Social media has long been one of the most powerful tools businesses have available to them. Giving you the chance to market yourself for free, this type of platform can be an amazing way to build your customer base. Of course, though, achieving what you want from this can be more challenging than you expect. To help you out with this, I’m sharing some of the key social media tips for business and techniques that you will need to use if you want to make your business a star of social media.
The Content
The content you post is possibly the most important factor when you are building a social media following. People expect to see unique content that makes them feel good about the products being offered, and this means that you have to work hard to get the results you want out of this. There are several factors that go into this.
- Text and Images: While it would be much easier to restrict your posts to text, photos draw far more people in. In fact, platforms like Instagram require that you post a photo alongside your text. Images should always be high quality and original unless you have permission to use other people’s work.
- Consistency: Most social media platforms enable users to view your content in a big long feed. Making sure that your content has a consistent personality, look, and feel will be important if you want to win people over to your business.
- Composition: Photography is a challenging art, but there are some simple rules that you can follow to get great images. It’s well worth watching videos about composition techniques before you start producing content for yourself. Similarly, you also need to make sure that you’re able to write well. You can also take photography classes or outsource the skill.
- Working With People: Having pictures of models on social media can be a great way to help your users feel engaged. It will make it easier for them to visualize themselves using your product, but you will need to be able to do makeup and lighting for this to look good.
The Background Research
Alongside making sure that your content looks amazing, you also need to do some background research. The digital nature of social media means that there are loads of statistics that can help you to determine the best times to post, the way to write your posts, and who you actually want to sell your products to.
- Your Demographic: The demographic you are trying to reach on social media will be determined by the type of people you are trying to sell your products to. For example, if you wanted to sell fashionable women’s clothing, one of your key demographics might be young women. Knowing your demographics can help you to figure out the best times to post on social media.
- The Type of Business: Different social media methods work well for different businesses, and this means that you need to factor your business type into your content creation and posting. The content should also fit the brand.
- Competition: Your competition on social media can offer a great lesson when you first start out. You don’t want to copy their posts, but you can use them to build an understanding of what their customers like.
Engagement
Getting people to comment, like, and share your posts will always help the way that you rank on social media sites. Engagement drives people’s feeds, with posts that get the most attention becoming viral and spreading around the web. Of course, though, you need to make sure that you are getting the right sort of engagement when you are posting for your business.
To start, asking questions in your posts can be a good way to get people interesting in replying to you. This will start a conversation, giving you the chance to start getting comments and shares as more people are drawn in. It’s always worth replying to comments like this, giving people a nice feeling, and showing them that you care about their answers. Modern marketing is largely driven by simple ideas like this.
Encouraging sharing can be a little bit harder than comments, as people won’t feel as compelled to take this sort of action. Making funny or entertaining posts can be a good way to get started with this, prompting people to share them so that their loved ones can enjoy it, too.
Social Media Tools
There are many tools on the web that can help you with your social media marketing. Making use of tools like this will make it easier to find success, while also taking some of the pressure off of your shoulders in the process.
- Scheduling Tools: Tools like Buffer allow you to schedule social media posts so that they are automatically posted to your accounts. This can make it much easier to post at the right time, while also enabling you to make posts in bulk when you feel creative.
- Demographic Research: There are loads of tools on the web that make it possible to get a better understanding of your demographic. This can include the tags they use, images they like, and simple stats that can help you to make a real difference.
- Stock Content: Clever use of stock images and videos can be a good way to get started on social media when you don’t have anything to take photos of, yet. There are loads of sites that offer free images, though buying them can be a good way to stand out.
