Social Media 101: A Guide for Businesses
Social media is essential for modern businesses, as more customers are turning to Facebook to find businesses even before more traditional search engines. Combine that with your ability to collect reviews and interact directly with consumers, and you have a powerful business tool on your hands – and it’s free (until you start paying for advertising – but that’s a topic for another day).
Social media is easy enough for anyone to use but offers enough depth for even the most seasoned marketer. Today we’ll cover the social media basics you need to know in order to get the most from your online presence.
Be Personal
Consumers are bombarded with boring corporate messaging every day. Don’t be another voice in the cacophony; instead, make your social media voice personal and distinct. I know that being impersonal is tempting because it feels safe – but safe doesn’t convert customers!
Try these three ways to make your social media more personal:
- Find your brand’s unique voice
- Reply to customers by name
- Give a glimpse at behind the scenes of your business
Social media should be social – take a browse through the big brands that have a great social media presence and note how they avoid impersonal and robotic messaging.
Care About Your Audience
It is tempting to make your social media channels all about you and your brand. But that is backward – it should be all about your audience. To do this, make sure you are sharing useful content and not just promotional content. Everyone knows you want to sell more, but social media is about building community.
You can also foster this sense of community among your audience by sharing user-generated content. It provides an ego boost to the user, increases the reach of your brand, and helps to connect like-minded people. Leave the hard sales pitch at home when you venture into social media.
Make it Visually Interesting
People don’t go on social media to read long-winded content about how great you are. Your goal should be to keep it short, sweet, and visual – whenever possible. Including visually interesting content will increase engagement and reach – without having to pay.
But that doesn’t mean you should just throw up any pictures you have floating around. Instead, focus on finding or creating high-quality images/videos that speak to your audience about your brand. Stock images are a great place to start – but you can expand from there using your camera phone and a service like Canva that will allow you to make custom graphics and images for your social media channels.
Be Consistent
One of the most common ways that businesses fail at social media is through inconsistent use. It is easy to go full-tilt at social media when you’re just starting, but then let it drift toward inactivity as the novelty wears off. Don’t let that happen to your business! Inactive social media accounts point to a business that is either closed or does not care about its customers.
From the very beginning set realistic consistency goals and do what you can to always meet them. Depending on your market, there may be no need to post daily – once a week might be more than enough. But whatever you set out to do, make sure you actually do it!
Social Media Marketing
Fusion Group USA offers several levels of social media marketing management. From simple, single-platform help to enterprise level management services. Check out our services page to learn more about our social media offerings and contact us today if you’re interested in working with us.
