Third In Series: Top 10 Tips for Getting Results with Social Media Marketing

By Jason McClain | September 28, 2015 | 0 Comment

With social media marketing, there is still some confusion with how to properly use it for business. The same rules don’t always apply for business social media management as they do for personal social media use — and there are some important distinctions that need to be made.

My top 10 tips for getting results with social media marketing are based on common mistakes that are being made by those who manage social media for businesses. Hopefully, there will be some “golden nuggets” to help you find greater success with social media marketing efforts.

So, let’s get started…

1. Devise Platform Specific Tactics. Cross posting isn’t always a good idea. For instance, Twitter has a lower max character limit than Facebook does. Also, LinkedIn doesn’t support hashtags like many of the other platforms do. Additionally, your audience may be more active on certain platforms than others, and at different times/days to boot. I would advise looking at the analytics per platform and determining what times/days get the most engagement. Last, but not least, consider the life of a post/tweet. Twitter tweets move more quickly down the feed than posts do on Facebook — so consider posting more frequently on Twitter to make sure your brand tweets aren’t missed by those who log in a little later than your most recent tweet was posted.
2. Distribute Platform Specific Content. You can look at insights or analytics on most social platforms, or with third-party tools available, to see what content is performing best — and post/tweet/upload more of this type of content. Some platforms may be limited to a certain type of content. Instagram and Pinterest are used for images. Although some do pin posts, it isn’t the most frequent content pinned. Also, remember to choose based on your social goals. If you are brand building or looking to increase engagement on a platform directly, posting a meme may good. If you are looking instead to drive traffic back to your website, a link to a blog post hosted on your website may be a better option.
3. Create Business Specific Accounts. It is often that people will default to signing up for the big name platforms like Facebook and Twitter, but you run the risk of spreading yourself too thin and not giving each platform the attention it deserves if you try to be active on all majors. If you are B2C, Pinterest may be top of your list. If you are a local business, Google Plus may be a good choice for SEO. Consider what social platforms may be best to start with based on what you offer and your target audience.

4. Incorporate Social In Overall Plan. Marketing channels are no longer siloed; we have multiple funnels customers and clients are going through. Taking a more holistic view, engage with your users across as many of the digital touchpoints as you can, so you minimize risk of losing them. When you create a campaign, consider email, PPC and social together for maximum results. If you are at an event, consider live tweeting.

5. Consider Varying Social Activities. We want to make sure we are utilizing platforms to their full extent. I have been able to break down social activities into buckets: posting, engagement, outreach, and advertising. Engagement is responding to those who have already engaged with your content or account, outreach is proactively seeking out those who might know your account or brand exists, and advertising is running platform ads. If you are not seeing a return from social media efforts, it may not be that social isn’t a good channel — or even that a specific platform isn’t good. It could mean that you aren’t getting the right mix of social activities within a platform.

6. Engage Beyond Your Own Brand. Only 20% of content should be heavily sales focused. Users don’t just want to hear about you; they want to know you care about what they post/tweet as well. Make sure you are liking, tweeting, sharing, and commenting on other users’ content and pages/profiles as well. It is a good way to introduce your brand to a user who is unfamiliar rather than blasting them with a “buy now” message. Also, some platforms have been taking action to thwart efforts to “fish for likes”.

7. Give Your Brand a Personality. This goes along with Number 6. Humanize your brand a bit and make posts fun. A great way to do this is to have employees become involved as brand ambassadors. If you provide them with guidelines, they will bring various expertise and voices to your brand’s web presence. It can still be business oriented and educational without being boring. Many of your target audience members might find your business page while engaging in personal social activities, so don’t make them feel they have to put in a ton of work to engage with you or be part of your community.

8. Research Proper Use of Hashtags. There is actually a strategy behind what is hashtagged for businesses. It usually starts with keyword or trend research to devise hashtags based on what people might more frequently search for on a platform. Also, some companies have branded hashtags like #AskCompanyName for customer service. Hashtags may also be used for specific campaigns or events, but always with purpose.

9. Take Imagery Seriously. It has been written or said a number of times that images and videos may get more engagement than links or text. This is not always the case, but there are some statistics across all platforms that support this statement. If you are going to use imagery, make sure it supports text, is eye catching, and of high quality.

10. Keep Organized with Efforts. Google Plus has circles, and Facebook and Twitter have lists. You can add followers of competitors, top influencers, and those interested in a particular topic or service to a specific list. That way, when you want to engage a particular group, you only see posts from members of that group/list. It also reminds you of why you are following or engaging with an individual. If you reach out and let them know the reason you are engaging, users might be more willing to engage than they would be with some random stranger who has not provided a reason for getting in touch.

We are just brushing the surface with these initial 10 tips. There is so much more to social strategy formation than one might imagine, especially those who are fairly new to social. If you would like to get more advice specific for your business type and social goals, get in touch with our social media managers at McClain Concepts.

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