It’s 2018 and the majority of consumers have turned to the internet for at least some of their purchasing decisions. Search engine optimization is still an important part of growing your business online, but now so is social media marketing. Below we outline five of our top tips for social media marketing for businesses in 2018.

  1. social-media-marketing-agencySee what is popular by researching the competition. You probably already pay attention to your competitors so you know how to compete on price. You can also watch your competitors to see what type of social media marketing works and doesn’t work for your industry. See what posts get a lot of love, and see which are left unnoticed, and use that information to decide what type of content your visitors want to see.You can also follow general social media trends and see if you can work popular topics or memes into your social media marketing strategy. For example if you run a book store and a really popular book is trending on social media you can use that hype for that book as a way to get attention on your business’s social media page. In this example you could post a review of the book on social media, with information on how to buy that book from your store.
  2. Increase your following, and your sales by giving away free stuff. It doesn’t have to be a free t-shirt or vacation, but you could give away free advice or interesting content such as funny or educational videos. Giving away something of value to the reader can get their attention and get them interested in what you have to sell.Giving away free content, information, or advice can help your social media grow. People are more likely to share content they like and find useful. Interesting content gets shared more often putting your business in front of more people.
  3. Keep posting. One of the top mistakes we see in a business’s social media marketing efforts is lack of effort. If you are not posting regular than you are missing out on your full social media marketing potential. Ideally you should be posting at least a few times a week, if not daily. Even the time of day you post can make a difference. Experiment with posting at different times a day and see what works best for you.
  4. Don’t overdo it. Another problem we see with many business’s social media marketing efforts is the exact opposite of what we listed above. Some people overdo their social media posting. This annoys users and makes them more likely to un-like or unfollow your page. Posting repetitive or uninteresting content is a quick way to get your users to jump ship. For most businesses, posting one to three times a day is sufficient.
  5. Learn how to promote organically before paying for ads. Learn how to make content shareable without paying for ads before you start a paid ad campaign on Facebook or Twitter. If you don’t understand what’s likable and shareable, and what’s not, then your ads will not be very effective. When you are ready to start paying for ads on Facebook and Twitter start with a small ad budget and get a feel of what works before you spend the big bucks.

This article was originally written in 2016, but has been updated to be relevant in 2018.

 


2 Comments

Bob Thornhill · March 11, 2016 at 9:14 pm

That’s the biggest problem I see with small business social media: they create the page, post a few times, and then forget it even exists.

    Mike · March 12, 2016 at 3:28 pm

    I see that all of the time with small businesses. I think many people try it, don’t see immediate results, and give up because they didn’t believe that social media marketing could even help them increase sales.

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