What if I told you that 52% of online sales that happened in 2015 were influenced by Facebook? Or that 62% of adults get their news from social media?
Even without the facts, you know how important social media is. You’re probably reading this because you clicked on a link that we posted on our Facebook or Twitter. What you don’t know is that we had a strategy to this — we planned out exactly when this blog post would go out, what social media platforms we would boost it on, and what kind of people would be reading it.
1. If you’re going to sign up for a social media account, you need to commit.
It’s easy to put your updates in a scheduler, or only post when there’s a special — but this is a quick way to disengage your audience. Show the fun behind your company. Think of it like a movie: people enjoy the feature film, but they love extras like bloopers and deleted scenes.
Your customers will interact and, in some cases, review you. Everyone is watching, so put on a show — share their smiles at your company, respond to concerns quickly and have fun.
2. Everything in moderation — including hashtags.
Brands, in an eager attempt to stir engagement, will often go overboard when it comes to hashtags. On Facebook, for example, the general rule is to use only one (if you must). On Twitter and Instagram, three is pushing it, but it’s acceptable. Posting too many in one update comes off as disorganized and messy. The cleaner, the better.
You can sort of “hack” this on Instagram — by commenting on your photo with a slew of hashtags. This increases likes on the photo.
3. Ubiquity makes everything easier.
Unfortunately, the internet is a place of squatting. You’ll find that the perfect username is already taken on one platform but not on another. Even if Instagram gave you the full name of your company while Twitter didn’t, play it safe and make both usernames the same.
There’s no rule saying that you can’t squat, either. Let’s pretend that a full-service advertising agency in Baton Rouge, MUSH, saw that @MUSH was taken on Twitter by someone who hadn’t tweeted since 2010. However, on Instagram, @MUSH was free. What to do? Simple: claim both @MUSH and @MUSHBR on Instagram, while being active only on @MUSHBR. Claim @MUSHBR on Twitter and voila.
It may not sound like it makes a lot of difference, but if a customer can’t find you, then they can’t purchase from you.
4. Be vivid.
Pictures and videos enrich your content. Empty links and status updates don’t entice an audience to do anything. If you’re a restaurant, a description of your delicious food may drive people to your business — but a shot of a savory steak? The chances increase.
Think about how Instagram has more active users than Twitter now, even though Twitter is older. Pictures grab more attention than words do. It’s easy for your audience to take the time to look at a picture. Not so much for a long wall of text.
5. Add action items and takeaways.
Imagine that your audience is saying “So what?” to everything you say.
You’ve got a discount on something? So what? I’ll save 100% if I don’t purchase anything from you.
Oh, it’s with my email address? So what? I’m lazy and I don’t want to make the effort to sign up.
Wait, you’re giving me a free year trial with this discount, plus free shipping? Sold.
That’s the description for the student version of Amazon Prime. We’re not saying that you have to go above and beyond with your discounts, but clearly list out the benefits to exchanging time and money for your products and services. Be like the author who never leaves their readers hanging, and constantly rewards them for the patience of having to plow through all of those words.
That’s the tried and true tips we have for now — let us know if you have any others in the comments.