Social Media Do’s and Don’ts
Social media marketing, otherwise referred to as SMM or social media advertising, is a great way to elevate your marketing efforts. And, with nearly 79% of the U.S. population on social media and a whopping 2.77 billion people using it around the world, SMM is also a great way to expose your brand to potential customers because your campaigns can reach so many people.
Keep reading as we discuss how social media marketing can benefit your business as well as five very important social media marketing do’s and don’ts that will ensure your SMM efforts will be successful.
How Social Media Marketing Can Help Your Businesses
Social media marketing does so many great things for your business. Here are just a handful of the many reasons why your company should be leveraging social media advertising.
- SMM can help strengthen your brand’s identity.
And, having a strong brand identity can help create a positive brand association with both your current and potential customers.
- Social media marketing can help increase your website traffic.
In fact, promoting your content on social media is considered one of the best ways to increase traffic to your website.
- You can promote so much more than just your products and services.
Social media allows your business to spread the word about a variety of things, like industry news, any cool sales or promotions you are running, and new product launches.
- It’s cost effective.
Social media marketing doesn’t have to break the bank. SMM is actually quite cost effective and often cheaper than more traditional marketing, like print or online ads.
- Social media marketing allows you to really target your audience.
These platforms allow you to market to people based on their user profiles. You can get really specific with your marketing content based on a user’s:
- Location
- Age
- Gender
- Interests
- Occupation
The Best Platforms For Social Media Marketing
There are tons of social media platforms out there, but they are not all ideal for marketing. The following are five popular social media platforms that companies often use for their social media marketing efforts:
- YouTube
While the above platforms are great for marketing, that doesn’t mean they are the best platforms for your business. Social media marketing isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. According to Business News Daily, your marketing team should really focus on using social media platforms that allow you to reach and engage with your target audience. For instance, B2C businesses often have more success with Facebook and Twitter; whereas, LinkedIN is more popular with the B2B crowd. However, that doesn’t mean that a B2B company can’t have success with using Facebook or Twitter for social media marketing. It’s really about finding the platform that the majority of your target audience uses.
Social Marketing Do’s
- Have a plan in place.
Before starting any campaigns on social media, be sure to put a plan in place. Think about the results you want to achieve, the types of content you want to post, how often you want to post, how you will respond to followers, etc.
- Be consistent.
It is important to be consistent with your social media posting. You want to post on a consistent basis as well as be consistent with the types of information you share.
- Consider the time when posting or scheduling your posts.
It’s important to keep the time as well as the day in mind when you post content and ads. The best time to post varies by platform and whether you are a B2B or B2C company. A marketing platform company, CoSchedule actually analyzed 16 different studies on social media posting times and came up with a list of the best times to post on each one.
- Interact with your audience.
In order to build a relationship with your followers and to eventually gain more followers, you need to get on your chosen platform and interact with everyone. Ask your followers questions. Answer their questions. Share relevant content.
- Change up your posts for each platform you use.
This is really important because like we said earlier, social media platforms are all different. So you will need to tweak your messaging so it best fits with each platform. For example, let’s say your business uses both LinkedIn and Facebook for social media marketing. LinkedIn tends to have a more professional crowd, so your messaging for that will be a bit more polished and less conversational than your Facebook messaging.
Social Marketing Don’ts
- Don’t post too much.
How many times have you unfollowed a company or even someone because they posted too much? Posting too much can make your business appear spammy and will drive people away. According to INC, the number of times you should post depends on the platform you are using. For example, a business should only post one time a day on Facebook and LinkedIn, but up to 15 times a day is okay for Twitter.
- Don’t be repetitive.
Posting repetitive content can cause your targeted audience to tune you out. Keep things fresh so your audience keeps coming back for more.
- When you do post, don’t just market.
You don’t only have to post when you want to market. Use your platform as a chance to interact with your audience by posting interesting industry-related content. Consider following the 80/20 rule so 80% of your posts aren’t directly self-promotional. Plus posting interesting and relevant content allows your users to share your posts, which will expose your brand to other users, which can lead to more leads. See where we are going with this?
- Don’t delete comments from others, even if they are negative.
Unless they are highly offensive and contain profane language, don’t delete comments from your social media pages. It looks bad. Instead, show your followers that you take complaints seriously and address them right away.
- Don’t use every social media channel out there.
Like we said earlier, not every social media platform will work for your business. Find the ones you will have the most success with and put your efforts into using those.
How EmoryDay Can Help You Leverage Social Media Marketing
We have what it takes to help your business use social media advertising to your advantage so your efforts will be successful and generate leads. Let EmoryDay put your social media on the right track!
Resources
https://shanebarker.com/blog/b2b-social-networking-channels-grow-your-business/
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7832-social-media-for-business.html
https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/08/14/increase-traffic-to-my-website
https://www.wordstream.com/social-media-marketing
https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/
https://coschedule.com/blog/best-times-to-post-on-social-media/#facebook
https://campfiredigital.com/social-media-marketing-best-practices/
https://www.fundera.com/blog/dos-and-donts-of-social-media
https://thenextscoop.com/dos-and-donts-social-media-business-promoters/
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