Originally published on June 18, 2015. Updated on January 16, 2020.
Social media has exploded in recent years. It’s now an essential element of every successful digital marketing strategy, because it allows you to connect directly with your clients and customers. This is very valuable when it comes to brainstorming ideas, solving problems, collecting feedback and – of course – delivering your key messaging directly to their pockets.
There are many different platforms to choose from. Some, you’ll be familiar with already, like Facebook – a behemoth that was released in 2004, with more than 2.45 billion active users every month. Others are emerging, like TikTok – a mobile video platform released in 2016, which has 800 million active users around the world.
Every social media platform has a different purpose, which means not all of them will be right for your business. Here, we’ll give you a quick breakdown of each service, including 10 tips to that will help you optimize your social media presence to reach your target audience.
Want to skip ahead and start developing your strategy? Contact us for a free consultation.
Best social media platforms for businesses
Facebook is the ultimate social network. It’s best used for building a community around your business. Posting frequently is a great way to build brand awareness (especially if you consider using Facebook Ads as well), ask questions, promote giveaways and interact with your customers to keep your finger on the pulse of what they need and be proactive about solving problems.
Here are 10 tips to help you succeed on Facebook:
- Post consistently, which means at least 2-4 times per week.
- Engage with your audience, liking and replying to each of their comments.
- Use a friendly and informative tone – remember, it’s a social network.
- Remember to use the 80/20 rule: 80% information, 20% sales.
- Time is valuable, so make sure each post is short, concise and informative.
- Include a picture with every post to capture attention.
- Use videos and livestreams where possible to maximize impressions.
- Always include a link to click through to your website.
- Always respond to negative feedback calmly and politely.
- Make sure everything you post aligns to your brand style.
Instagram is an image and mini-video platform that provides a great way to build awareness by connecting your audience with your brand style and culture. About 25 million businesses actively use it to take their digital marketing strategies to the next level. It’s the kind of platform that rewards creativity and authenticity and should be used as a way to inspire people in some way.
Here are 10 tips to help you succeed on Instagram:
- Post consistently, which means at least 2-4 times per week (this is going to become a theme).
- Make the most of the Instagram Stories feature by posting at least once per week.
- Be creative and focus on what makes your brand unique.
- Pay attention to things like light and composition.
- Make sure the top nine photos on your page look good together (this will create the first impression of your brand for anyone visiting your page).
- Ask open questions in your captions to try and encourage engagement.
- Set aside a few minutes each day to engage with others and keep your account active.
- Use hashtags on every post to connect with new audiences and follow new trends.
- Provide a link in your bio where people can find out more about your business.
- Make sure everything you post aligns to your brand style.
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LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals and entrepreneurs, which makes it the ultimate B2B marketing platform. It has about 562 million users and is designed to help people make connections and build networks. This makes it a really valuable tool for generating qualified leads, keeping up-to-date with developments in your industry and identifying new opportunities.
Here are 10 tips to help you succeed in LinkedIn:
- Post frequently, at least 4-5 times per week (one per weekday is a good baseline).
- Complete your profile so people can learn about you quickly.
- Connect with everyone you do business with to establish your network.
- Make sure your profile has a link to your website.
- Ask customers and suppliers to write recommendations on your page.
- Join interest groups so you can stay across industry-specific discussions.
- Set aside a little bit of time each day to engage with others and ask questions.
- Include an image with every post to attract attention.
- Don’t be afraid to take things offline and reinforce connections in real life!
- Make sure everything you post aligns to your brand style.
How can you make your business stand out on LinkedIn? We can help.
Twitter is fast-paced, smart, newsy and funny. It’s more of a lifestyle choice than a marketing tool – if you want to make it work for your business, you really need to invest in the Twittersphere (or risk being left behind). Frequent posting will help boost brand recognition, but it’s also an incredibly useful customer service tool if you have a large customer base with a high sales volume.
Here are 10 tips to help you succeed on Twitter:
- Set a goal and then tweet with that in mind.
- Tweet. All the time. Start now. Why are you sitting around and waiting?
- Keep it simple, with only one central idea per post.
- Identify influencers that may like your brand and engage with them.
- Engage, engage, engage with people and topics of interest.
- Use images and share interesting articles to attract attention.
- Make sure your account is constantly supervised to field customer inquiries.
- Get verified so people know they can trust your content.
- Pay attention to industry buzzwords to identify opportunities.
- Make sure everything you post aligns to your brand style.
YouTube
YouTube is a great tool for hosting videos, but it also functions as a social media platform in its own right. Its greatest value is in building brand awareness – it’s not the platform for driving hard sales. Start with great content that showcases your brand and try to inspire people, whether that’s by teaching them something new, telling an interesting story or showing beautiful vision.
Here are 10 tips to help you succeed on YouTube:
- Post regularly, aiming for one new video per week.
- Always create a dedicated thumbnail image.
- Write a compelling video description (this is commonly overlooked!).
- Put keywords everywhere and use hashtags to maximize searchability.
- Use multiple calls to action – one in the video, and one in the caption.
- Upgrade your camera gear to make sure your videos are sharp.
- Start each video with an ideal length and key talking points in mind to avoid rambling.
- Keep an eye out for trends and learn from your favorite channels.
- Analyze and adapt your strategy according to things that do and don’t work.
- Make sure everything you post aligns to your brand style.
Still not sure if video marketing is for you? Here’s why it’s so important.
And as for TikTok…
OK, you can definitely market your business on TikTok – you just have to use the same principles as many of the platforms above. At the end of the day, however, some social platforms should be just that: social. Get yourself an account and have fun!
If you have any other questions about optimizing your social media strategy, please schedule a free consultation. Our social media experts are happy to help!