We get it. Managing social media AND running your business can be a lot! It looks easy, fun, inviting, but behind every post are the words, photos, videos, design, and ideas that go along with it. Plus you probably didn’t start your business to juggle running it day-to-day AND managing all of your social accounts.
Love it or hate it, social is an essential marketing tool for nearly all 21st-century businesses. And if you’re going to go for it, you might as well go all in. We’ve compiled a list of our top tips to guide you through a successful social campaign to gain more eyes on your biz!
Level Up Your Biz Instantly With These 8 Essential Social Media Tips
Schedule it out.
This may seem simple, but coming up with a posting schedule and sticking to it is fundamental for your social success and your sanity. The overwhelm of posting daily can be minimized with a content schedule. And the best part? All your posts can be created and scheduled to post daily from one work session!
Block out a segment of time each week (maybe Friday afternoon, maybe Monday morning) and run through all the social posts you’re going to use that week. During that time, plan to film, write, repurpose, design, and get everything ready. Then, schedule out each post for the week, so you can set it and forget it — it’s amazing! Your posts will appear like clockwork, and that leaves you with more time to connect with clients, build proposals, or just take time off!
Hootsuite or Facebook’s Creator Studio are excellent options for creating, managing, and scheduling posts across multiple platforms. If you’re running more than one social account, this is definitely the way to go!
2. Engage with your audience.
The great thing about marketing through social? You get tons of data to inform your next steps. You can see what’s working and what’s not, often in real-time. Even better? You get to see who is consistently engaging with and following your content. As part of your scheduled social time each week, take a minute to respond to comments and DM’s or reach out to engaged users on your own.
Posting stories with polls or questions on Instagram, or posting with polls on Facebook is a great way to see who is not only consuming your content but who is engaging with it. Don’t be shy about making connections with your audience — even a simple “Thanks!” can go a long way.
Building a responsive rapport with your audience will set you up as a trusted brand authority — and nurturing their trust in your product or service will invite your audience to invest in the brand.
3. Use visuals that are consistent with your brand.
Don’t have the budget to invest in a full brand makeover? No worries! Social profiles are a great place to begin thinking about your brand with a few minor hacks.
Emotions drive buying habits, and thinking about your audience’s emotional response to your feed is another great way to build up your brand authority. Start by asking yourself what you want your audience to feel when they engage with your social accounts. Do you want them to feel like they’re at the wildest party of their life? Sitting down with you for a cozy cup of coffee? Getting ready to take an epic adventure? Get specific — it’ll set you apart from the rest!
Once you’ve nailed down your vibe, pick fonts, colors, and filters that enhance your chosen aesthetic — and stick with them. Another simple visual trick? Carry your color palette over to your clothing for photos and videos. If your feed is a visual feast for the eyes, your ideal customers will have no trouble finding you.
4. Write posts to your ideal customer.
Keeping your brand in mind, your posts should be written to one person. Yep, we said it. One person. You might be thinking, “But I want to attract lots of folks to my business!” Trust us. The right clients will appear when you get specific about who you’re speaking to.
Once you’ve got that perfect brand aesthetic planned out for your feed, shift that over to your words. Your tone should match that emotional vibe, and you should write as if you’re talking with that one ideal customer who exists in your mind. They want to feel like they’re engaged in a conversation with you. They want to see themselves reflected in your business, and once they do, they’ll stick around.
Your writing doesn’t have to be perfect, long, or clever. It just needs to be clear and totally YOU. If you can find a way to have fun writing your posts, your audience will likely have a blast reading them.
5. Video should be part of your feed.
Video is an essential part of any social media strategy. Why? It’s what most people are consuming. Plus, it’s a great way to grab your audience’s attention with a short snippet of what your biz is all about.
Your videos can range from product descriptions to behind-the-scenes tours of your workplace to a live Q & A with your social audience. You can even jump on some of the latest Tik Tok trends to have fun with it!
Keep it simple. Film whatever comes easiest to you, but make sure you are filming some video content. It’s the fastest way to get your audience’s eyes on you.
6. Post with the customer journey in mind.
So your ideal customer has seen your post — now what? Post with their journey mapped out, and give them their next step.
Do you want them to sign up for your email list? Let them know with a link. Need them to take a look at your website? Tell them where to find it. Looking for their opinion on a product or service? Set up a poll so they can respond.
Your audience wants to engage with your content, and you get to sit in the driver’s seat for this. Don’t miss out on this crucial opportunity to keep your audience connected to your business.
7. Storytelling is key!
Your social feed doesn’t have to be all products and services. Yes, you are ultimately here to promote what you do, but YOU are also part of that. Use social as a chance to share your story. Your audience wants to hear the history of your business and your involvement with it.
The challenges and successes of your biz are great points for connection with your ideal customer, and sharing some personal tidbits goes a long way to creating unique and varied content.
Don’t be shy about your journey. Sharing the story of your business and behind-the-scenes content will help customers make that emotional connection inviting them to invest in your business. It’s an easy win for you.
8. You don’t need to keep up with every platform — commit to one and grow from there.
Okay, with all of the social media platforms out there, how do you possibly keep up? If you’ve been managing a social profile for even a short time, you know it feels like a full-time job. And we know it’s probably not the job you signed up to do.
Take a deep breath and skip the overwhelm. Pick one platform, preferably the one you like spending time on, and commit to branding it and posting consistently. Look at the data and see how it goes. As it grows your audience and your client base, keep going with it.
If you have the capacity to take on another platform, consider adding one for more reach. If not, one well-managed social account is all you need to build a healthy following of eyes on your business.
But if there’s no bandwidth left to run your Tik Tok and Facebook and Instagram and Twitter accounts…
…Yalla would love to help. Our team acts as an extension of yours. We offer customizable packages to meet your social media needs. We can take managing your social media accounts fully off your plate and prepare a tailored social media strategy so you can turn your focus on running your business.
Let’s chat. Give us a shout and we’ll holla back with a plan that meets your goals!
