Nearly everyone uses social media. And whether you run a small or medium sized business (SMB) or multinational conglomerate, social media platforms are great for their broad audiences, low costs, and high returns. But without careful planning, marketing in these communities can do more harm than good.
Effective Social Media Marketing Tips for SMB's
As a SMB marketer or owner, you might want to consider some effective tactics that can help you use social media marketing to reach your business goals - here are five tips that will help you use your social media platforms effectively.
1. Choose the right social media platform for your business
Between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn to choose from, you may be tempted to sign up for more social media accounts than you’re ready to manage. It may not seem like much at first, but you'd be surprised by how quickly you can be overwhelmed by statuses, commenting on existing posts, and answering enquiries on every platform, which is why it’s better to adopt only a few platforms that can effectively attract your target customers.
Ask yourself these questions before deciding which platform to use:
- Who is my target customer and what channels do they use?
- What do I hope to gain by opening a social media account?
- What kind of content do I want to share and create?
- How much time can I devote to social media management?
2. Know the best time to update your social media platform
Are most of your customers online at 8am or 8pm? With a better understanding of your target users' habits, you can schedule your posts so they create more traffic, increase brand engagement and, eventually, generate new leads and customers.
Depending on which platform you choose to invest in, you should post a new update during these times for maximum engagement:
- Facebook: 1pm - 3pm on Thursday and Friday
- Twitter: 3pm - 8pm, Monday - Friday for B2B, & Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday for B2C organizations
- YouTube: 12pm - 3pm, Thursday - Sunday
- LinkedIn: 8am - 5pm, Monday - Friday
3. Use attractive, professional-looking visuals in your posts
One of the simplest ways to get followers to share your posts is by uploading high-quality photos, videos, and reliable infographics along with your messages. Studies have shown that Facebook posts with images result in 39% more engagement while tweets with images or videos create 200% more engagement.
4. Engage with your followers
It’s important for businesses to maintain a healthy back-and-forth on social media. This means beyond sharing useful content, you should also respond to their comments and private messages as quickly as possible.
You can build stronger relationships with customers by writing thank you comments to anyone who shared positive experiences with your business, and by addressing negative comments with personalised and helpful responses.
5. Pump the brakes on promotional materials
With social media becoming important tools for customers and businesses to connect and interact, it is important not to muddy the water with too many promotional posts. A rule of thumb for social media promotions is:
- 80% of your posts should be shareable and interactive content, and...
- The remaining 20% should be about your business.
This will result in more engagement, a more consistent brand image, and a healthier bottom line.
Embrace Effective Social Media Marketing for your SMB in 2018
Remember developing content that supports your business goals is important, but you will also need to continue to spend time connecting with potential customers and perhaps, influencers in your city or industry. Timing is everything - ensure you have the right content, post it in a timely manner and connect with those people that are important for your small business. SMB's can profit with the help of social media marketing.
How can Diamond help?
Diamond IT’s key offerings are IT and Managed Services, computer networks, software and web development and consultancy. Please contact us today if you need any business advice in any of these areas. Complete the form below or call us today on 1300 307 907.
Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
