Social media is a part of society now, as of this month 98% of people aged 18-24 are using social media. There are so many different platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn), which ones should you use for your business and how do you get started? Here are 7 steps to help you get your business started on social media.
- The first thing you need to do is research. You have to research which social platform your customers are using most, and start with that one. If your customers are mostly consumers, then Facebook is a must. If you deal with more B2B customers, then start with Twitter. A good way to start your research is to have a look at what your competitors are doing and which platforms they are on and go from there.
- Now that you have decided which social network you are going to start with, you have to create a great profile. Make sure you are following best practices when doing this. Most social networks have guidelines and suggestions to help with this. If you don’t have time to do it yourself, you may have to look at hiring someone to do it on your behalf.
- Content is the most important thing on any social media platform. If you don’t have great content you can’t expect to obtain many subscribers, followers or likers. Spend some time researching your competition or market leaders to determine what type of content is driving the most engagement. If you are a products based company, you r customers may interact most with suggestions on how to use your products more effectively.
- Grow your follower base. Remember that when it comes to your follower base it should always be a case of quality over quantity. You don’t want thousands of followers who are not interested in your product or service. There are many ways to grow your follower base, such as awareness campaigns on your website, in store and through email.
- You should always be making use of any analytics available to you. Collecting and analysing this data will allow you to see where you are doing well and what areas you need to improve on. The online environment is always changing and you need to keep up and adapt to this environment in order to stay on top.
- Increase the frequency of your content. Once you know which type of content will work best with your followers, do more of it. Every social network has a different number of posts that you should be doing per day. On Twitter you should aim for 10 Tweets a day whereas 1-2 posts a day should be your aim for Facebook. You can experiment with post frequency to see what works best for you.
- Continue working on follower campaigns. You always have to be aiming to get more followers. If your first target is 100 and you reach it, don’t stop there keep going til 500, 1000, 2000 and so on. You can do this through targeted campaigns aimed purely at obtaining more quality followers.
Now that you have completed all of these steps for one platform, start on the next! As mentioned earlier, the next one you select should be based on plenty of research into both the competition and your customers.
If you need help with any aspect of social media, give Clarity Marketing & Communication a call on 1300 060 204 or submit an online enquiry.