Tips for getting started on social media
We wanted to take some time to share some top tips for getting started on social media. This blog is aimed at small businesses that are wishing to dip their toes in social media and are wondering how to go about it. We often hear from other marketing professionals and small businesses about the immense amount of pressure they feel to be everywhere and on all platforms with limited resources and capacity. At Marketing Moments, we believe it is less about being everywhere and more about finding the right places for your brand and doing them well!
Tip 1 - be audience first
We would always recommend that you start with your audience and think about who it is you're trying to reach. Get a blank piece of paper and think about who they are; what platforms do they use; how do they use these platforms.
Great so you’ve now got a really clear idea of who you are trying to reach and their existing behaviour on that platform. So you now need to think about how your brand can add value to the customer? What is it that you can offer that will make them want to engage with you? What struggles or problems are they having and how does your product or service solve that for them? From this think of three to five key messages that you want to be present throughout your social media content and be known for on this platform. This will help you to keep your social media content focused!
The last thing to think about is how are your customer going to engage with you? For example, who is going to be best placed within your small business to pick up enquiries or questions that customers may ask. How/when are you going to respond to queries? If this is just going to be during office hours, clearly identify this in your company description, so your customers expectations are managed.
Tip 2 - create clear vision and goals of what you want to achieve
In tip 1, you’ve already come up with key messages you want to have present throughout your content, but now is time to think big. Set yourself a clear vision of what you want from your social media activity: is this about awareness, growth or retaining existing customers? The reality is it is probably two or more of these, but really think about what success will look like for you.
Set some SMART objectives that you can measure your social media activity against. This will help keep you honest and ensure that you’re getting the return you need for your effort. Think of ways to automate the measurement of these where possible to save you time.
Tip 3 - start small and build it up over time
We think it is really important to start small when getting started on social media and build it up over time. This way you will get more of a feel around the level of effort needed to reach your objectives, but also it gives you time to test ideas out in a more controlled way. We know it is really tempting to go from a zero to hundred, but building it up slowly is often more sustainable.
Pace yourself and do the level of content that works for you within your current workload. If that is two posts a week or daily content that is OK - the important thing is that it is helping you achieve your objectives without you suffering content burnout. If this means launching one channel at a time and taking a longer term approach over years to be on the channels you have identified, this is OK too.
Tip 4 - plan your content out for the first few months
It was probably a good decade ago now, if not longer, that someone introduced us to the 70/30 rule and it is still as viable today. The idea is that 70% of your content should be about engaging with your customers and 30% is selling to them. The point is that social media is an engagement channel first and foremost and to not lose sight of that.
We would recommend creating yourself a content calendar so that you can keep an eye on the balance of messages, but also capture any ideas you have for content. Think about what you want to share, why your customers would be interested and what assets you need to make the content stronger. For example, could you share that message in a video or what imagery do you need.
Tip 5 - spend some time getting to know the platform
The best way to win at social media is by really knowing the platform and what is going to work better on each platform. A common trap we see people fall into is posting exactly the same content on Twitter as Facebook or LinkedIn. Rather than taking the time to optimise it for that channel. So really spend some time getting to know the preferences of each platform.
For example, the use of hashtags is a great example, on instagram you need around 30 hashtags per post (10 generic broad terms, 10 location terms, 10 specific terms), whereas on LinkedIn you want between 3-5 hashtags per post. This is just one example of how you need to write differently for each platform. But find companies in your product category that are rocking it and spend some time thinking about why you think they are strong and be inspired.
If you would like to find out how Marketing Moments could help you to get started on social media, contact us today!
