In our previous blog, we discussed the best practices for social media marketing. We gave tips for marketing your brand via Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest. Now we’ll cover the the other three major social media platforms for digital marketers.
Keep in mind that some rules apply to every platform (e.g., sign up for a business account, engage with your followers, take every opportunity to use SEO). One crucial concept that will help you with any and every social media network: social media marketing is a form of content marketing! Even though you might not be posting full blogs or webpages, you still have ample opportunities to create quality content. (For other general tips, check out Part 1 of this blog series!)
- Become a joiner. Join LinkedIn groups that are important to and appropriate for your target audience. Don’t be a lurker, however: maintain your presence by staying active in these groups. On a similar note, consider creating your own LinkedIn group!
- Invite your employees. While this might be considered odd for other social media platforms, LinkedIn is based on professional connections. Your employees will probably at least mention your company on their own profiles, after all!
- Focus on making connections. Reach out to your audience. Aim to grow your email list. Once you connect, you can build relationships!
- Share quality content. Along with creating original content, you should share content that you know your target demographic wants to see. This will engage your audience and help establish your page (and thus your brand) as a resource.
- Don’t forget about images! Include images in your posts whenever possible. Create graphic templates for inspirational quotes that you post. Make and share infographics, as well.
- Get personal. Profile employees in a few posts. Share candid images of your staff and behind-the-scenes pictures of your business.
- Understand link limitations. You can only share links in your profile or “Bio.” Links will not work in captions or comments, so remember to direct readers to your profile for the link.
- Take advantage of Instagram’s special features. Instagram Stories are very popular. Recently the network introduced a feature that allows you to take a live video and leave it up for twenty-four hours.
- Focus on quality. While this is true for every platform, Instagram photos need to be perfect. Don’t slack on presentation.
- More is more when it comes to hashtags. A 2014 study found a correlation between the number of hashtags and the number of Likes. With this platform, you can include up to 30 hashtags per post. You should still only use hashtags that are relevant to your brand, though.
- Follow the (industry) leaders. Follow the leading companies in your industry. Retweet from experts and influencers in your field.
- Be direct. Include a Call to Action in the appropriate tweets. Ask for opinions from your followers on topics in your industry.
- Read the room. Do your due diligence on trending topics before you hashtag! A topic or hashtag might seem innocuous or even funny, but it could actually have a deep meaning to legions of Twitter users. Learn from this company’s mistake.
- Graphics are powerful. Don’t be shy about using images and graphic in your posts. Create your own templates for different types of posts, like quotes or blog previews.
- Be respectful. Never attempt to capitalize on somber occasions like Memorial Day or September 11th. Either post a sincere message of thanks/condolences or avoid the subject entirely. When in doubt, don’t post.
These are not the only sites available. Tumblr and Google+ are two social media networks that, although often overlooked by marketers, still have legions of devoted users. International brands have additional options (like VKontakte and Qzone), although foreign governments often have different rules and restrictions for social media.
Setting up a business profile might seem daunting, but it is completely worth the time and effort! Do you need help mastering the social media landscape? Whether you just need a little bit of expert guidance or would prefer that a professional team manage your social media presence, look no further! Contact The Go! Agency today for your free consultation!
