There is no question that an important part of any marketing strategy is maintaining a social media presence. But as a start-up or small business owner, how do you maximize your marketing efforts without eating up too much of your time and budget, and still bring in desired results?
Determine the Right Social Networks for your Business
You might feel compelled to be present in all social media platforms but in doing so, you will only spread yourself too thin resulting in mediocre campaigns. We advise that you focus on three or four networks that are the best fit for your company and industry. Know where your customers are likely to get their information and concentrate your efforts there.
B2B companies are most likely to reach their business goals through LinkedIn. It boasts of over 400 million total users which include CEOs, top-level management & c-suite professionals. It also allows you to search for people by industry or job position making it easier to qualify leads. And because LinkedIn users understand that the platform is primarily a professional networking site they tend to be more receptive when one reaches out to send business proposals or seek potential partnerships. Your audience will also appreciate it when you share relevant industry articles, case studies, or white papers which may seem intrusive in other personal social media platforms. LinkedIn is also a great channel to establish thought leadership by utilizing LinkedIn Pulse or the company page feature.
Learn more about how to use LinkedIn to improve your lead generation strategy with our free white paper.
Twitter is an excellent platform to position your company as an industry leader. If you have people on your team who are experts, share some of their insights when they at conferences. Notify your followers when you publish an article or post, or when your company receives industry recognition. Ideally, tweet at least 4 – 5 times a day. Include one or two relevant hashtags to widen your audience reach. Keep in mind that too many hashtags can make your posts look unprofessional.
Get more tips on connecting with prospects and identifying leads using Twitter with our free white paper.
YouTube
Since YouTube is owned by Google, it’s favoured when ranking on organically searched results. In fact, a keyword-titled video often shows up higher in search results than a written blog. Don’t feel intimidated if you don’t have great video editing skills. There are already a lot of free apps that can help you edit your videos straight from your smartphone. Examples of content that you can develop are product demos, how-to advice or events such as conferences. Not only are you able to provide an engaging way to showcase your company, you are able to do so with a more human feel and personality.
While Facebook is still primarily used for personal connections, most prospects will typically check a company’s social page on Facebook. Admittedly, it is now so much harder to reach your target audience organically because Facebook wants you to shell out money for ads. But it is still a great platform to build brand awareness aside from your website. Facebook is also the main network most clients will use to reach you to give feedback or air complaints. Just make sure that you are able to reply and resolve issues as quickly as possible. Post on Facebook once or twice a day, and always include an image and a call-to-action.
Master the Art of Curating Content
Sharing content from third-party sources can help relieve the pressure of always coming up with original content to keep your social media accounts buzzing with activity. An abandoned social media account doesn’t give a good impression to prospects so consistently posting timely and relevant content is key. To keep content curation manageable, stay focused on a handful of themes or topics relevant to your industry. It’s also wise to prioritize content from partners and prospects as a way to build relationships with them. It’s a great way to show them that you are paying attention. But be sure to always give the creator credit for their work. Some examples of third-party sources where you can gather news and articles are Nuzzel and Repubhub. You can also build Twitter lists to keep tabs on posts by companies and people you follow on Twitter.
Schedule Posts in Advance
Jumping from one platform to another to manage all your social media accounts is inefficient and time-consuming. Social media management tools can help. Our company relies on HootSuite to schedule our social media posts across channels. The interface of HootSuite is very organized as each social media account is designated its own tab. There is also an option of setting up streams to efficiently monitor Twitter mentions, direct messages or retweets. You can also create a stream to track keywords or follow other social media accounts to discover posts that you may want to share later. Learn more about Hootsuite by enrolling in their free courses.
Other social media management options you can try are Buffer and Sprout Social.
Learn to Create Images
It is often said that people are more likely to remember information if a relevant image is paired with it. While it’s great to have an in-house graphic designer, most small companies do not have the budget to keep one on their payroll. Luckily, there are great tools to help you design graphics and easily share them on social media. Here at VA Partners, we make use of the Adobe Spark suite. These are intended to create visually appealing marketing materials without necessarily being a Photoshop expert. The Spark Post is specially created for posting text and graphics to social networks. It also comes with a library of images that you can use freely.
Another tool that you can try is Canva, which is created for non-designers with their premade templates, and a drag-and-drop interface. If you are looking for free images, you can visit Pixabay where most photos don’t require any attribution. Picography is arguably one of the most exhaustive directories of open-source images. You can scroll through gallery of photos provided by a number of professional photographers.
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