7 tips on how to use social media for business

1. Choose where to invest your time

One of the most common mistakes businesses make is trying to build a following on too many social media platforms.

It’s better to do a really good job on just one social media channel rather than doing an average job across several different channels.

And unfortunately, the type of content that works really well for one channel (i.e. Facebook) probably won’t work well for another (i.e. LinkedIn). So it’s not just a matter of replicating the exact same content across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok and so on.

So which social media channel is best for your business? It’s simple – wherever your target customer (or key target segment) hangs out the most.

2. Create a social media calendar

It can be hard to think of different types of content to post on social media that’s both relevant to your business and engaging to your audience.

Rather than taking an ad-hoc approach to your social media profile and publishing posts on the fly, create a calendar that maps out your activity for the year ahead. This doesn’t have to include all the detail but can be a high-level overview of the type of content you’ll post at certain times of the year.

Own an electrical business? Pencil in a post for the start of summer about which types of air-conditioners you’d recommend or profile a recent job where you installed an air-conditioner. You can do the same at the start of AFL season about wall-mounted TVs, one around school holidays about home alarm systems, and so on.

You can then start to fill in the gaps with any other types of content that will be engaging for your audience. For example, if January is a quiet time of year for your business, you could pencil in a similar post for outdoor lighting.

Before you know it, you’ll have a pretty full calendar to work from, and you’ll never be stuck for content to post on your social media channels.

3. Create some simple social media guidelines

Consistency is crucial when it comes to social media, as this helps with brand recognition.

To maintain a consistent look and feel on your social media channels, set up some simple guidelines to follow when posting content.

There are 3 main aspects you should focus on for your business’ social media guidelines.

Tone of voice: Think of a type of persona you want to convey. Do you want to be informative, inspirational, light-hearted? Write down several qualities you want to follow and stick to these when you’re writing your post copy.

Imagery: The type of imagery you use can make or break your social media presence. Use imagery that’s natural and authentic, not fake or overacted. It’s also important to use a consistent colour scheme. So if you’re creating stories on Facebook or Instagram, use the same font style and colour palette for your posts.

Content pillars: Content pillars are particular topics you should regularly post about and celebrate. You should aim to have 3-4 content pillars for your business as this will help you post consistent types of content and will also help to guide what you post. For example, content pillars for a restaurant may be its food, its people and its suppliers.

4. Offer value to your followers

As soon as you start posting about how good your product or service is, your audience is guaranteed to switch off, or worse hit the unfollow button. Even if it’s an offer of a free consultation or no-obligation quote.

Instead, give your audience value so they engage and become more familiar with your brand. Own a mechanic business? Post a video or a blog about how to change the oil in a car.

Sure, some people might start changing their own oil instead of coming to your business (most won’t though), but they’re probably more likely to think of your business when they need to buy new tyres or require crash repairs.

5. Get into the habit of scheduling

Ideally, you’ll be posting on your business’ social media profile 2-4 times per week. Instead of publishing each post individually, use a social media management tool (like Hootsuite, Sprout or Loomly) to schedule your posts in advance.

At the start of each month, put some time aside to set up and schedule each post (your social media calendar will help guide what you need to post – see point 2 in this blog).

When other social media opportunities arise throughout the month, say you want to tweet an image of your company’s booth at a conference, you can simply publish this on the day as you normally would. Or if you’re super organised, you may have already drafted the copy and hashtags and just have to add in the photo before publishing.

By using a scheduling tool, you’ll have peace of mind that some content is being published to your followers, even in those times you’re too busy to post on your social media profile.

6. Engage with your audience

We all know how off-putting it can be when you ask someone a question and you get ignored. The same goes with social media.

If someone makes the effort to ask a question or make a comment on your one of your posts, then make sure to respond within 48 hours (or quicker if you can).

Even if they’re just making a general comment that doesn’t require an answer, then make sure to respond with an emoji at the very least (a thumbs up, smiley face or heart will do the trick). It will make the person feel acknowledged and that their question or comment matters.

Don’t get your followers off-side by ignoring them.

7. Test, track and optimise your content

A common pitfall for businesses using social media is they don’t track how well their posts perform i.e. the number of clicks, videos views, comments, shares, reactions etc.

For many, the job is done once a post is published. However, that’s extremely ineffective as you need to know what best resonates with your followers to help drive future engagement.

That’s why it’s important to test different types of content, track how these perform and then use these learnings to optimise future posts on your business’ social media profile.

You could try using different types of imagery and different post formats (such as carousels, videos, stories, static posts and live streaming). You can also track how different types of content perform. For example, how does educational content perform compared to inspirational content or funny content?