Websites today need to be on the ball when it comes to social media marketing.
It’s all about communication and putting an image of yourself or your business out there in an accessible way. With the most popular social media platforms being Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google +, there are many ways to connect with your audience and provide content in many different formats.
So, without further ado, here are 7 Tip for Social Media Marketing!
#1 Don’t Overdo It
When you think social media marketing, some tend to think ‘spam the life out of it!’ to get your advertisements and blogs to the top of people’s feeds. However, overly promoting yourself could lead you to a major downfall.
Instead, use the 1 in 7 ratio. Every 1 in 7 posts should be the ‘full Monty’ of promotion, be it sales on items, contests, links, photos and self-promoting content. The other 6 posts should be valuable and reflective content about yourself, your business or tips and tricks you have. These posts can include hashtags and links to reach out to potential audiences, but they don’t need blinking red lights and arrows if you catch our drift. Try using subtle back-links instead, and link back to previous posts or blogs.
This way, you’ll still promote yourself, but you’ll also appear human. Let your personality and expertise shine through, and offer your services and goods in a practicable and sensible way. Your audience will appreciate the down-to-earth appeal and will want to return to your website!
#2 Communicate, communicate, communicate!
People love to socialize. Hence, it’s called social media marketing! So why not strike up a conversation with your followers? Be it through Instagram in a video or on Facebook as a post, ask your audience what they’d like to know from you or ask them what they like about your business.
Friendly posts will gather more intel from your audience more naturally and honestly than spamming people with surveys. After all, it’s more enjoyable to talk to a friend than to fill out a form!
If you need a survey however, Facebook has a great feature that allows you to ask a question and have viewers select an option as a response. It’s similar to a survey, but faster and offers immediate answers for you.
No business can be run without communication, and the best way to communicate is with the people you are marketing your work towards. So get out there, make friends!
#3 Switch It Up
Isn’t it annoying to see the same thing over and over again? Be wary not to bore your audience, especially when you’re presenting very important information. The best way to liven up a blog post or jazz up an advertisement is to change the format every now and then.
Some great ways to change it up includes:
- Ditch the essays – use subheadings or numbered sections
- Add dot points (guilty!)
- Change the position of inserted photos – opt for a modern look with photos aligned to the left or right or catch some attention with a big feature image
- Uses different designs on advertisements – stripes and dots and squares oh my!
- Use complementary colours to boost your brand logo
- Get personal – take a step away from the professional persona once in a while to gain a sense of relatability from your audience
Don’t go stale – chances are you’ll start to be annoyed at following the same procedures too.
#4 Be Consistent
Now, this may be contradicting with the last line, however you should have a sense of consistency when it comes to posting whilst social media marketing. This doesn’t mean you can’t change a look or a format here and there.
People look forward to the things they enjoy, and they keep track of when new information is released. Your website may be unique and upbeat, but if you’re not updating regularly on your social media platforms, people won’t be likely to pay attention.
Social media marketing is like a machine that needs to constantly be fed its fuel to keep functioning. By churning out content consistently and maintaining a fresh take on things every so often, your audience will be happy to look forward to updates.
It may seem like a tough gig to juggle, but hey, no one said this would be easy! It does take practice and a passion to do social media marketing, but if you have a belief in your business, you are sure to bring the goods every time.
#5 Keywords
A great way to market without paying for advertisements is through the trusty keyword factor. In social media marketing terms, we call it ‘SEO’ or ‘Search Engine Optimisation’. This is when you use keywords people are likely to search for on the internet and insert it into your content. By doing this, your content will be more likely to be recognised by search engines and boost it to the top of search pages.
Another way to work this sneaky technique is through the most obvious keyword optimiser of all – the hashtag. By adding multiple hashtags to posts and photos, you’ll most likely appear higher up on search lists for those tags.
Instagram and Facebook are best known for this, and are the easiest platforms to navigate in terms of hashtags.
So hashtag to your hearts content with words and phrases you audience will most likely search – don’t forget to add those keywords to your posts too!
#6 Always be Up to Date
It’s great when social media pages can be relatable to the world today.
Some fashion Facebook pages like to comment on celebrity styles and recent news, business pages focus on current economic issues and retail websites advertise the latest trends and items!
The world moves fast, and we want to know as quickly as possible what is going on. The best way to draw in an audience is to do the same – move as quickly as possible. Be aware of the news and the world and above all find out everything you need to know about your style of business.
The more you know, the more you can grow your business and find out what is in demand. It’s much easier to work with the market than against it. So go with the flow, and give the people what they want from you – without completely losing yourself in the process of course!
Keep these tips in mind when you start social media marketing for your website. But, also remember to mould them to you, not the other way around. Remember to relax and have fun in the process, because at the end of the day, your social media personality will reflect on your business.
Keep it fresh, happy and don’t stress! For more marketing tips or help in social media marketing for your website, contact us today at Web Marketing Angels.