If you’ve recently been tasked with running your company’s platforms, or you’ve started your own business and want to get your social marketing going, you have come to the right spot.
You don’t need to stress or break out in a cold sweat to get your social media up to par. Our social savvy team got together and came up with a list of the need-to-know foundations to get you through your first foray into the social world.
Read Relevant Free Articles (like this one!)
You don’t need to pay a ton of money for a crappy social media course that lasts one day – especially one that gives you a “certificate” at the end. You know what you aren’t going to learn in one day? How to run your channels like a pro. You don’t need to spend your hard-earned money on classes run by “social media gurus” when you can find really great free articles online. Sure, not everyone knows what they are talking about, but find some reputable blogs that know what they are talking about and you are pretty golden.
Check out your competition
You should know who your direct competition is. In general, it is good to know what your competition is doing so that you can see what you are doing better/differently and what you can offer your customers. It is also great to scope out your competition on social media. You can see what they do really well, what you (as the audience) think they are doing really poorly and what you would do differently. Don’t blatantly rip them off, but you can use their good, bad, and ugly moments to help guide your efforts.
Figure out Your Platforms
As a Marketing company, we are constantly hearing from clients that they want to maximize their reach by using ALL OF THE SOCIAL! That enthusiasm is awesome, it really is. But there are an awful lot of social media platforms out there, and using all of them properly is a giant undertaking that requires a lot of time, energy and money. If you’re not doing it properly you are running the risk of turning people off completely. Find two or three platforms where your audience lives and go there.
Experiment with your own pages
Play around with your personal social pages. See what is responding with people and what isn’t. Play with your language, with your images and videos. Even better, check out some of the lesser-known Facebook apps and learn how to use them.
Find and follow industry influencers
Do some research and figure out who the key social influencers are for your industry. Look for people who have a voice similar to your company’s, who has a large following and gets tons of engagement. Hit the follow button and pay attention. See what they are doing and how they are doing it, is there anything they are doing you can borrow to up your social game? Engage with these influencers and maybe they will follow you back. Word to the wise, engaging means: a like, retweet, or thumbs up or a tag every once in a while. Bugging influencers will definitely prevent them from wanting to deal with your social presence.
Up Your Content Game
Our last point is the most pertinent. If your content sucks, so will your social feeds. Take some photography tutorials, practice your design skills or learn about the best ways to curate a stunning feed. The better your content, the better chance you have of succeeding in this social game.
If you don’t have the time and energy to get started, or you just want someone to help get your social media up off the ground for a few months, we can help! Get in touch with our social media team to chat about how we can help you with your marketing efforts!