How to use Social Media for Business

For many businesses, their social media presence was never designed, tested or even considered as a logo or new catalogue would be. Instead, they evolve as time allows. As free online marketing tools, social media channels are an attractive way to spread your message and draw followers to your brand. 

But how do you use social media for your business? Well, it depends on what’s there. Here are some common responses to corporate profiles to use within your social media strategy.

Tips for Using Social Media for your Business

Ensure it’s Exciting!

It’s hard to tell what will interest your existing or potential customers, and they certainly won’t all respond to the same things. How you position your brand will tell you whether posts about the office Christmas party will make your target audience feel like part of your team or whether they’d prefer you create content to share from industry leaders instead. 

Limiting your scope so you focus tightly on your own industry can improve interest levels – your customers can get news from a hundred sources, but only you post about your new products. 

Don’t make it Spammy

Have you automated your responses, so every direct message gets a form response? Or perhaps you’ve set up a series of repeated posts about your new product, service or a great offer? If you’re sending too many messages per day or multiple identical (or nearly identical) messages, your followers will quickly switch off. 

In online marketing terms, too much can be worse than too little. While we’re a big fan of automating routine or repetitive tasks, it’s important to offer content that’s really of value to your followers.

Make it Chatty

For many customer-facing industries, including small businesses in service areas from hairdressing to roof repair, chatty social media platforms are a great tool for online marketing. 

Hampshire residents, for example, are more likely to spend with Hampshire businesses where they have a direct or indirect connection to the owner or an employee. If you enjoy social networks and work directly with the general public, a bubbly personality can shine online.

Make your Content Useful

Not everyone has time to chat, but you can still be a font of online wisdom. Creating relevant social media posts such as offers, and industry news and keeping strictly on-topic (apart from, perhaps, the odd holiday greeting) can get your social media accounts a reputation for being useful – and that will draw more followers. There’s no need to post every day or respond to every single comment if this is the model you’re aiming for.

Provide Helpful Information

Creating a space on social media where people can ask you questions, even if the queries aren’t directly relevant or from existing customers can make your business seem approachable and knowledgeable. 

Reliable information is hard to find in many niche fields. As an example, social platforms such as YouTube offer reviews for mundane products that may garner thousands of hits, simply because there’s no competition. Branching out in this way, and being responsive to customer queries can help you build a successful social media network that has a direct and positive impact on your business.

How to use Social Media for Business

  1. Ensure it’s Exciting!
  2. Don’t make it Spammy
  3. Make it Chatty
  4. Make your Content Useful
  5. Provide Helpful Information

Introduce Social Media Marketing for your Business 

If you are based in Portsmouth, Hampshire or surrounding areas and would like to discuss how to manage social media for your business, view our portfolio or make contact with our web design and digital marketing team to enhance your brand awareness.

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