After reading the first 5 tips you are no longer a “noob” (If you have not read the first part we recommend you to check it out). IN ADDITION, to keep improving in THE SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD, we share 5 NEW INCREDIBLE tips for you!
- Start networking.
You have to become a social media consumer to win at it. As simple as that. The good news is that in the social media world, it’s OK to steal—it’s called sharing, and you should do it often. Scratch someone else’s back in hopes they scratch yours! Set aside at least ten minutes each day to read your feed. No matter what network you use, you better be actively following influencers, experts, marketers, brands, companies, and publications in your industry. Retweet their articles, like their posts, share their updates, comment on their blogs or link to their content. Social media dashboards like Hootsuite allow you to create themed feeds from your Twitter Lists or hashtags. Set up an RSS reader like Feedly if that’s easier for you.
- Share the links to your social presences repeatedly.
If you build it, they will not come. Slap those clickable social icons, vanity URLs, or usernames on your home page, business cards, email signatures, marketing materials, and everywhere else you find them. There are no excuses for this. I’ve worked with so many companies who couldn’t even gather the resources to add a Facebook icon to their homepage months after they had signed up it! That’s absolutely unacceptable. Don’t even bother setting up a social network if you’re not going to let people know how to find you. Do a Google search for free social network icons, buy a fancier package of icons, or download official brand assets directly from Facebook and Twitter.
- Drink the Kool-Aid.
Every industry has a unique presence online. There will be hashtags. There may be tweet-ups. There could even be a meme. It’s your job to research this kind of thing so you can become part of your community. They will welcome you with open arms if you know how to play the game and look at social media as a two-way conversation. You’ll get more followers and make important connections in the process. In the travel industry, for example, bloggers and influencers participate in Traveler’s Night In, a tweet-up held every Thursday at 3:30 p.m. ET using the hashtag #TNI. The fashion industry has their own tweet-up called #StyleChat every Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET. Constantly study analytics of your social networks to help you better understand your audience and your community, and to make sure that what you’re doing is working.
- Keep at it.
I promise that you can make an impact and grow your social following in as little as one hour per week. Facebook’s scheduling feature lets you queue up posts up to six months in advance. Social media dashboards let you queue up content. In theory, you could get months of content ready in one sitting. Here’s a quick guide to the bare minimum you should be posting for each network:
— Blogging once per week
— Posting on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Vine three times per week
— Tweeting ten times per week
— Pinning 20 times per week
Abandoned presences are worse than no presence at all. When you enter the social media space, you’re building a relationship with your audience, potential customers, and brand enthusiasts. Don’t let them down.
- Entertaining and useful content is better than promotional content
“People go on social media to be entertained, not to be marketed at. Therefore, whatever your company puts on social media should be built to engage first and market second, if at all.”
-Nicholas Berry, Digital Marker at American Image Displays, @Am_Img_Displays
“Being ‘useful’ to your followers is crucial for engaging an audience. A genuine approach actually enables business owners to save time… one well thought out post will bring more engagement than 10 terrible posts.”
-Jayme Pretzloff, Director of Marketing at Wixon Jewelers, @WixonJewelers
Learn more about social media marketing for small business with this e-book:
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