According to a study conducted by Harvard Business Review, 79% of businesses use social media but only 12% feel they are doing so effectively.
When you consider the time and energy that goes into a social media strategy, it’s no wonder so many businesses feel this way. Integrating social media into your day-to-day operations can be daunting.
Is it necessary?
What should you post?
How often should you plan to post messages?
What sites are most applicable to your business?
These are a few of the questions that Giant Clients inquire about when we develop social media plans for their organizations.
6 Key Steps to Making Social Media Work for Your Business
1. Know Your Audience
Knowing your audience is critical. Take time to define your target demographic and persona, identify what social media channels they frequent, and learn their lingo. Curate content that speaks to their problems and passions.
2. Choose the Right Networks
Each social media channel has its own conventions and strengths, and people use them accordingly. Get to know the channels your audience uses.
LinkedIn, Instagram, X (Twitter), Facebook and Pinterest are a few of the standard social media sites that should be on your radar. People visit each network for different reasons and it’s important to distinguish the differences early on in your strategy.
For example, you probably wouldn’t post a business case study on coffee manufacturers to Pinterest, but it would be perfect for LinkedIn, which tends to be more professional. Present your content in its ideal context.
3. Post a Variety of Content
Give viewers new information. Post a variety of content… and don’t make it all about you.
Engage viewers with videos, photos, industry trends and even humor. Link to third-party content, both to reduce the time you spend on creating content for social media and to illustrate that you are there to solve problems and provide solutions, not simply to make sales.
Linking to relevant, reputable blogs and news sources in your industry also helps demonstrate your credibility.
4. Use Keywords
Weave keywords into all your social media content. Keywords should be used for your target audience first, search engines second. Clever or compelling phrasing will help your content stand out in a sea of tweets, statuses and search results.
For example, if you run an online shop specializing in small-batch-roasted coffee, one of your major search keywords might be “Guatemalan coffee.”
So you could write a blog post on some interesting aspect of Guatemalan coffee and promote it on your social media networks with a teaser and a (shortened) link to your website. Like this: “Here are four scientific reasons Guatemalan coffee is less bitter then other coffees. www.tinyurl.com/12345″
“Companies that tweet average 200% more leads than those that don’t” – Hubspot
5. Engage
Social media isn’t a soapbox – it’s a kitchen table. Ask your followers to share their questions, thoughts and expertise and respond to the comments they provide – positive or negative.
If you ignore a customer’s problem, they will look to someone else for a solution.
By engaging with your audience, you make your brand humanized and more likeable. Also, the more people who engage with your content, the more that search engines—and other people for that matter—pay attention.
6. Build a Social Media Strategy that Works
The results you get from social media are only as good as the work and strategy you put into it.
Ready to take your social media to the next level? Get in touch with our team.
