10 Tips to Owning Your Social Media

The internet. The World Wide Web. Do you remember AOL chat rooms and dial-up? Long gone are the days of sitting at a desktop waiting to be connected to the internet, speaking to people you may never meet in real life. Now the internet is literally in the palm of our hands, and everyone is accessible.

Social media is the backbone of the new digital age. As a business, it is the best way to reach your customers and get to know what they want. Furthermore, the cost of advertising is attainable and makes sense for every budget.

There are hundreds of different social platforms, how do you know which ones are right for you? How do you know how to properly use the platforms? Here are 10 tips to help you own your social media!

1. TRIM THE FAT

Overwhelmed by managing multiple social accounts? Ask yourself what platforms are your target audience using and stick to those. If your customers are between the ages of 25 and 55, there's no need for you to be on Tumblr. Ideally, using 2 platforms is a good rule of thumb, but you should not be using more than 3 if you are managing it on your own. If for some reason, your business needs to maximize it's social reach on all platforms, hire someone who can devote the time to make sure your social media is executed perfectly. Having all the platforms is great for exposure, but if not all of them are continually maintained, it looks bad on your brand.

2. STOP SELLING

People use social media to be entertained. If you are outright trying to sell them in every single post, it's a turnoff. Interact with people, post funny pictures or motivating quotes, ask questions... really engage with your audience to get to know your customers. Offer valuable content the majority of the time, instead of constantly pushing your product. This will go a long way with your followers.

3. TAKE GREAT PICS

Again, people want to be entertained. If you're posting bad quality images, people will wince and scroll right past you. Get good lighting. Get creative with the angles. Get an artistic feel to the image without using a ton of filters. Be mindful of what is in the background. For inspiration, go to Instagram and see how others in your niche are strategically taking their pictures.

4. STRATEGIZE YOUR CONTENT

Posting on a whim can hurt your brand. A good social media page has well-thought out content planned in advance. I personally like to sit down the last week of each month and create a strategy for the upcoming six weeks. If you fail to plan, plan to fail.

5. USE GOOD COPY

Good copy is KEY! Keep your followers engaged with good writing skills. Keep it short and to the point. These days, people skim. They want to be hooked immediately, and if they're hooked by your caption, they are likely to keep engaging with you.

6. ENGAGE AS YOUR PAGE

Feeling a little down because people aren't really engaging with your page? The Golden Rule applies to life, as well as digital marketing: Treat others how you want to be treated. If you want people to interact with you, you've got to interact with them!

Facebook wants you to spend money on advertising, so they limit your exposure. However, if you are liking, commenting, and engaging AS your page, people will begin to interact with you and therefore help to expand your organic reach.

7. RUN GIVEAWAYS

Giveaways can be a huge asset for lead generation. However, I see tons of giveaways with 100 different rules to enter. If I have to like, tag three friends, share, enter my email, jog to China and do the hokey-pokey, guess what... I'm not doing it. And if I'm not doing it, think of all the other good, quality leads that are scrolling past.

Consider giving away a huge perceived value. The higher the value, the more interest you'll get. The main "rules" for the giveaway should be to capture their information to keep them involved with your brand after the giveaway ends (email marketing), and to get organic reach by tagging friends.

8. GET TO KNOW YOUR FOLLOWERS

Establish a dedicated hashtag and ask people for their feedback or pictures! Check the hashtag daily, respond to the posts, and share it to your page. This gives your potential customers a different perspective of who you are, and it helps you build content for your own page. If someone has a negative comment, answering it honestly, publicly, and professionally will set you apart from the rest.

9. AD STRATEGY

We hear this time and time again... "I boosted a Facebook ad and it was really successful!" Some questions we ask: How are you measuring that success? Are you breaking down the ad by Cost-Per-Click or Cost-Per-Acquisition metrics? How many sales did you make or leads did you get? If people clicked on your link, do you know what they did after that or how long they stayed on your site? After the ad ends, how are you staying in front of your potential customers?

If you're "boosting" ads without having a complete strategy in place before the ad campaign starts, you're basically throwing your money away.

10. BE RELATABLE

People want to feel that they know your brand. If you’re too proper or using too much slang and trendy words, it’s going to seem as if you’re trying too hard. Be your brand and own it!

Implemented properly, these tips can help streamline your digital marketing tactics and help you develop a brand that attracts the customers you want!

---

Overwhelmed by social media? We get it. That's why we've built solutions for every business. Before you tell yourself that you can't afford a digital marketing agency, hear us out. We have options that work for even the smallest budgets.

Marketing is not a one-size-fits-all approach. We don't have packages that we offer to everyone, because what works for one will not work for all. Instead, we get to know each client and tailor a strategy that will work best for your brand.

Contact us today to get to know our team.