Social media marketing: 5 tips to drive your engagement, following and leads

Here are 5 insider tips to use social media marketing to your advantage, and get the most reward for effort.

1) Optimise your social media profile

Think of your social media profile as your shopfront. If it’s not clear who you are and what you sell, nobody is going to walk in to browse your store. Or in the social media world equivalent, they’re not going to follow your account.

Using all the elements on your social media profile (i.e. copy and imagery) make it crystal clear who your business is, the products/services it offers, the type of clients it serves and how it helps people.

It’s crucial to use up-to-date and clear photos, because low-resolution or ambiguous/stock imagery is a bad reflection on your business.

2) Take a community mindset

When managing your own social media account, many people fall into the habit of just publishing post after post, only to wonder why they’re getting no or low engagement.

A better approach is to treat your social media account as a community.

Start following similar people and businesses in your industry, such as competitors, associations and suppliers, and engaging with these accounts in a meaningful way.

You may be surprised to find that you’ll start forming some really meaningful relationships with people (and businesses - after all there are people operating the business accounts as well) you’ve never met in-person.

3) Use direct messaging for engagement

If a person or business starts following your account, this is a perfect opportunity (and excuse) to engage with them.

Send them a direct message thanking them for their interest in your profile and offer to meet with them (or call them) if they have any questions about your business and how you might be able to help them.

Some people don’t respond (which is fine), some politely decline, and some will actually take you up on your offer.

That’s a pretty easy way to generate organic leads, right!

4) Check your hashtags

For Instagram, and to a lesser extent LinkedIn, hashtags are a great way for your account to be discovered.

Rather than just using hashtags that you think are popular or sound good but so obscure no one uses it, take 10 minutes to do some simple research to find which have a decent following.

For example, on Instagram, the hashtag #perthmarketingtips has less than 100 followers, while #marketingperth has about 5,000 followers, but #perthmarketing has 6 times as many followers at over 31,000.

So with some simple research you’ll be able to reach a far bigger audience using the right hashtags.

5) Balance your content

Make sure you're publishing the right mix of content topics on your social media account.

There are 5 types of content you can create - educational, inspirational, entertaining, informative and promotional. Regardless of how often you’re posting, you should aim for a balanced mix of these content types.

If all you do is post promotional content about your products and services, your social media account will quickly turn into a desolate wasteland.

Remember, social media is just one tool in your content marketing toolbox. You should also consider the type of content you have on your website, how to incorporate email marketing, and other ways to increase awareness for your business, like SEO.