The basics of social media for business

Social media can be very overwhelming, but there are a few tips and tricks that might help you understand it all a little bit better.

Let’s discuss the basics of social media for business:

Understand the platforms

Each social media platform is different and they all serve a different purpose and target market, so don’t try to treat them the same but understand their differences, strengths and weaknesses. Once you understand the platforms, you can maximise their specialties.
Twitter for example, is non visual and great for alerts and quick messages. It’s a great tool for location based or pop-up businesses. Instagram on the other hand is very visual and perfect for styled images, food, behind the scenes etc.
Facebook can be treated as a clubhouse, for those fans that want to be part of it all. It’s your fan-base, the people that want to have a say and be an intimate part of your brand and fan club. It’s a great platform for engaging them in your biz by hosting customer of the week comps, asking them to name a product etc.

Learn from the masters

Look at what others in your industry or linked industries are doing. Monitor what’s working for them and what’s not working for them. There’s nothing wrong with learning from others and copying what they’re doing right.

Craft your voice

Having your own voice is important, it shows who you are, how you speak and what customers can expect from you. Be able to sum up your brand and biz in on sentence and use this as a benchmark for crafting your online voice. Always respond and post with ‘your voice’. If you have staff that post for you, make sure that they understand the brand’s voice and post in the same voice.

Match posts to your target market

Each platform serves different demographics (with overlaps), so it’s important to understand your customer and what platform they’re using. For example, Instagram is very visual and is mostly used by young people and females.

Interact and form bonds

It’s called social media for a reason. It’s a social thing, not a sales thing. Social media is idea for building stronger relationships with your customers and target market, so the best thing to do is to interact and engage. Thank people for liking you, for visiting you or checking-in. Be proactive and appreciative for the fans and visits. Show them that you care.

I know, it’s not entirely rocket science, but still social media overwhelms. It’s important to remember that it’s social, so forget about the sales message about 80% of the time and just engage and ‘chat’ with your fans.