Day-to-day business, managing employees, marketing, social media – there is a lot to take on as a business owner! Every year it seems like there is more and more to do to keep your business current and searchable. So, if you own a business and opt to do DIY advertising and marketing, but have a social media page just sitting there, this post was written for you!
Sadly, one of the worst things you can do as a business owner is to have a social media page that doesn’t get fresh posts regularly. This can be damaging to your SEO and overall reach, which could allow your competitors to sneak in and outrank you. To help get your social presence back on track, here are our best tips to help you post quality content more often to your business profiles.
1. Less text, more images and\or video gold
If you want people to engage with your content more, you need to use video, or at least great pictures, but minimal text. In this busy world we live in, few people have time to sit and read long-winded text. If you don’t capture their interest within the first few seconds of them seeing your post, you’ve lost them. If you watch videos, you may notice that people use the best pieces in the first few seconds and then tell the rest of the story. This is a good way to structure video content. We recommend avoiding the trap of writing ‘watch ’til the end’, as often this is just a ploy to get longer views and may backfire.
2. Get your own photos taken
Have photos taken of you, your staff, and your business to share regularly on social media. Whether you hire a professional photographer, get a friend to do it, or use your phone on a timer, people want to see the business they are dealing with and create a human connection. Developing rapport this way is vital to attracting and retaining your customers in a world where everything is going online and is super competitive.
3. Share customer testimonials & reviews
If you don’t have a review marketing strategy, please read our blog post on how to ask for reviews and then implement at least one of these suggestions. Genuine reviews are what help people decide whether to trust you or not. Once you start receiving reviews, make sure you respond, even if it is a negative review. The positive ones can be shown off on social media as a post (with permission from the review writer).
What works even better is a video testimonial if you have a client who is willing to go on camera. All they have to do is tell the story of their experience with your business. Stories are gold in the marketing industry.
4. Tag people or businesses you mention
When posting to your business pages and mentioning people or other businesses, ensure you tag them. Tagging does one of three things; it notifies the person you have tagged or mentioned them or their business, they can then share the content which expands the reach, and tagging effectively tells the bots and AIs that you guys have a connection. You may find that the network of the tagged person or business will then start to see your content if they interact with the original post! It’s all very clever (and a little scary) but a very solid plan.
5. Use the right hashtags
Recently we wrote about how to use hashtags effectively, but we wanted to mention this again here. So many people just put in whatever they think might fit or some random lines or sayings, but really there should be a strategy behind your hashtags. Please take a moment to read our blog on hashtags to help you understand them better.
6. Be consistent
Consistency is key when it comes to social media posts. You want to keep your content fresh and interesting for your followers, but you also want them to know what they can expect from you on a regular basis. Formulate a plan, whether that is posting once a week or more often, and keep the momentum!
7. Use social media tools
Social media tools can save time on content creation while also giving you the ability to post at any time of day or night without having to physically log into the account. This can give you more flexibility with scheduling and posting content on different social media platforms such as Instagram or Facebook. Our recommendation would be to use Canva. There are hundreds of great free templates that will help you design something eye-catching, as well as a handy inbuilt scheduling service.
8. Make sure you have a call to action (CTA)
Tell people what you want them to do in every post! If you are selling products, offer a link to the focal product and a link to buy. If you are service-based, include a ‘call now’ or ‘book now’ CTA. Asking followers to post a reply to a question or comment on your post in some way also helps increase valuable interaction. In simple terms, you must make it simple for people to work with you. If they have to go and search on Google for your details, they may get distracted and forget, or worse, they may find your competitor and buy from them!
Bonus Tip: Create a series that people can engage with
Depending on your business, this tactic will vary, but the idea is to find some information about your business or industry that people might not know and turn it into a series of posts. These posts can then be released each week (or month) and build suspense or anticipation for the next instalment.
Extra bonus tip: Batch create and schedule your content
Remembering to post regularly can get monotonous and adds stress to your already full to-do list each week. To combat some of the social media fatigue, set aside two hours every month and focus on creating your content and scheduling it. This may seem like a big time commitment, but we guarantee it will actually take you less time than if you try and create it as you go! The best part is you get a break for four weeks where you don’t have to think about creating content – winning! (although we do recommend staying on top of comments, shares and likes!).
You now have our best 10 tips! We hope this helps you start thinking about regular posts to your business social media pages. It is worth the effort. If you still simply do not have the time or the inclination, we have your back! CLP can do all of this for you – we create and schedule business social media content every three months for you, so there is one less (vitally important!) job you don’t have to do. Having us on your socials team leaves you free to get on with running your business and helping your customers and clients. If this is something that interests you, click the button below and book your free 30-minute digital meeting with Ellie.