Most businesses don’t realize that simply having Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ pages aren’t enough to effectively increase their social media presence or search engine optimization efforts. A strategy tailored to your business is necessary to fully utilize these tools and build a strong social media presence.
Develop your Topics
One of the biggest initial mistakes people make is operating under the idea that they will post when something comes to mind. The problem with this approach is either something comes to mind when they are busy doing other things or when they sit down to make a post, they get writer’s block. One proven technique is to develop a short list of topics to serve as a ‘self-conversation starter’. Some examples might include:
- breaking news in your industry
- tips and tricks
- inspirational or funny quotes
- education on your company’s services
- quirky factoids about your company
- latest projects your company completed
- customer testimonials
- sales or special offers
Develop your Voice
Using a consistent and appropriate voice across your entire social media presence helps shape your followers perception of your business. A comedian’s Twitter feed should have a different tone than a web design company even though some of the general topics may be the same. This is especially important if you have multiple people managing your social media presence.
Tweak your Posts for Search Engine Optimization
Write your posts primarily for your followers but don’t forget that search engines read your posts too! Craft your posts so they contain some of the keywords you optimized your website for. Include links to your website and search engines will pick up on the shared keywords scoring points for your website’s search engine rankings.
Schedule the Time & Schedule your Posts
Once you develop your topics, schedule 20 or 30 minutes twice a week to write your posts. Scheduling your time with social media accomplishes 2 important things:
- Develops a routine/habit that keeps your social media presence alive
- Provides a window of time so you don’t get ‘sucked in’ to surfing Facebook for 3 hours
While you are wearing your social media hat, take the time to schedule a few posts for the future, either later that day or later in the week. This isn’t to say that you can’t shoot off a post if inspiration strikes or if you have a time-sensitive announcement, but make that the exception rather than the rule and you’ll keep your presence far more active.
Add a Picture or Video to your Posts
With the hundreds of posts that people see a day, one of the best ways to stand out is to add a picture. It could be a picture of a project you just finished, one of your products, or simply something iconic and appropriate for the topic. You could post a video blog (‘vlogging’) of yourself casually speaking to your followers and encouraging them to interact.
Build your Following
Notice that this isn’t the first headline. Numbers aren’t everything; if your message is engaging you are more likely to build a following, but here’s some ways to get your following kickstarted:
- Use tools that allow you to invite people from your address book or other methods
- Have a links in your email signature to your social media accounts
- Have links on your website to your social media accounts
- Place social media icons and/or urls on company advertisements
- Offer special incentives or giveaways for followers
Interact with your Community
Set aside some time each week to interact with your community. Being social requires a two way conversation and your followers will often feel more connected (and loyal to your company) if you interact. Don’t feel like you must reply to every message sent your way, but do invest those 30 seconds here and there to connect with your followers on the individual level rather than only operating in broadcast mode.
Resources
TweetDeck and HootSuite are great tools for managing multiple accounts, scheduling posts for the future, and interacting with your followers. Most social media also have apps that help you stay connected on the go.
Need Social Media Help?
If you need help setting up your social media accounts or consultation on how to develop and implement your strategy, feel free to contact us. We also offer fully managed social media packages if you want us to manage your social media presence for you!