How to Use Social Media

How To Use Social Media To Your Advantage In Your Business

Table of Contents

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

Introduction to Developing Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

With social media usage rising, social media has proven to be an excellent way to reach potential customers and build brand awareness.

Social Media Posts

However, social media posts can be a big time suck if you're not careful. If you're looking to make the most of your social media presence but don't have time to figure out how best to to use each of the social networking sites, here are some tips for creating and implementing your own strategy:

Choose one or two social media platforms to focus on.

When you're just starting out, it can be tempting to spread your efforts across as many social media platforms as possible. But the truth is that you don't want to do this—just like how a successful business doesn't try to be everywhere at once, and neither should you.

Know Your Target Audience

Instead, choose one or two platforms where your target audience is active and focus on those. You'll get more engagement on each social media post with fewer social media accounts than if you had six or seven accounts scattered around different platforms.

Focus Your Social Media Efforts

By focusing on just a couple of key channels, you can develop expertise in them and build up an audience over time without wasting time trying to make connections in every corner of the internet!

Think about who your target audience is and which platforms they prefer.

Now that you’ve identified the channels and social media platforms that are most relevant to your business, it’s time to start thinking about who your target audience is.

If you want to use social media as a way of promoting your business, then understanding who your target audience is and what they like is crucial. This will allow you not only to create content for them but also to understand how best to reach them through the various social media sites and platform(s) of choice.

Create a social media strategy.

With a solid social media plan in place, you can start setting up your social media accounts.

  • Create an account on each platform and fill out the profile fields to include your business’s name, location, website URL, phone number, and other relevant details. Make sure that these are consistent across all of your platforms—this will help you maintain coherent brand identity across social media.

  • Once this is done, start building followers by sharing content on each platform (more on this later). For example, if you sell organic food products online, then set up an Instagram account with photos of those foods—and tag them with relevant hashtags like #organicfood or #healthymealideas so people can find them more easily. You could also create a Facebook page for each type of product so customers can see different options from one place rather than having to go through several pages on different sites first; this will make it easier for them as well as let them save money since there won't be any shipping fees involved when buying multiple items at once! Remember: consistency is key here when deciding how best to utilize these tools effectively within your company's overall strategy."
  • User Generated Content.  Another proven social media tactic is encourage user generated content.  Users create content all the time and share it with their own network.  By setting up, for example, foto contest of your products, and encouraging users to take pictures or create videos of them and sharing on their own network, using a contest #hastag you provide, you can get tremendous user engagement.  Video sharing is one of the more powerful UGC tactics out there.

Create a content calendar.

A content calendar is a list of all the content that you plan to publish. It helps you stay organized, meet your goals and stay on track with your social media strategy. It also helps you stay consistent with your brand.

A content calendar should include:

  • The date you want to publish each piece of content (for example, Instagram stories)
  • The type of content will be (an infographic about the impact of social media on business)
  • Who is responsible for creating it (the marketing manager)

Create high-quality content.

Here are some tips on how to create high-quality content for your business on social media posts:

Use Visuals. Visuals are essential for any type of marketing and social media strategy. You can use images or video, or both! Keep in mind that different platforms have different requirements when it comes to optimal length, resolution, and file types AVI, MKV, and MOV.

Create a unique voice. If you're just starting out creating content for your business, make sure that each tweet or post has its own voice — one that fits well with your brand identity which will resonate with your social media users. You want people to know who's talking without having to look at their name or avatar every time they post something new!

Be authentic and genuine.

People love hearing from real people, not "bots" with fake names...so be yourself! Share things that are interesting to you as well as what interests others in your industry or niche market. Don't just post the same thing over and over again; try new things!  Use social media relevant data to create interesting content, such as Infographics.

Try some user-generated content.

User-generated content (UGC) is a great way to get your audience involved in your business. By posting photos, videos, and other content created by your customers or fans, you can build trust and credibility with them.

Gathering Product Feedback

You don’t need to run contests all the time—you can also ask for feedback on new products or services you may be considering launching. You can even use Facebook live to launch new products and services.  LinkedIn also provides live video capability, which can be used to connect with business focused audiences.  When done right, you can have 500 or more members show up.  These are all excellent networking opportunities.  People simultaneously attend these type of events and link up with one another, often while the event is still running.

Help People Connect

User-generated content helps people connect more closely with your brand by showing them what it's like when real people use it in real life instead of stock photos that don't really show anything about how things work in the real world!

Invite feedback from your followers.

Social media is a great way to get feedback. You can ask your followers questions that will help you improve your product or service, website, business, social media strategy, and marketing strategy. Some examples are:

  • “How can we improve our customer service?”
  • “What do you like about [product name]?”
  • “What are some ways we can make our website easier to navigate?”

Be responsive to your followers' questions and comments.

People love to get a response from businesses, especially when they're posting on social media platforms. If you are getting a lot of positive feedback on one post, follow up by thanking your loyal customers for their business and for sharing it with others. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it!

Provide Customer Support

Twitter is a great platform for providing customer support. Companies can use Twitter to engage with their customers and provide real-time responses to inquiries and complaints. By quickly responding to customers, companies show that they care about the customer experience and are willing to take the time to listen and respond. Additionally, having an active presence on Twitter allows businesses to show that they are committed to providing excellent customer service.

Be Creative 

Social media is all about creativity and engaging with your customers in unique ways. Companies can get creative by creating unique hashtags, running contests, and offering exclusive discounts for followers. Additionally, try posting interactive content such as polls or quizzes that customers can engage with.

Have Social Media Policies

One thing that I see a lot of people do is use bad language on social media posts, especially Facebook. If you know that the majority of people who will see your posts have young children or teenagers (or both), be mindful of the content that you put out there.

Respond in a timely manner, but take time to craft thoughtful replies if needed.

Responding quickly is important, but it's not the same as responding without thinking or taking time to craft thoughtful responses. Responding quickly doesn't mean you respond with a quick and dirty “yes” or “no” answer to every question asked of you.

Have Clear Social Media Goals

If you don't have time to think about your reply, don't respond at all until you're ready! If someone asks you a question that requires more thought than immediate response, wait until later to answer them (or delegate this task).

You Have a Powerful Marketing Tool

Social media is a powerful tool—one of the most powerful tools in modern business. It gives you the ability to connect with potential customers and build your brand, but you need to do it right.

Focus on the Right Social Media Sites

You can waste a lot of time and effort by not thinking through your social media strategy and making sure that all of your efforts are being put to good use. Instead, make sure that you're focusing on one or two platforms at most (and then consider adding more later if necessary), create a content calendar so that everything runs smoothly all month long, and create high-quality content so people want to follow along with what's happening each day at work!

Social Media Services

When considering social media services for a business, there are several key areas to consider in order to get the most out of this powerful marketing tool.

 

Each Social Network is Unique

 

Content creation is important in order to create engaging posts that will capture people's attention and draw them in.  Each social media platform offers the possibility to create and share many common types of content.  However, the content of that content must be created and be optimized for different social media platforms.

Analytics

 

Analytics are key to understanding how your content is performing, what kind of reach it has, and how to optimize for future success.

 

Advertising

 

Advertising allows a business to reach even more people with their posts and build an even larger audience on social media. Additionally, companies should consider investing in other services such as design resources or influencer marketing to further improve their social media presence. Taking the time to carefully consider these elements can help businesses make sure they are getting the most out of their efforts on social media. 

 

Social Media Optimization

 

By utilizing all of these strategies, businesses have the opportunity to increase their visibility and reach audiences in ways that were previously not possible. With careful planning and attention to detail, businesses can maximize their success on social media and truly stand out from the competition. Through engaging content, smart advertising campaigns, and strategic partnerships with other brands, businesses can create a powerful presence on social media that will help them achieve even greater heights of success. 

 

Ultimately, it is important to remember that success on social media is about more than just audience numbers. Engagement is key, and by considering different approaches to content creation and marketing campaigns businesses can ensure that their social media presence is making a real impact on their bottom line. With the right strategies in place, businesses can take full advantage of the amazing opportunities offered by social media platforms and create an impressive presence that drives results.

 

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Lonnie D. Ayers, PMP

About the Author: Lonnie Ayers is a Hubspot Certified Inbound Marketing consultant, with additional certifications in Hubspot Content Optimization, Hubspot Contextual Marketing, and is a Hubspot Certified Partner. Specialized in demand generation and sales execution, especially in the SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Partner space, he has unique insight into the tough challenges Service Providers face with generating leads and closing sales using the latest digital tools. With 15 years of SAP Program Management experience, and dozens of complex sales engagements under his belt, he helps partners develop and communicate their unique sales proposition. Frequently sought as a public speaker in various events, he is available for both inhouse engagements and remote coaching.
Balanced Scorecard Consultant

He also recently released a book "How to Dominate Any Market - Turbocharging Your Digital Marketing and Sales Results", which is available on Amazon.

View All Articles by Lonnie D. Ayers, PMP

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