Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing Guide For New Businesses

Social Media Has the Power to Make or Break Your Brand

Whether you like it or not, social media is here to stay. Currently there are over 4 billion active social media accounts, accounting for more than half of the entire Earth’s population.

This means if you have the right content strategy, you will have loyal followers singing your praise left and right.

This doesn’t mean social media marketing is easy, it’s far from it. However, the tips in this guide will get you started on your way to dominating your industry and cultivate an indomitable presence online.

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Which Social Media Platform to Use

There are over 60 social media platforms worldwide. You definitely don’t want to spread yourself too thin so only focus on 2-3 platforms in the beginning to maximise your results. Currently, market leaders are:

  1. Facebook
  2. YouTube
  3. Instagram
  4. LinkedIn
  5. Twitter

 

Where to focus your efforts comes on social media comes down to two considerations:

  • Where your customers hang out
  • Where your content strength lies

 

Not all social media are created equal. Facebook has the largest user base and is used more by an older demographic while Instagram is a young people’s domain ( below 30 ) and is heavily focused on appealing photos and videos. If you make a lot of announcements and updates then Twitter is your friend. If you offer B2B services selling to other businesses, LinkedIn should be your platform of choice as it’s used by business professionals to connect with one another.

By establishing your social media profile to where your clients hang out, you stand to gain more traction with your brand and increase your chances of influence. 

What you do and where your content advantage lies also plays a huge part in growing your fan base. 

If you want to use your blog to rank for search engines with SEO, LinkedIn is a good place to start as articles and case studies do well there.

If you sell highly appealing and photogenic products like fashion and luxury products or holidays then Instagram’s filters can make your images truly stand out, although it is advantageous for your business to have beautiful images and well made videos in general.

But what happens if you sell mundane products like office supplies or home loans? Which brings us to:

WHAT TO POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA

You have to realise when people go on social media, most of them are there to connect with their family and friends, to unwind and be entertained, perhaps to learn not to shop for things or bombarded with ads. So give the people what they want.

If you sell mundane products and services, you have to put in extra effort to involve your followers. This means:

  • Creating interesting and shareable content
  • Creating engaging campaigns and competitions
  • Focus more than just product promotion

 

Some posts are more receptive than others depending on which platform it was posted on. It is always a good idea to research your clients and competitors to get an idea of what resonates with them.

What you post on social media should be a reflection of your brand personality. 

HOW OFTEN TO POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Posting too often on social media can lead to diminishing returns while posting not enough will make your followers forget about or unfollow you.

How often you post will depend on the platform you’re using but the general rule is you should post as often as you have good material or important announcements.

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When to Post on Social Media

When to post is just as important as what to post because if you post when everyone is working then they will not see your message or be too distracted to leave a thoughtful comment.

On each platform, there are certain times that get the most engagement and they are listed below.

Facebook

Ages 20-60
  • Advantage: Large user base. Join Groups. Building customer relationships and customer service
  • Media: Video, Photos, articles
  • Best time to post: weekdays between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Wednesday is the best day to post while Sundays show the least traffic.

Instagram

Younger demographic make up more than 50%
  • Advantage: Images and Video focused. Good for industries that have beautiful photos like hospitality, tourism and fitness industries.
  • Media: Photo, video
  • Best times to post: Wednesday at 11am and Friday from 10-11am.

Twitter

Mostly 25-55
  • Advantage: Great way to share real time information such as news and updates
  • Media: ‘Tweets’ limiting to 280 characters, Announcements and PR.
  • Best times to post: Wednesdays at 9am and Fridays at 9am. The best days to post are Tuesday and Wednesday,

LinkedIn

Professionals 25-55
  • Advantage: Great for B2B, company announcements and industry news/discussions.
  • Media: News, discussions and articles
  • Best times to post: Wednesdays from 9-10 a.m. and 12 p.m. The best day for posting is Wednesday

REMEMBER IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT YOU

Lastly, remember the social aspect of social media. It is not all about you and accounts that only self promote and not involve their ideal customers rarely go far.

Some easy to ways to build relationships on social media with followers and influencers includes:

  • Follow them on social media
  • Comment, like or share their posts
  • Tag friends who would like their post(s)
  • Post photos of their products, tag them and use their hashtags
  • Write them a good review and tag them
  • Sign up for their email

DON'T BE AFRAID TO BUY ADS

As more and more people are joining and creating content on social media, not everyone’s content will have the opportunity to be seen by their followers. This is evident by the decreasing organic reach across all major social media platforms. How do you fix that?

While you can grow your followers organically, buying ads will accelerate that process. By spending a bit of money to buy ads, you can reach new and existing users who may be interested in what you have to offer that you wouldn’t be able to organically. It is also how social media platforms make money so no surprises there.

Buying ads comes with its own rules and strategies, so please feel free to contact us if you require any assistance.

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It takes time to grow your followers on social media but companies that take the time to do so will be generously rewarded. 

While there are ways to increase the chances of success on social media, every business is unique and the best way to grow your brand through social media is to apply the tips in this article consistently and test it to see what works.  

summary

Social media marketing is a great way to promote your brand and develop new business opportunities. It boasts more than half the world’s population in its user base and is often the preferred way for your customers to reach out to you. However, it is also very crowded. If you don’t have the right

social media marketing strategy in place, you will alienate your customers and not get the results you desire.

We highlight the importance of finding the right platform to promote your business by being where your customers are and what content best resonates with your customers.

We uncover the what, when, and hows to take full advantage of your customers browsing habits and get the most out of your content.

Finally we discussed ways to be social and engaging your followers and influencers for collaborations to leverage your brand appeal and reach.

By following and applying these tips you are well on your way to attracting more followers and new business opportunities to your brand.

These are just some of the strategies we use for every single one of our clients but we have so much more to share, specific strategies that are only learnt by studying numerous successful companies and through years of experience implementing and optimising them. Blueprint strategies that major corporations like Apple, Airbnb and GoPro use to explode their brand awareness that gets their followers to sing their praise. 

So if you need assistance in running and managing your social media campaign with all the best tools and strategies available today, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us for an obligation free quote and consultation today.

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