In the modern world it’s important to consider how your business will be perceived in online spaces like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Pintrest to name just a few. Creating and maintaining social media profiles for your business allows you to connect with existing customers and find new ones.
Although there are no hard and fast rules, here are some “best practice” guidelines to think about. When sharing content on your “socials” it’s important to keep in mind the following:
- Consider using a social media content calendar to help run and maintain your social accounts. A social media content calendar is a document that visualizes your content strategy by tracking all posts for the week/month/year.
- Finding the best times to post can be challenging because there is no universal time that applies to all social media accounts. A good place to begin is to do some research on the “optimal times” for posting across each platform. Afterward, begin making adjustments to your posting schedule and checking platform insights to see if there are positive/negative changes.
- Aim to strike a balance between sharing and listening in your social media management. Social listening presents an opportunity to track, analyze, and respond to conversations about your organization. Monitoring this information helps you gain new insights on your audience and to act on them in the future.
- A successful social media presence is reflected by content that is visual, succinct, and consistent. When posting, always tailor the information to platform-specific content. Being specific allows you to craft messages that resonate and speak directly to your audience.
- Identify relevant hashtags and tag related organizations. Hashtags increase awareness by putting your content in front of people beyond your immediate followers. Be sure to search the hashtag beforehand to ensure it is up-to-date and currently in use for being used for the wrong reasons.
- Focus on post quality over quantity. People follow social media accounts that they trust will provide content that is reliable and relevant to them. While it is important to post actively and regularly, make sure your content is engaging and relates to your audience community.
- Photography is one of our most widely used and influential identity assets. When commissioning a photoshoot or finding stock imagery, remember that natural light and photographic composition are key.
- User-generated content may be used when the owner of a photo or video gives permission. This is generally acquired by messaging the user on the native platform or through email. After you have obtained permission, be sure to give proper attribution.
- When posting visuals, it is imperative that you use the correct dimensions for each respective platform. This way, you avoid cropping out vital parts of the image and maintain a professional and reputable digital presence.
- Engagement with your audience is important because it allows them to feel heard and supported. This can look like commenting, liking, sharing relevant content by your audience. Having a good engagement rate means that your audience is connecting with the posted content.
- Social media monitoring is a crucial part of maintaining your social accounts. Observe your organization’s mentions and respond to the engagement around its presence. Essentially, you should be sorting through the noise and social chatter to highlight important messages. Many publishing platforms and tools offer the ability to easily track and conduct social media monitoring. A dashboard can be set to track relevant keywords, hashtags, and media mentions.
Measurement and analytics are key to assessing your success in social media. Use this information to better understand your audience and to inform content decisions.
Key terms and definitions:
- Impressions are the number of times your content is displayed on social media. It reflects your brand awareness and serves as a base statistic for improving content posting.
- Reach is the number of users who have seen your social media content, which measures the spread of the social media conversation and quantifies potential audience size.
- Engagement Rate measures the interaction between your audience and the brand and demonstrates how people engage with your published content (i.e. likes, comments, shares, retweets).
- Conversions are the point at which your audience performs a desired action (i.e. subscribing to a mailing list, driving traffic to a website).
- Follower Growth tracks how many new followers were gained over a specific period of time. This is important for defining your social media account’s overall growth.
It’s worth noting that growing a following on social media is a product of dedication, creativity, and more often than not, advertising. Advertising creates unique opportunities to engage with your current audience and reach new followers. If you have a marketing budget and are interested in spending some of it on social media advertising we can put you in touch with an online marketing agency.
