The world of social media is changing with each blink of an eye.
What used to be:
‘post 1 image once a week, at exactly 18:39 and 32 seconds and your engagement and sales will jump’
has now turned into a fierce competition between business owners who are battling to capture the attention of their audience, while juggling their businesses, whether small, medium, or large, 24 hours a day.
Whether you have an entire social media team, or you are a one-(wo)man show, here are 14 social media tips that all business owners need to stay ahead of the game.
Get out your sticky notes, distract the kids, and prepare a perfect cup of coffee (or wine, no one is watching) as you are about to have your world of social media transformed
Social Media Tips All Startups Need To Raise Above Competitors
1. Have A Content Schedule With Consistent Posting At The Set Times
Consistency is key. Whether you have a solid social media presence, or you are starting from scratch, the first thing to do is go to your calendar and mark the days you want to post on social media.
This schedule should be consistent, and attainable.
If you plan on posting 5 times a day, this is not only going to be overwhelming for your audience, but you will struggle to get authentic, meaningful, and unique content out there. Jason Hall suggests posting a few times a week – spread out for consistency. If possible, try and post once a day, but this can be a struggle, especially for SMBs. If you decide to post a few times a week, try to spread the days out to be as evenly distributed as possible (leaving a maximum of 2 days between posts) to keep your engagement high and the audience engaged, not forgetting the weekends.
But, Weekends Are For Rest?
For some SMB owners, weekends aren’t even for rest. However, that doesn’t mean you need to set alarm clocks to post, whether it’s mid-week or the weekend.
There are apps and websites out there that will make your social media posting a whole lot easier.
Take Buffer, a platform that enables you to upload all your upcoming posts to a content calendar, and know they will be published at the times you specified. You will also be able to track your post engagements, and be given analytical data on the best time for you to post, and what type of content does better.
Viral Content Bee is another useful tool that will help you cross-promote on multiple social media platforms at once. No need to individually publish on Instagram, then TikTok, Facebook, and Snapchat. Cross promoting allows you to share your content at once, to provide you with the biggest outreach possible.
There are many other websites and apps that will help you along the way when it comes to automatic publishing and cross-promoting content. Do your research, and choose the tool that will work best for you. The results will be mind-blowing.
You can see in the image below, even Nike, who no doubt has a solid social media team, doesn’t post every day on Twitter. Although they may post even 2-4 days, they are consistent and that’s the most important thing.
2. Data Is Key: Set Up And Use Your Analytics
I briefly mentioned analytical data above, yet because it is so important there is an entire section about analyzing your analytical data.
One thing is to get your social media engagement raised, but the next step is to make sales from that. If you have high engagement, but no sales, then you as a business are doing something wrong.
And that’s why data is key. Welcome to the world of Google Analytics.
This is a free analytical tool Google offers for you to track your social media posts, along with the CTR, bounce rate, sessions, and more, of both your social media traffic and website.
If you aren’t sure how to set up and track your social media on Google Analytics, here is a video that walks you through step by step exactly what to do
3. Learn How To Track Your ROI
A whopping 44% of businesses can’t measure their Social Media ROI.
As a business owner, you are keeping track of every single payment that you make. Whether it be buying your employees lunch, or purchasing a much-needed new microphone for all your business meetings, everything comes with a price.
So, why are so many businesses not focusing on finding out their ROI of social media marketing? You are investing time, human resources, and money into all your posts, campaigns, funky designs, and more. The only way to really know if this is worth it is by measuring your ROI.
However, this can be tricky.
Finding out how many sales, subscribers, downloads, or even how many more customers trust your brand from social media campaigns is all part of your ROI, yet it is so difficult to find out.
One simple way to work this out is by using this estimation method explained by Kevan Lee at Buffer:
- Step 1: Choose your goal (online purchases, new followers, downloads, subscribers, filled out a form, time spent on a specific webpage).
- Step 2: Track your goal in google analytics (you can do this by setting up a goal in event tracking).
- Step 3: Work out your Customer Lifetime Value (how much do you earn from the average customer?)
- Step 4: Work out how much each potential visit is worth to you (multiply your CLV by your conversion rate)
- Step 5: Work out the average sale purchased through your website
- Step 6: Calculate your investment in terms of salary hour rates, social media tool costs, and advertising spend
- Step 7: Divide (Benefits-Costs) X 100 by Total Costs. This is your total ROI
Steps 3-5 can vary depending on your tracking goal in Google Analytics.
4. Conduct A Social Media Audit For Current Posts On All Platforms
If you have current social media posts, conducting a social media audit should be crucial in your social media strategy. It involves understanding what is your top-performing social media content, identifying and learning about your audience, and taking action on the results.
It doesn’t need to be carried out by a professional. If you have the right tools, you can carry out a social media audit from home. Here is a free template from Hoosuite to guide you through a successful social media audit.
5. Track The Trends
Once upon a time, the world went crazy about toilet paper, and banana bread, wearing disposable gloves outside the house, and sanitizing everything that entered the front door.
Sounds familiar?
When you are creating content, it is essential that you track what is creating a buzz online.
Google trends is one such place. For example, a quick search of ‘banana bread’ shows exactly the time that banana bread peaked in terms of what people were Googling.
While this is only a representation of Google, it is closely linked to social media as what people see on social media more often than not turns into a Google search to get that product, recipe, video and more.
Searching for keywords into Google Trends can help you figure out whether it is a good idea to create content on that topic, or whether you should wait for another day.
Other great ways to stay up with the trends are via Buzzfeed, Buzz Suomo, and trending hashtags on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter.
6. Know How The Algorithms Work
Unsure of why your post at 6 pm on Thursday got 1,000 views, and your post at 6 pm on Friday got 200 views? You have the algorithms to thank for that.
The algorithms of social media are ever-changing. It may be practically impossible to crack the algorithm, however, understanding how the algorithm works for each social media platform can help you get close.
Here is a detailed article by RevLocal which explains each social media algorithm.
7. You Have 2 Seconds To Catch Someone’s Eye
The attention span of the average person has been reduced to 2 seconds. That’s right. 2, short seconds. The time it took you to read this sentence is longer than 2 seconds, so it may seem like an almost impossible task.
However this isn’t the case. 2 seconds can give you just enough time to engage with someone in such a way that they will eventually watch the whole video, and make a purchase.
The beginning of your video (in the first 2 seconds) is the most important part of the video, as this will be what catches someone’s attention to watch the video further and make purchases.
That’s why it’s so important to create eye-catching and engaging content, as well as the importance of following trends.
Here is a video that got Chipotle 162,500 views. Would they catch your eye in the first 2 seconds?
@chipotle ????????
8. Target Who Can See Your Posts
Once you have your target audience, it can be tricky working out how to find this audience on all platforms. What if your audience is strictly in a certain country or is part of a strict certain age range?
One great tool, Sprout Social, can help you access and target a specific audience with each post. Whether that be geographical, relationship preference, age, educational status, and more, this tool will speed up the process and give you results.
Targeting your posts will help keep your engagement worthwhile and valuable to your business, as these are people who are more likely to make purchases. This compares to having high engagement levels, but low conversions, as the people engaging are not relevant to your company.
9. Welcome All Criticism
The average person really hates being criticized. I’m one of those people.
But, there comes a point in life where no matter what steps you take, however much of a perfectionist you may be, criticism will reach you. Whether it be from your boss, or from a stranger online, criticism hurts and can feel like your world is crumbling beside you.
That’s a natural response, but it needs to change. In fact, you should view criticism as an annoying family member who wants the best for you, but will not shy away from the truth.
So, every time you want to leave the house with a poor outfit choice, (we’ve all been there), make a comment so that you are aware of this. Now, you can ignore the comment and still go out, showing off this outfit to the public, or you can go back and change before other people see you.
Obviously, you go back in, change, and come out feeling more fabulous than ever.
Criticism can make you feel small, worthless, and like you are doing a terrible job. But more often than not, criticism is given by people that want the best for you, but know that you can’t get there without hearing the truth.
If you want to learn how to welcome criticism with open arms, this article by the Muse will help you find your feet in these moments.
Here is one example of what Shein did when they were criticized for selling a controversial Swastika-shaped necklace:
10. Invite People To Like Your Pages
Facebook for businesses has come leaps and bounds from when it was first created. There are so many different tools available for businesses on Facebook to use to grow their engagement on this platform.
One super easy way to grow engagement with your Facebook business page, but which many people often forget, is by inviting friends, and strangers, who engage with your posts to like your page.
Inviting these people will help your business page grow dramatically, as each person is a potential future customer.
11. Be Authentic
People are searching for authenticity. People want relatable, funny, engaging content that they can resonate with.
That’s why it’s so important to be authentic. Even as a business owner, don’t be afraid to show your face to your followers. Introduce yourself, and allow people to put a face to your brand when they see your social media name pop up. Give them personality, show them behind the scenes, celebrate your wins, and laugh at your mistakes.
In other words, as Forbes wrote, keep it real. Businesses need to make sure they are authentic, as this will enable higher engagement levels, and more conversions.
If you are searching for inspiration for a brand that is authentic, check out the Innocent Smoothie Instagram page. Yes, even a smoothie company can be authentic, they are the perfect example of this.
Transform Your Social Media Presence From Being Out There, To Being OUT There (As Far As You Can Possibly Think)
This article may have just filled your brain with information that may get you excited, overwhelmed, thinking ‘do I really have time for any of this?’, or a mixture of all 3.
If you are feeling any of the above emotions you may be wondering if you can possibly find someone you can outsource your social media work to, but who you trust to take care of your brand and image as if it were their own. If so, you are in the right place.
Angora Media has been transforming social media presences for many years. Since 2013 to be exact.
We are constantly working with brands across all industries to create engaging social media content – whether it’s posts, graphic designs, videos, and more, to grow your engagement and increase your conversions.
Interested in hearing more? Let’s chat!
Fill in the form here or schedule a free consultation meeting with Goni Royi, our super friendly business development manager (no, seriously. She loves to talk to anyone and everyone, even the random stranger that she meets on her way to get a cup of coffee in the kitchen).
We will be more than happy to learn about your brand, and what we can help with when it comes to expanding your social media presence.
