Today, using social media for business marketing is a must if you want to grow your brand and be successful. Luckily, well-managed campaigns on social networks offer a plethora of possibilities. Here’s how to market your business on social media.
Forget about which platforms you personally prefer; if you want to effectively market your business on social media, you need to be present on all networks.
However, certain networks are more suitable for businesses than others. Experienced marketers give primate to running ads on Instagram and Facebook. These two networks offer very specific targeting which guarantees you will reach the right audience.
Facebook remains the most important channel in social media marketing since it is the first place where potential customers go to find info about any business. That’s why you should pay special attention to this network. Here are some ways to do that:
Twitter, on the other hand, has gone through a few tough periods in the last few years but still remains relevant when it comes to social media for business.
The most important advantages of this network are its public nature and the fact that it has more than 300 million daily users.
Statistics show that 85% of small and medium businesses prefer using Twitter for customer service-related issues.
Since Instagram changed its API at the beginning of the year to enable users to publish photos to an Instagram Business Profile, many businesses jumped at the opportunity to market their services to highly targeted audiences.
Not only has marketing for businesses become easier than before, but it can also be done without spending big amounts of money on paid ads.
Here’s what Instagram has to offer in compared to other social media:
These are just three of the most popular social media networks out there you can use for your business. We shouldn’t forget to mention Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn as well.
In time, some networks will prove to be more valuable for marketing your business than others and you’ll be able to adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.
It’s easy to publish a post that will attract the audience’s attention, but does it align with your brand’s message?
Instead of targeting a larger number of likes and shares, focus on content that speaks about your brand, fits within its image, and promotes it to the world the way you want it. Here is what types of content can help you achieve this goal:
Valuable content
Create content that has some kind of value for your audience, such as tips and tricks on best practices or white papers;
Visual content
forget about posting text-only content. Instead, go extremely visual. If you don’t incorporate at least one image (or a video) in your written content, it’s very likely it will go unnoticed.
Video content
Today’s audience wants more than images and written content. They want video content.
But if you think that video content requires lots of time and effort, don’t fret. Take your smartphone and do videos of your team members at events or repurpose video content you used in your webinars.
Always publish your video content on YouTube as it is the easiest way to share them across multiple social media platforms while growing your brand’s presence on YouTube at the same time.
Live video
Live streaming has to become a regular part of your social media strategy if you want to keep up with your competitors. Statistics show that live streaming “is more appealing to brand audiences: 80% would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog, and 82% prefer live video from a brand to social posts.”
Simple live streaming ideas include behind-the-scenes videos, your CEO giving simple tips, demonstration of your service or product, etc.
Besides Facebook Live, Instagram Live, and YouTube Live, you can also check out these live streaming tools:
IBM Cloud Video Streaming Manager
At the end of the day, you will need to make some compromises. This means that even though content that is beneficial to your customers has primate, it’s OK to publish fun posts that reflect your personality and show your human side from time to time.
Automation tools that help your content appear on multiple social media channels may sound like a life saver. The truth is, they may do more damage to your business than you think.
Publishing the same posts on all social networks every day will make you look uninterested and insincere.
You need to optimize your content specifically for each network. For instance, here’s what type of content is best for every social media network:
If this seems too overwhelming for you, find out where your audience is most active and focus your marketing efforts on that platform in the beginning. It’s better to post efficient content on one network than post on multiple networks without any success.
Of course, you want your business social media pages to be popular and attract attention, but at the end of the day, your goal is to promote your business.
That’s why you need to combine fun posts with some more serious, informative ones. Such ‘serious’ content includes press features, testimonials, and charity posts. These types of content won’t collect hundreds of shares and likes but are very important for building your brand’s authority and reputation.
Marketing professionals recommend following the ‘one-in-seven rule’. This rule states that in every 7 posts you’re publishing, only one should be promotional. The rest of the posts should be relevant content like news articles or user-generated content.
Whatever decision you’re making when it comes to promoting your business on social media, always have your target audience in mind
Once you determine who your audience is, you’ll be able to identify which networks they’re most active on and focus your marketing efforts there.
For instance, if your demographic is young people and teenagers, feel free to ditch LinkedIn and focus on Snapchat and Instagram.
The good news is that all major social platforms have their own analytics where you can find out more about your target audiences. In addition, you can use a number of free tools that will provide you with insights about your audience, such as:
Knowing your target audience will also enable you to identify the types of content you’ll be publishing, as well as the best times to publish.
Another way to find out which topics are interesting for your audience is to simply ask for their opinion. You can do this via polls, voting, surveys, or by asking them to leave comments. This is a great way to gain insight while increasing engagement at the same time.
When it comes to social media for business, consistency is the key to success. You can’t go from posting ten times a day to twice a month and expect to grow a loyal following.
With your audience and your business goals in mind, make a posting plan which will contain the type of posts and frequency of posting for every social media channel you’re using. And make sure to stick with it.
Using the right platforms, providing relevant content, and being consistent are just a few ways to promote your business on social media.
However, social media for business is constantly changing. That’s why it is of the utmost importance to follow the trends and stay up-to-date. For instance, latest online marketing trends show that posting text-only content is no longer effective; you need to include videos and great visuals in order to stay ahead of the competition on social media.
Do you have any other ideas on how to market your business on social media? Let us know in the comments!
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