Hey there, small business owner! I know you’re busy, so I won’t snag too much of your time. I wanted to hop on the blog today to share three easy social media marketing efforts to help you win at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.
Whether you’re brand new to social media or you’ve been playing the game for a while—below you’ll find a few tips and tricks I stand behind.
The best part? You’ll be able to complete all three by the end of the week.
Warning!! I just got an apple pencil I’m obsessed with, but terrible at using. So, in lieu of traditional blog post imagery, I’ll be using my mediocre procreate doodles. Yay!
And now, the whole reason you’re reading this blog post in the first place:
1. Audit Your Social Media Presence
Auditing your social media presence should be the first thing you do when working with a new client, and then again every month thereafter, before building out their content calendars. A social media audit is a comprehensive look into what’s working, what’s not and what can be improved. You do this by peeking at your analytics for each platform.
Here’s how to navigate to your analytics and insights:
Facebook:
- In page view on desktop, select the insights tab from the top menu bar
- Choose “posts” from the left hand menu bar
- Scroll down and you’ll see the general performance for each of your posts
- The top performing posts will have both high reach and high engagement compared to other posts
Instagram:
- In page view, select the three-line menu in the top right hand corner of the app
- Select “Insights” and under the “feed posts” section you will be able to view the performance for each post for the past year, sorted by engagement.
Twitter:
- From your computer, select the small profile icon from the top bar menu, on the right hand side next to the tweet button
- Choose Analytics from the menu that appears
- Here you’ll be able to see your highlights by month
Pinterest:
- Go to pinterest.com
- Select the Analytics button in the top left corner
- From here, you can see an overview of top performing pins, and also audience insights (a breakdown of your followers’ demographics and interests)
Feel free to perform social audits on a brand’s competitors, too. If you’re new to social, I 200% suggest doing this. It’ll help give you an idea of what others are doing, what’s working for them and what’s not so you can avoid it (or reinvent it and do it better!).
While you’re doing this, grab a pen and pencil and jot down notes about what you observe. Once you’re done with the audit, you’re ready to better plan your future content.
2. Engage with Your Audience
Great posts will only get you so far. Why? Because there are TONS of other small businesses out there pushing decent content, too. Don’t let that discourage you—just be aware that you’ll need to go the extra mile to stand out in such a seemingly crowded space.
People are significantly more likely to purchase from a brand after they’ve had a positive experience on social media with said brand.
Here’s how you can engage with your audience:
- Answer their questions and concerns in a timely manner. The best way to make sure this happens (and to be efficient about it) is to check in once or twice a day.
- Thank them for compliments and praise. Oftentimes, small businesses make the mistake of only responding to bad comments while neglecting their real fans. Don’t do that!
- Return the favor! You don’t need to follow everyone who follows you, but if you notice a particularly enthusiastic follower, return the appreciation and follow them back! Once you’re following them, you’ll be able to engage with their posts in your feed.
3. Show your Face!
This sounds silly, and you might be camera-shy, but your customers love to see what goes on behind the scenes. Trust me, they want to hear from you. The best thing you can do for your social account (and you can do it right after you finish this blog post) is pop on Facebook Live or Instagram Live and update your peeps! Not only will this content be automatically ranked higher within those fancy-schmancy algorithms, but you just might benefit from it monetarily. Try it out and see what happens!
Now that I’ve given away some of my biggest secrets…. Go ahead and ask me for the rest of them in the comments below!
