A Beginner’s Guide To Social Media For Business

It’s a fundamental truth these days: Nearly every single one of your customers has access to social media, and almost all of them use it daily. In fact, there’s a reported 4.62 billion users that spend over 2 and a half hours daily using any number of social media platforms.

Now more than ever, businesses need to have a presence online beyond just a website – there’s a captive audience waiting to hear all about your brand. If you haven’t yet thought about your business social media strategy, here are some tips and best practices to help get you started.

You (Really) Need A Plan

Many business owners are comfortable using platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter for personal social media use, but what works for personal profiles doesn’t necessarily convert to business profiles. A social media plan upfront helps business owners establish a clear goal and quantify ROI of their efforts. Research the competition, perform a social media audit, and flesh out a calendar to keep your content timely. Remember, too, the 80/20 rule: 80% of the content your business shares on social media should be educational and informative, and the other 20% should promote the business itself. 

Choose Platforms Wisely

Even if your business offers something that everyone needs, don’t spread your content thin across all platforms. It may increase brand exposure but that doesn’t always equate to converting users into paying, loyal customers. Facebook is a ubiquitous platform that’s free to join and user-friendly, Twitter is fast-moving and perfect for customer service, and LinkedIn establishes your brand as a leader among industry peers. Keep this in mind (along with demographic statistics) as you create your plan.

Get To Know Your Audience

After you’ve established which platform your customers use, it’s time to dig deep and find the content that resonates with them. Take the time to set up what’s commonly called buyer personas: avatars and profiles for your typical customer. What do they like to do? Which needs does your business meet for them? How can you solve their common pain points? Once you have a clearer picture, you’ll have a firm grasp on the social media content that you’ll choose to share.

Build A Community

Social media isn’t just about promotion and communication. It offers your business or brand a way to build a community that’s inclusive and collaborative. Sharing social media content that brings your customers together creates a connection and a sense of loyalty, which drives word-of-mouth and works to expand customer bases for businesses of all sizes. It’s also within these “communities” online that you’ll be able to glean insight and feedback that you can then use to expand your products or services – this is known as “social listening.”

Focus On Quality – Not Quantity

There’s no shortage of social media tools and platforms available for business owners, but that doesn’t mean you have to do it all. Nor does it mean that you have to pour energy into creating social media content and feel pressured to post new and fresh content multiple times a day. Instead, focus on engaging and educational social media content that’s well-written and engaging, with links that are highly relevant to your audience. Customers are looking for genuine, authentic content; they’re smart enough to see through spam posting and other social media gimmicks that we thought once worked.

Automation Is Your Friend

Remember that social media calendar you created? Here’s where you can put it to good use! Instead of trying to find time every day to create and post content for business social media pages, use scheduling and automation tools instead. Set aside some time weekly instead to review and schedule content according to your plan, and free you up to focus on higher-value work that will help your business grow. 

Ask For Help

Owners are notorious for wanting to put their touch on all aspects of the business, but that can be exhausting when it comes to keeping up with social media. By working with a team like Emphatic, you can still maintain your brand voice and amplify it – without having to do much of the heavy lifting. We have the talent to create social media content for your business and the tools to help you schedule it according to the goals you’ve set for your business’s social media marketing. 

Sign up today for your free trial of Emphatic to find out how we can help you grow your business, remain authentic, and stay in control of the messages you’re sending on social media.