Marketing On Social Media Tips: The 1,000 Dos and 20,000 Don’ts
Social media is incredible. Whether it’s videos of cats or the funniest joke of all time, social media has only brought happiness to our lives. But is social media marketing important? Many businesses use social media as a marketing pillar, in fact about 92% of marketers do. But many small businesses still don’t focus enough on social media. In fact 40% of small businesses still don’t have a social presence. But it can be hard to know exactly how social media marketing can improve your business when you’ve never done it before. So, we’ve put together a little guide filled with marketing and social media tips.
1,000 Dos
1. Complete your profile – This sounds simple, I know. But really – fill out every single section on your social media profile. Think of this as your digital first impression. Empty spaces on your profile look unprofessional and you only get one first impression. This is one of the most essential marketing on social media tips.
2. Separate business accounts and personal accounts – If you’re the business owner, it can be easy to say, “I am my business!” But businesses aren’t people and you aren’t a business. Avoid spamming your friends with awkward business promos on your social media and keep ‘em separated.
3. Post regularly – How often should you post? Most people do 1-3 times per week. The most important thing is to make sure your content is coming out consistently. If you post twice one week, try to do the same the next.
4. Interact with your audience – Is social media marketing important for building trust? You bet. Social media is a conversation. Don’t just set it and forget it. It’s called “social” media. Be social. If you see a question in the comments, answer it! If you see a complaint, address it! Ask your followers questions and take the time to respond to their responses. Social media builds connections and creates brand loyalty.
4. Be cool – What I mean by this is don’t seem too desperate. Every post can’t be “please share” or “please like and subscribe” or “please clap.” You gotta be strategic with your asks. If people suspect they’re being sold something, they clam up. You’re better off producing content that people actually want to see rather than desperately begging for follows.
5. Take criticism – You’re gonna get flamed from time to time. It happens. It’s important to respond to criticism without getting defensive. The last thing you want is to go viral for a bad reaction.
6. Provide value instead of sales – Like I said, no one wants to be sold to on social media. We get it, you’re in business to make money, but it’ll hurt your sales to constantly be pitching to your followers. Consider an 80/20 approach. 80% entertaining/informative posts and 20% sales oriented posts.
7. Match Content to your platform – Each platform changes how social media marketing performs. Here’s a quick rundown of how to approach each platform:
Facebook – Keep it casual and focused on connections rather than formal sales pitches. Feel free to join groups and engage with your friends and followers. Keep it light.
LinkedIn – This is the business platform. Keep your content professional and wrapped in a nice business suit. Maybe not the place for queen memes.
Twitter – These are rapid-fire convos between businesses and people. Obviously, the character limit makes it harder to have long conversations, so keep it fun and keep it short.
Instagram – This is a visual format. So if you have any images or videos, this is the place to post them. Are you a realtor? Share photos of your houses. Are you a restaurant owner? Display those gorgeous meals!
TikTok – Bite sized video content, baby! Hop on trends and only make it entertaining. Don’t sell people stuff or you’ll seem old!
9-1,000. Have fun – This is how social media marketing can benefit you the most. This is your opportunity to actually enjoy yourself while marketing. Try out live videos, polls and other fun features. Most importantly, make it unabashedly you! Whatever you think will be fun, do it. This is yours to own.
20,000 Don’ts
- Don’t repeat yourself over and over and over and over and over and over again – We get it. You’re a cool company. You tell us every day. It’s lazy to make the same type of posts day after day. It’s boring to keep making the same posts every day. Or even to use the same turn of phrase day after day. If you want to revisit old content, try to make a new spin on it… day after day.
- Don’t share without researching first – It’s so easy to see a post and share it, or have an idea and immediately put it online. But you gotta take a second, Google your topic and make sure it’s all accurate. Also, you should always check out the account whose post you’re sharing. You don’t want to share something only to realize you essentially are endorsing some messed up secretly evil account.
- Don’t have expectations – You can’t expect any single post to blow up. Especially at the beginning. High expectations are bound to be dashed. The good news is that consistency pays off. The more patient you are, the more results you see over time.
- Don’t take credit for content that isn’t yours – Be kind and give credit where credit is due. Take a second to find the account that shared the content originally and throw them a tag.
- Don’t worry about numbers – Once again, this is a long term effort. The numbers will grow as you post consistent, high quality content. Hey, numbers are fun but they can be deceiving. Don’t stress about quantity, but focus on the quality of your posts.
6-20,000. Don’t not have fun – Did that make sense? Have fun – again. It’s the most important thing. If social media becomes an absolute chore, there’s no point. Make social media work for you. Marketing on social media tips the scale into your favor. It’s your social media and if you have an idea, you should do it!
There You Have It, 21,000 Marketing On Social Media Tips!
It doesn’t matter how many of the tips were “have fun,” we still gave thousands of pieces of advice. But how social media marketing works for your company is entirely up to you. Once again, the best marketing on social media tips are the ones you find for yourself. At the end of the day, trial and error are the only ways to figure out how social media marketing will benefit your business.
