We’re so well-versed in social media that it’s practically second nature to us. As much as we breathe, we check our social media platforms on our phones.
Why not use social media channels to your advantage by leaving reviews, going to our favorite restaurants, and posting photographs so that our Insta is always on point?
Take a look at 15 simple things you can start doing right now to increase brand awareness and your social media marketing business profits and develop new business.
Table of Contents
1. Determine your objective and the presence you want to have in the community
Get out a pen and paper before we begin.
Now, consider the marketing goals of your business or how you want to be remembered by others. Make a list of three social media marketing or digital marketing strategies for your business.
For example, if you’re a vegan restaurant owner in the food industry your objectives might be:
- Creating awareness for vegans
- Focusing on healthy and organic foods
- Customer service/engagement
When you’ve finished your objectives, look them over when you publish to make sure you’re living up to your social media marketing strategy objectives.
2. Create Your Business Persona
Create social networking or social platform theme. Do you want to be characterized as witty, accurate, or free-thinking?
For example, the Twitter handle for Wendy’s does a fantastic job creating a sassy persona and not giving a care.
She does a wonderful job engaging with her audience and maintaining her character in each reply. She does a good social media marketing plan.
It’s critical to connect with your readers on an emotional level. Wendy’s tweets make their audience laugh, so consider how you want your visitors to feel after reading your material.
Do you want people to start eating healthier? Do you want them to get up and conquer the world? Or do you wish they would leave them wanting more?
Are you still using your pen and paper? Make a mental list of emotions you want your readers to experience when they read your work.
3. Be Personable
Pretend that you don’t have a computer screen blocking you and your audience. Make your captions as if you’re talking to someone face to face.
Or post videos, post success stories, and other social efforts to engage followers and get new audiences.
When you write your captions, step back from your computer for a second before hitting enter. You don’t want your content, blog post, or writing to come off as robotic or impersonal.
Share anecdotes or instances that are relevant to your audience. If you’re stumped, go back to your company’s mission!
4. Use Social Media Networks That Make Sense For Your Business
Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. For instance, if I was into vegan food restaurants and looking for somewhere to eat where would I search?
Yelp/Google/Instagram. Use the social networks that make sense for your business. If you’re into vegan meals, you won’t need to be on LinkedIn. If you’re not sure which keywords to use, check each social media platforms search bar for your company’s market.
I would input “vegan organic meals,” then I’d look at what kind of results appear. If they aren’t connected to my company objectives or market, I’ll use a platform where I think my audience will search for me.
Always think in your audience’s shoes!
5. Use All Social Networks Differently
All social media platforms contain some content and image. However, each outlet serves a different purpose. You wouldn’t use LinkedIn the way you used Facebook.
For example, you would use Instagram to display your images, whereas you might use Facebook to post more videos. You may use both LinkedIn and Facebook to increase your company professionally while getting personal with your audience.
Now that you have what social media networks you want to use, think of ways you can use each a little differently.
6. Using Hashtags
Hashtags are sometimes neglected, and users don’t always know how to utilize them correctly. Consider your company’s goal. You want as many of your hashtags as possible to be relevant.
Another good practice is to avoid spammy hashtags and repeat tags on all of your photos; doing so might raise a red flag. We discovered a list of the top 100 hashtags to use for 2022 that may assist your business in development.
Don’t forget to add personal hashtags on what your business is about; include a hashtag for your company. That way if someone ever searches for your company your pictures will be consolidated by one hashtag.
Take a second and jot down your 30 hashtags (adding more will give you an error on IG) somewhere digital (phone/computer) so you can copy/paste when needed.
7. Creating Hashtags (30 Max)
Once you’ve created your hashtags for your social media marketing strategy it’s time to post! For Instagram always add your hashtags in the comment section immediately after you post your picture.
Now that you have your 30 hashtags add the 5 dots like the picture to the right. Copy-paste these tags into a comment on your photo after you’ve published it (along with 5 dots above) and put these tags in a remark below.
The 5 dots ensure that your tags don’t pop up in your post. Instead, they’ll show up in the comment section as “…” This helps to keep your captions clean.
8. Post Consistently
The amount you post depends on what leveraging social media you are on. For Instagram, posting every day is essential to keep your following.
However, posting every day on LinkedIn would overwhelm your audience, especially if people mostly go on LinkedIn to job hunt.
They don’t want to be bombarded by content every day.
Here is a list of the suggested amount of posts per week:
- Twitter – 3 times/day
- Facebook – 2 times/day at most
- LinkedIn – 1 time/every other day
- Google+ – 3 times/day
- Pinterest – 5x per/day
- Instagram – 1.5 times/day
- Blog – 2 times/week
9. Post during times you know your viewers will be present
After you’ve decided where you’ll publish and how often, look into the times when your audience is online. Advanced targeting on your target audiences and target demographic.
Go to your Google search bar and type in “what time to post on social media for ‘industry you’re in.’”
For example, if I’m posting relevant content for vegan food restaurants, I would type in “what time to post on social media for restaurants” I would want to post when people are deciding where they should go for lunch or dinner, i.e., 11 AM and 6 PM.
This also differs day to day, because over the weekend people eat a little later than usual. Post according to your business brand marketing and when your audience will be searching.
If you can’t locate a suitable time to publish, consider what time your audience would be looking for information.
For example, a press-on nail company aiming to appeal to younger consumers might post during schoolless hours.
Having trial and errors are okay. Once you start posting on your social media platforms more often, you’ll get a feel for when your audience is most visible to your content strategy.
10. Make Your Bio Straightforward
People don’t have much patience when they search. Think back to your own user base search experience. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, most of the time you get impatient and leave.
So keep that same user base experience for your audience. When people get to your page, they should be able to see within 3 seconds what your social media sites are about.
Your bio should contain:
- Your business name
- Where you are based
- Something unique you offer/persona
- Link to your website or blog.
The bio for Wendy’s is quite good. They include their name and website address, which is useful, as well as information about what they provide. You can also see their lively business personality through the picture. It’s easy to find/read and it’s straight to the point!
11. Post Quality Pictures
Think quality over quantity for social media marketing. This VeganFoodSpot does a great job with its lighting and content. When sharing photos, stick to a color scheme and one filter for all of your images.
You can have different edits using different brightness/contrasts, but try and stick to one filter. This post above has greens and browns as their color scheme.
The colors are also very similar, and their postings remain neat. The images move along smoothly, and you want to keep scrolling.
12. Keep Your Post Captions Clean
Returning to #7, deleting your hashtags and inserting them into your comment instead of your caption makes a significant difference.
You also want to stray away from the excessive use of emojis and punctuation.
13. Interact With Your Audience
To get more engagement, comments, or online reviews on your posts in social media marketing, don’t be afraid to ask your specific audience for their input.
If I had a vegan restaurant, for example, and posted content about vegan desserts on a Friday night, I might ask “what goes best with this dessert?” or “what’s your favorite vegan dessert” in my article to encourage more engagement from readers.
Once you start receiving comments from your followers, be attentive and responsive. Make sure you’re keeping personable as you go back to #3.
Keep track of people who respond to your social posts; if it’s the same audience that keeps replying, reach out to them personally and provide a give-away or a free dessert the next time they visit.
Think back to your objective, if customer service is one of them then follow through!
14. Ask To Collaborate
Influencer marketing: don’t be afraid to slide into other bloggers/restaurant owners’ DM’s and ask them to collaborate with you.
In other words, they talk about how awesome you are on their page and vice versa. A lot of internet users, Facebook users, and other users from different social media platforms will know your business
This technique allows you to create a new pool of users who view your page, increasing your awareness.
Take a second and go to Instagram/ Facebook/ or even Google or other social media channels and type in “vegan restaurants” or “vegan bloggers” or whatever matches your social media strategy.
Look for a social media platform that fits your business objective.
Consider whether their material is clean, and would you want your company’s name associated with it?
Once you’ve found them, follow them or like their page and then send them a message that says something like:
“Hey ‘insert their name’ I have been looking at your page and the vegan content you’ve been posting. My name is ‘insert name,’ and I’m a Dallas-based vegan restaurant business owner.
My blog is focused on veganism and healthy eating, so I thought you’d be interested in it. I also noticed that you are interested in vegan restaurants and cuisines.
“I’m a big fan of your work. If you ever need any help adding veganism to your wardrobe, I’d be more than happy to assist you! We can collaborate and share our love for all things vegan. I look forward to receiving a response from you! Much affection, ‘insert your name.’”
This is an example of a collaboration message for social media influencers you could send for your social media digital marketing.
Convert it to something that meets the demands of your business and consult your business objectives if you’re having trouble getting started.
15. Build A Relationship
If you’re seeing similar people respond to your postings, do some research on them and find out what they care about.
If they enjoy vegan sweets, you may want to include a vegan recipe in a Facebook culinary video for them.
Customers love to be appreciated; if they enjoy the service they receive, they’ll tell their friends and so on. Keep your audience in mind and your business goals in mind.
This list can help you create a social media marketing strategy for growing your business.
Always think back to your business objectives if you get stuck.
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