Did you know?
- 70% of marketers have successfully used Facebook to gain new customers.
- 86% of active Twitter users say they plan to purchase regularly from a brand they follow.
- 82% of SMBs find social media effective for lead generation
- 90% find social media to be an effective branding tool.
- 93% of marketers use social media for business
- 43% of marketers have successfully used Twitter to gain new customers.
- 80% of marketers indicated that their social media efforts increased website traffic.
You can’t go to many places these days without seeing a reference to social media. In fact, nearly every large business – as well as many small to medium ones – have at least one social media platform. You can even get an Instagram Bot to help you boost your following now. However, having a social media platform and actually using it to benefit your business are two different things!
The numbers above show that social media is a highly effective way to garner more business and increase sales. But a social media presence does more than that. It can be an introduction of your business to those who have never heard of you before. When you build and maintain a professional social media page – be it on Facebook, Twitter, Linked, Google Plus or others – it is the same as giving people a sneak peek into who your business is and what you care about.
5 Tips for Boosting Your Social Media Profile
Having a great looking social media channel isn’t enough – you have to invest time in posting to the page and then pay attention to follower feedback. “But how do I get started and what type of content should I post?” you might ask. To help you get started and create social media content that works, I have several suggestions.
- Set goals. In creating social media content, you can easily get overwhelmed. Rather than feel you need to be on every platform, pick the one that will best suit your product and catch your client’s attention, then set a few goals. These goals might include increasing the number of followers every week/month, having a certain number of people follow your social platform that links back to your website, or perhaps seeing an increase in site traffic over a set period of time. Then, to complete your goals, you can use a followers app to help boost your social media numbers and give yourself a higher profile.
- Learn who your audience is. If you are trying to reach the millennial generation, for instance, then you need to post articles that catch their attention while showing the benefits of your products. Consider using surveys that encourage their feedback, as this generation demands to be heard. Take the time to identify your target market, and then post accordingly. Use tools such as Tweepi to manage and grow your Twitter account to track new users and manage old contacts.
- Post regularly. Once you pick a platform, it’s important to post regularly. That can mean twice a day or twice a week. Regardless, get in the habit of posting regularly. Many platforms such as Facebook allow you to schedule posts; other sites like Hootsuite, SproutSocial, Buffer and Post Planner allow you to schedule posts across may different platfoms. Some have free versions, while others are paid.
- Use visuals. Using images in social media posts increases your social media engagement. Today, there are many easy ways to create images. One tool is called Canva, which lets you create images across different social media platforms. Others like RELAY allow you to take an image and create several different versions, so you can reuse the image at different times of the day and across platforms. As this blog post ‘for the gram‘ highlights, social media is a huge part of society and people often post images onto sites like Instagram to influence their perceived social status. This is an important consideration for businesses looking to establish themselves as a luxury brand for example.
- Create a content calendar. One of the best ways to ways to organize your blogs and keep track of posts is by using a content calendar. At a recent Social Media Success Summit I attended, Neal Schaffer told us about Edgar. Edgar lets you repurpose old blogs and ebooks by sorting them into categories that you create and publish on a schedule you choose. While it’s not inexpensive – $49/month – Schaffer, a prolific social media producer, swears by it.
Your social media content is a vital part of having a solid online presence. It will allow you to build a larger customer base and get to know your customers – both new ones and those who have followed you for years. The Alpine Communications team knows how valuable using social media is and wants to help you be more successful in your online presence. Contact us today to learn how we can help.