The crux of marketing to people on social media is entertaining, valuable content. Yet viewers are fickle, and reaching customers can be all about employing the right strategy at the right time. Different social media sites provide different methods of engaging users. Twitter tries to pull people in and move them to another location to view videos, images, and news stories. Facebook lets you provide simple tips and opens up longer discussions.
Remember that the goal of social media is connection and the biggest social media platforms compliment one another rather nicely. The goal when reaching out to consumers is to give them a texture by using the sum of your parts, something they can reach out and engage. We offer these fifty tips to improve each individual part of your social marketing strategy so in the end you have created a full personality.
Facebook
1. Complete your profile. Banner pictures should show the best parts of your business, whether it is a new product, your store’s exterior, or a patently original aspect of your personality.
2. Not every post should be about your business or users will start to ignore your posts. Consider using Facebook as a place to have open conversations. Businesses strong in their community can share big, local stories.
3. Tidbits should relate to your business. You are a friend, but also a business. Never share irrelevant information.
4. Facebook provides a feature that allows you to poll users called “Question.” This actively invites participation, and keeps users coming back.
5. The more your page is visited by a person, the more often your updates appear in their news feed. This is not an active step you can take, but helpful when remembering how much audience engagement matters.
6. Always respond to questions from page visitors. When someone has a concern about your product, you need to let them (and everyone else!) know their concerns are being heard.
7. Facebook will share text-based posts more than posts that also include outbound links or images. While images are definitely more engaging, you may want to stave off using an image when promoting for an important event so more followers see the message.
8. Delete bad comments and spam. This one may be a no-brainer, but if you are unable to remove bad comments in a timely fashion, your business will suffer.
9. Incite competitions. Art contests are hugely popular in the online community, and winners love bragging rights. Competitions, especially as they relate to your business, are great at building brand loyalty.
10. Your email blasts should always click a link to your Facebook page. If you have online coupons, post them on Facebook and direct customers there.
11. Twitter should always be proudly displayed in your profile.
12. If something big is happening on Twitter, or a hashtag for your business is picking up steam, you should advertise the fact (and vice-versa).
Twitter
13. Keep track of your Twitter followers. Tweepi.com is a great way to engage your most influential bloggers and critics who have something to say about your business.
14. With Twitter, the more followers you have is the key to success. Find as many as possible. Look up hashtags trending in your industry and follow the most influential and relevant people. In general, staying an active part of the conversation will net you new followers.
15. Tweet constantly. This goes hand-in-hand with generating followers. A Twitter account that only posts once or twice a month may as well be deactivated. Work to get your frequency up to twice a day.
16. Get your content in the hands of the people who will care. All of your posts should contain hashtags to relevant stakeholders. Use groups, lists, and topics. Social media management is about reaching the right audience, not everyone.
17. There are many online software programs that allow you to automate retweeting so the best and the greatest of your tweets do not get buried under a pile of new content. This is an effective strategy for handling recurring events.
18. If you find bloggers that constantly deliver quality information, you can automatically retweet their content, too. This improves your tweet output without making Twitter a strenuous, ongoing activity.
19. A Twitter retweet best-practice is to always include the original poster’s name in your tweet.
20. There is no such thing as too much content. The life of a tweet is exceedingly short, so brazenly flood the market without fear of repercussion.
21. Follow anyone who says great things about your brand, this is a great way to gain good will.
22. Twitter provides lists that lets you keep tabs on your competitors. Make a list of all your competitors and set the list to “private.”
23. Use Twitter to provide expert knowledge on your area of expertise. Like Facebook, you can show what you know.
24. Give shout-outs to regular customers. They will become even stronger advocates of your establishment.
YouTube
25. Annotations are your very best friend. Adding them lets you link your video, in turn, showcasing relevant products and services to the right demographic.
26. Add all of your social media contact information to all About sections in all of your videos. Social media is about drawing customers in, making them hungry for more, and then redirecting them.
27. Find the influential people in your industry or business, and invite them to sit down for an interview. You can share these meetings via video.
28. Always automate video sharing to your other social media accounts, it saves time.
29. Use TrueView Advertising. YouTube ads are great because you only get charged if someone watches the whole video – yet viewers are able to skip the ad after five seconds. There are only two people who watch the whole video, those that leave their computer, and those interested in the product. However, this is an effective way to get your name out there by opening the video with your name and brand.
30. Keep titles consistent. If you have a regular series of how-to or self-help videos, the name of the series should be proudly displayed so users can quickly identify with the label.
31. YouTube videos appear on search engines, so remember that video titles are essentially mini keywords.
32. Likewise, every video should include keyword tags.
33. YouTube has Analytics tools, just like Google. You can keep track of when people stop watching your video, if they skip to a certain part, and more. This information is great for optimizing your content, because over time you can get a feel for what is working and what fails to engage. Above all, video content should be engaging.
34. The over-achievers have a brand-specific, brief segment at the end of their videos that tells more about their business. This is a great way to wrap up each segment, like the epilogue of a novel.
LinkedIn
35. Your profile should be public. A staggering number of businesses forget to do this.
36. Some businesses find it prudent to add a FAQ or Q&A with answers that lead back to their website, blog, or other relevant site.
37. LinkedIn has perhaps the best targeting services of any social media site. Their advertising platform almost always reaches the correct demographic. Groups on LinkedIn are also notoriously active, which means that well-constructed ads are highly shared.
38. Consider adding a separate LinkedIn profile for your blog. What this does is better identifies the expertise that is writing for your company.
39. LinkedIn allows you to showcase important pages. Introduce new products, provide an additional place to show off best-sellers, or even pair with a complementary brand.
40. LinkedIn accounts can have apps added. You are able to upload blogs and Twitter feeds, special services, and other helpful brand-specific tools. Slideshare can also be added, if you have active, continually updating downloadable content.
41. Your profile needs to include skills and services. It creates a great impression with users and better identifies your specialties.
42. Campaigns that are seemingly dead in the water can be paused and re-launched to refresh ads. This keeps your company from constructing multiple ads and essentially lets you try a second time.
43. LinkedIn allows you to opt out target groups of peoples and interests, funneling your ads toward the correct market.
Blog
44. Blogs are incredibly important for businesses. Not only do you get to show off your knowledge, but they also provide additional chances to incorporate keywords important to your company.
45. Be as candid as possible when constructing blog content. Patting yourself on the back will only alienate readers. Remember to show rather than tell. Transparency in your writing increases the chances that visitors will trust what you have to say.
46. Do not insult competitors… directly. “Bashing” the methods of others is never the correct approach, it makes your business seem petty. Always remember to frame differing methods as the “weaker” and “stronger” approach. Specific insults can also result in lawsuits.
47. Blogs are the foundation of your knowledge, personality, and industry leadership. In other words, you need your content to be top-notch. You should never produce filler just to get a post out there, nor should you write drab, incoherent puzzles. Readers should feel excited and engaged to be learning from you. Remember, there are hundreds of other internet experts they can turn to, but they found you.
48. A good headline will draw in readers, and it also contributes to your SEO. List-
based articles are known for drawing in readers, and they also provide a built-in template for your content.
49. Signing up for your email newsletter or subscribing to your blog should be very easy. As your readership increases, they will want the announcements for your new posts to be immediate and automatic. Limit to just email or email and name if you can.
50. Guest posts are a great way to get other industry experts involved with your business and website. If you can land a name that is easily-recognized, you stand a good chance to receive a temporary (and hopefully permanent!) influx of traffic.
