important to use a decent camera. It’s best to post on Instagram on Mondays and Thursdays, between 8am and 9am or at 5pm. You won’t get much engagement if you post at weekends!
Google+
Google+ has suffered a bit since it’s initial release. It was received badly by the masses and didn’t get much positive attention. But, now that the hate has died down, it’s a good platform to post on. Anyone who has a Youtube account will have a Google+ account so that you can reach a lot of users.
The way that you post is very similar to Facebook, and the content you should post on it is the same. The best times to post on Google+ are between 9am and 1pm on a Wednesday. If you use Google+, make sure that you use other social media along with it.
Now that that’s covered, it’s time to look at what will make your posting successful on social media. Obviously, there will be certain differences that apply to different businesses. So, you’ll have to be creative, especially when you first start out.
Demographic
Just like any other type of marketing or advertisement, it’s important that it reaches out to the correct demographic. Your demographic is the group of people that you’re aiming your product at. For example, it would be pointless to show women adverts for male clothing, as men are your demographic. That’s quite a basic example, though. You’ll find that your demographic is quite specific, and you’ll want to base your strategy on that.
The social media sites that you use should be based on the demographic that you are aiming to reach out to. For example, if you’re aiming to reach out to younger people, Instagram and Twitter could be your best bets. Or, if you’re looking to reach out to middle-aged people, Facebook is the best. Or, if you are looking into plastic surgery marketing, you’d want to use a site that appeals to people who could be interested in plastic surgery. Use sites like Sproutsocial to find out about social media demographics.
Post Timings
Alongside figuring out the best sites to use, you will also want to figure out the best times to post to those sites. Your demographic will have a best time to post, which is the time you will want to find. You can use services to track when different groups of people are online, to help you do this.
It’s important to post at the right time, as most sites will order posts by most recently submitted. So, if you post at the wrong time, your content simply won’t be seen. Figuring out the time that you need to post can be the difference between success and failure, on social media.
Once you’ve figured out where and when you need to post, you need to start planning how your social media accounts will become popular. Using social media is an artform, and it takes a little bit of trial and error to learn. But, with a leg up, it’s much easier.
On social media, you’re looking for quantity over quality when it comes to likes and followers. It doesn’t matter if people like your pages and then never visit again; because those likes will still help your account look popular. One of the best ways to garner likes and followers is to run competitions. The competition itself doesn’t really matter. It can be a simple giveaway if you want. As a condition to the competition, though, you should force users to like your pages. If the prize that you’re offering is good enough, people will be happy to follow multiple social media accounts, across several platforms.
Regular posting is another key to success that can’t be ignored. If you post at the same time each week or everyday, people will be on the lookout for your content. It will also get you a regular injection of shares, likes, and followers. If you post randomly or not very often, your posts will become irrelevant, and people will ignore them or simply not see them.
A lot of companies have found success in taking a comedic approach to their marketing, especially on social media. After all, people use social media as a way to relax and unwind. If your posts make people laugh or smile, people will start looking for them. People are usually much happier to share something funny, as well. Be careful, though. Insensitive humor will only get you a bad reputation and could hurt your business as a whole. You shouldn’t make fun of people in your posts; find humor in other things.
Making it all a bit easier
Once you know where you’re going to post, and you know when your going to do it, it’s time to start preparing. If you have all of your posts for a month or two ready in advance, it will be much easier for you to maintain the workload. Instead of spending 15 minutes a day making posts, you can spend one whole day doing it. This will make it much easier for you keep your posts consistent, as well.
Once you have all of your content, there’s no point in posting it manually. Instead, you can use a tool that can schedule your posts for you. The tool will submit the posts at the exact time and date that you ask it to. Because everything is planned ahead, you can simply setup the auto-poster, and then leave your social media to handle itself! It’s a good idea to reply to comments where you can, though. As this will make your business look approachable and friendly.
When it comes to any sort of marketing, understanding your market is the biggest key. Research and digging early on will give you a great advantage against your rivals. Hopefully, this post will make it much easier for you to make a start in your social media marketing campaigns. Use the tools at your disposal, and always look for the easiest way to accomplish your goals. Your business can benefit greatly from social media; you just have to put in some work.
