While most businesses use social media, not many of them use it effectively. Sharing the right amount and type of content on social media can have a huge impact on your business’s success. While it can take a long time to figure out how to take advantage of social media, some steps you take can speed up the process. Do a little research and figure out what you need to publish, and then start posting. Don’t overthink or procrastinate; just take action. Keep reading to discover the three things you need on your business’s social media profile.
Posts That Aren’t Overly Promotional
You’re on social media to grow your business, but it’s not necessary or helpful to promote it too often. Overly promotional pages will only irritate your followers. Instead of promoting your business in all of your posts, publish on a variety of topics.
Publish informative articles related to your industry. For example, if you run a yoga studio, you could post links to blog articles about the benefits of yoga or how to get started practicing.
Another good idea is to post videos related to your industry. According to this website, “45 second videos have the best performance on Twitter. 1 minute is the ideal time for Facebook. And Instagram is around 30 seconds for timeline videos.” If you run a daycare, you could post a video that shows parents how to make a unique craft with their children. A golf pro could post a short video that teaches beginning golfers about the different types of clubs.
According to this business, “as a rule of thumb, make 20 percent of your posts promotional. It’s fine to promote your business; you just don’t want to promote it too often.”
High-Quality Images and Photos
Photos and images can help garner more interaction with your followers. In fact, while high-quality images are helpful on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, they’re absolutely necessary on platforms like Instagram.
With the excess of images that they see on the internet every day, people have become adept at recognizing images that are high-quality and those that are not. If you don’t use excellent photos and images, people are likely to overlook your pages or not take them seriously.
According to this company, “high-resolution photos help your business stand out among the competition and help tell a visual story about what it’s like to do business with your company.”
Interactive Posts
It’s a good idea to make your posts interactive. Directly communicating with your followers lets them know that there’s an actual person behind your social media page. According to this article, “consider conducting polls that ask your followers for their opinions. For example, if your page is about skin care, you could run a poll that asks people how much they spend on eye cream or how often they visit a dermatologist. Don’t make them complicated. Polls should be quick and fun.”
Always respond to questions and comments. Few things turn people off as much as asking a question and not receiving an answer. It’s vital to answer all questions, but if you don’t have time to respond to all the comments you receive, at least take the time to click the “like” button on each one.
As your page grows, it might not be possible to respond to every question and comment but give it a try. At some point, you may want to consider hiring someone to help you manage your social media if you’re having a hard time doing it yourself.
Once you master social media, your chances of business success will increase dramatically. Figuring out what to post on your pages might seem simple, but most business owners soon discover that it’s harder than they thought. To increase your odds of success, publish high-quality images and photos, make your posts interactive, and don’t make your posts too promotional. If you take these three steps, you’re likely to grow your list of followers as well as your business.
