7 ways for a small business to use Social media effectively

1. Ways to use social media more effectively
2. Best methods to achieve effective results on social media

Social media has become the most preferred method of communication, not only for brands but also for many demographic groups as well.

Today, the average person spends more than 3 hours per day on social media sites. According to statistics, close to 1.96 billion people were active on social media, and this number is expected to grow to some 2.5 billion users by 2018, and so on…

Therefore, it is of utmost importance that we harness the power of social media to grow our business and the brand.

That said, with so many options to consider, effective usage of social media’s complete potential is turning out to become a problem.

HERE’S A CURATED LIST OF TIPS THAT CAN HELP IN THE EFFECTIVE USAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA: –

1. BE CONSISTENT

Being consistent on social media can take you a long way. You can’t go from posting once a month to 10 times a day, then to thrice a month and expect to have an engaged, regular and active following. Here’s what you should do – understand your requirement, demographics of the target audience, how many posts would they require, create a content plan for what you’re going to post, and then stick to it.

2. CHOOSE THE RIGHT SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK

Social Media activity can be time-consuming. Users are scattered across all social media portals, and trying to manage all of the networks can drain your resources away. This means that you must analyze your target audience and their online behaviors, determine which networks work best for your products and services, and then accordingly maintain the Social Media Network that fits the bill the most.

What most us don’t understand is that not all these channels work in a similar fashion. Every social media channel has its own benefits and ways of functioning. And if used rightly, it can help you get the desired results. Below mentioned are some tips and tricks for social media marketing to using the most common social media channels:

Facebook

• At least one post a day
• Always include visuals and call-to-action
• Encourage engagement by asking a question
• Avoid using too many Hashtags

Twitter

• Brands should ideally be tweeting 10-30 times a day, and if enough relevant content is unavailable, then at least 5x per day
• Create relevant and valuable content on your website and then, point your followers to your website
• Always use visuals. They are just as effective on Twitter as Facebook.
• Use around 1-2 appropriate Hashtags to broaden your reach. Using more than two Hashtags will lower your engagement rate

LinkedIn

• Create a company page and showcase pages for products or services
• Not more than 4-5 times of posting a week
• Content should be tailored for professional audience
• This is a social network for business professionals, and more users are likely to go to a company’s website from LinkedIn, than any other network

Google+

• At least one piece of content a day
• Any type of content like company blogs, news, trending topics relevant to your industry, etc. is fine
• Since it is a part of the Google network, your posts could start to rank on the search engine once it engages with your Circles

Pinterest or Instagram

• These are all about pictures
• At least 1 photo a day
• Photo content from here can add-on, on other social channels when needed
• Upload photos of product and how it may be used
• Infographics

3. BRAND THE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

One must leverage social media to build a stronger brand, create awareness and customer loyalty. It gives your brand relatability and also makes it easy for consumers to identify your business. Hence, it is very important that, the perception of the company’s identity be standard across all channels. Below mentioned are some key pointers to help you:

• Logo & Tagline: Similar logotype helps give familiarity to your business, which is a huge visual and sticks with your audience. Have a catchy and memorable tagline, and maintain the same one everywhere.
• Visuals: Visuals speak more than words! It has been noted that, posts with images get more engagement on all platforms too. They are the ones that frequently get saved, shared, viewed, etc. Creating images that talk about your brand, product, or service can help you get a lot of popularity and visibility.
• Description: It is very important that your company description is identical, crisp and clear across all platforms. Only if your audience is able to understand what you do, will then buy your product.
• Tone: Your communication – what you say, how you say and in what way you say it, will define how your users will perceive you.

4. DIFFERENT CONTENT FOR EACH PLATFORM