It’s never too late to get started with a social media strategy to get your business on the map. Whether you’re starting out or need to improve your performance on social media, this guide will give you some suggestions on how to best approach your online marketing.
Do Your Research
The more information you have the better. Take a look at where your competitors are advertising and see what kind of messages they are using. Most importantly, see what the audience responds to, this will help shape your content and ensure it resonates with your audience.
Choose Your Channel
The three most used social media channels are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It isn't restricted to just these channels, there are others such as Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat even YouTube.
Each social media channel has a different and unique audience/purpose. What channel you choose depends on your industry and your customers. Have in mind, whichever channels you choose, make sure your messages are consistent!
Make Time For Social Media
Set aside some time each month to curate your content and create a plan of action. Even if you can only spare an hour, set aside time to share your messages online and create structure to your content rather than haphazardly adding posts. This will build and compound your influence over time and increase the chance of potential customers seeing your posts and getting in touch.
Helpful Tools
There are a wealth of tools available that help plan, manage and schedule social media posts. Here are some of our favourites:
Hootsuite – Manage all your social media in one place, add up to 3 social media accounts and schedule up to 30 posts for Free. This is our firm favourite, as it allows you to pre-schedule post social media content effortlessly without your being stuck at your desk.
Others include:
Buffer – Similar to Hootsuite, schedule content on up to 3 different channels, with up to 10 scheduled posts per social media account.
MeetEdgar – Similar to both Buffer and Hootsuite, MeetEdgar is a scheduling tool that allows you to recycle your old posts. After publishing your scheduled posts, it starts recycling older updates.
BuzzSumo – Helps you find new, fresh content on the internet. You can search for a keyword and it will give you a breakdown of trending content.
Feedly– Pick a topic and collate all the information in one place, this helps with competitor research and also for more content on your industry.
Analyse, Track, Report & Adjust
With all your social media efforts you must constantly track and analyse your results. On site tools will display what works well with your audience and equally as important, what drives traffic to your website.
Monitor your efforts continually and adjust the messages to see what resonates with your audience. Track your social media activities over time to compare and contrast.