Always start with a plan

Social media is so easy to get up and running that you might be tempted to jump headfirst into posting but try to resist, at least for the moment.

Like every good business strategy, it’s important to have a plan in place so you know exactly what you’re doing! In order to get success from your social media marketing, you need to first get a strategy together.

Without a plan in mind, you won’t have a clear understanding of what you want to do with your social media and you won’t know what goals you can achieve by using it.

With no plan and no clear goal in mind, you won’t be able to measure your results and find out how well your social media marketing is going – it’s like shooting at an unknown target in the dark.

Take the time to organise your social media strategy so you know exactly what you’re doing and when you’re doing it. This way you’ll be able to measure your goals and see the results clearly.

Choose the right platform for your business

Not every social medium is going to suit every business. You have to choose the right platform for your business.

You have to go where your audience is, so if your audience is spending a lot of their time on Instagram then that’s where you should be.

There’s no point being on Facebook if none of your target audience is there. That’s like fishing in a river with no fish in it! Figure out where your clients spend their time online and focus your energies there.

Know your audience

What makes social media so good is that it allows you to target your audience effectively. You can only do this if you know your audience inside and out.

Start figuring out everything you can about your audience by compiling data and your own insights into a customer persona. This will give you an in-depth guide on what your audience wants from your business and what they want to see on your social media.

With this information at your fingertips, you can provide them with valuable posts and interesting topics that will keep them engaged with your page for longer.

The more you show them that you can provide them with the content that matters to them, the more they’ll begin to trust you.

Build relationships with your audience

One of the unique benefits of social media for small businesses is that it lets you communicate directly with your customers. This helps you build trusted relationships with your customers before they decide to buy from you.

Over 40% of consumers like to research brands and products on social media before they decide to buy. So having a strong social media presence and engaging with your potential customers is an important part of growing your business.

Remember to always reply or react to comments from your audience. This will help them feel more included in your business and help build up their trust in you.

You can also join social media groups like Facebook groups that are relevant to your niche. This will help you engage with the community in your industry and become a trusted brand.

Focus on the quality of your posts, not the quantity

There are so many ways you can market your business on social media but you don’t have to do it all. It’s important to create high-quality content that your audience will enjoy – but it doesn’t have to be on every platform out there.

Your social posts need to offer value to your audience and if you’re sweating thinking about coming up with 20 posts a week you’re not going to be putting true value into your content.

Social media marketing is all about building relationships with your audience. Don’t try to rush out nonsensical posts, it’ll only push your audience away.

Create posts that show you’re human too and be honest in your content to help improve the authenticity of your brand.

86% of consumers say they prefer to buy from brands who are authentic so try to be the authentic you and post quality content that reflects that.

Use multimedia to make your posts more entertaining

People love social media, but they don’t just go there for the witty text updates, they want to be visually entertained.

The human brain processes images and visuals 60,000 times faster than text. This means that adding media to your posts is an incredibly important part of social media marketing.

If you’re constantly posting text updates, your audience might not feel inclined to like, comment, or share – but if you accompany your text with a nice graph, an image or even a meme (if it suits) then they’re more likely to engage with it and remember it.

The same goes for video marketing.

If you add videos to your social media pages you’re guaranteed to get more interest in them. 80% of people will watch a video but only about 20% of people will read the text.

Track and refine your performance

As you start implementing your social media marketing it’s important to keep an eye out for what’s working for your business and what’s not going too well.

The more you’re aware of what’s not working, the easier it’ll be to fine-tune your social media to make it work better for your business.