Social Media Marketing Tips for Small Businesses
Getting a new startup with social media for a business can be a bit tough with the constant evolution of different social media channels. Maintaining a social media profile and presence is like juggling a plethora of platforms, each with unique parameters. This makes it very difficult for a business to stay on top. It’s hard to understand all social media usage rules as there are many but it’s crucial too to create a solid social media profile. There is no business out there that doesn’t make mistakes.
Even the most popular and the most experienced brands make mistakes from time to time on social media. But the good fact is, the more comfortable you are with social media, the more possibility there is for you to drift your company away from the competition and to stand out of the crowd. This article is all about understanding the social media etiquettes like the do’s and don’ts of social media usage. Let’s begin with the do’s of social media marketing.
Social Media Marketing Do’s
Fully Complete Your Social Media Profiles
It’s a common mistake that every business or personnel makes when it comes to defining and describing each of the points in the social media profile setup. Just a profile picture and a few points about your company are not what is called as “I am done with the profile setup part.” Take time to fill all possible information as needed as the first impression is said as the last impression. It should be eye catchy enough, whether it’s your Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Instagram, Reddit, Pinterest, LinkedIn or Snapchat.
Your social profile is the interface between your company and your audience. It tells about you and your company to your targeted audiences. So what does your social profile say about you? Not much or Nothing? Then it’s high time for you to make it up to that level.
Read our blog on “How To Market Your Brand On Pinterest.”
Consider Best Timings for Posting on Social Media
Each of the social media profiles has different peak timings. On top of that, not everyone engages with all social media channels available. So if you are posting on any social media network, then do proper research on it’s peak time. Generally, posting in the afternoon rather than in the morning brings more clicks. While sharing, think about your own habits on social networks. You will get to know your audience in that way.
Keep Short Social Media Posts
Shorter social media posts result in higher engagement. That’s true, no doubt. No one likes 300 or 400 words or a lengthier manifesto. Short is simple. Every social media channel has different parameters, but no social media profile says that you have to go for longer, and boring posts. Let’s discuss the character length of some social media profiles.
Ideal length of a tweet should be 71-100 characters. Tweets with 100 or fewer characters get higher engagement rates than longer tweets.
Ideal length of an Instagram Caption should be 138-150 characters. Your photos and videos are the stars. Your caption can compel your audiences to connect and engage with you. So make as great captions as possible. Read our blog on “Best Practices for Instagram Marketing.”
The ideal length of a status update of LinkedIn should be 50-100 characters. LinkedIn Content length limit is 120,000 characters. On crossing the limit, you will get the error message, and you won’t be able to publish your content.
Avoid Writing in Caps and Check Your Grammar, and Spelling
Before making any post live, check its spelling and grammar as nothing can make you look sillier than sharing a post with bad grammar and spelling mistakes. You must avoid writing your posts in caps. There are many tools like Grammarly and Quetext to help you with your errors. You can check your post with these tools before making them live. Read our blog on “How to Use Social Media Channels for Landing Your Dream Job.”
Share Without the Intention of Getting in Return
You will reach your goals slowly, whether it’s about making connections or building a reputation. You shouldn’t expect returns just after you started up with social media marketing. The results for this take time. Be patient and share your marketing ideas, content, and efforts without expecting it to create a great impact in return.
Interact With Your Audience
You are good going by providing good, relevant, and engaging content. But that’s not the only job while managing social media channels. The key to getting success is to interact with your audience. Keep commenting on any comments from your audience on your posts. If you have helpful content then, share it with your LinkedIn network, and Facebook audience. Be friendly enough while replying to your audience or clients. Build connections as you do in person. Here is an example from Twitter and Facebook:
Be Visual
People love visuals. Photos and videos are always the best keys to engage your audiences. They are the best proven social media strategies to stand out. Tweets with images result in % more retweets and lead to 18% percent more clicks. If your industry is based on visuals like interior designing, food, fashion etc. then you should use social media profiles that are based on visual engagement like Pinterest and Instagram.
Social Media Marketing Don’ts
Over Sharing Your Posts
You should never over-share your posts on any of your social media accounts except Twitter. You can tweet a number of times per day with Twitter, but it’s not the case with every other social media account. With Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google Plus, YouTube, and LinkedIn, you should post once per day.
Being Needy
No one likes the needy one. Don’t ever ask your followers and audiences to like, follow, retweet, repin, your posts or page. You should be creative enough to drive traffic to your social media accounts and your website. Begging doesn’t help, it will rather destroy everything.
Being Spammy
Don’t follow every request on Twitter. Do proper research before it. Follow relevant people with a great fan following. If they have zero followers or pretty less, then there is no use of following those accounts. Don’t go clicking every link that is sent to you. And don’t post a similar promotional message to every person in a LinkedIn group because that shows being spammy and rude sometimes. Here is an example of a spam Tweet
Trying Your Presence on Every Social Media Channels Available
Don’t go for sharing your presence on almost all social media channels as possible. Trying every account will not work. Every social media account has different roles and functions differently. So pick up two or three social media accounts which will be relevant enough to share your business contents and ideas. Read our blog on “Choosing the Right Social Media Platforms for your Business.” For example, if you run a business which is based on images of food, beauty products, fashion etc. then Pinterest and Instagram would be the best option. If your business is ad-based, then YouTube would be the best option or else LinkedIn, and Business Facebook Page are the recommended ones for every startup.
Sharing Irrelevant Matters
You and your business are recognized by what you share. So before sharing anything do proper research. Don’t share something that does not result in any representation of you. Tweet and share relevant content and ideas based on your business.
Having Multiple Social Media Accounts
“You can’t reach your destination by keeping your legs on two different boats unless you are Ajay Devgan.”
Seems funny right? Jokes apart, it is only possible in the film Industry but not in real times. You cannot have your presence more than one time on a single social media account. Don’t confuse your clients or audiences with your multiple social media accounts. But if you want to keep your personal and professional personas on separate social media channels then, be sure with the content types you share via your business profile so that your clients or your audiences should know which account to follow.
Ignoring #Hashtags
Hashtag (#), which was just a symbol, has now turned into an online sensation. Whether you are on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media account, you simply cannot ignore this symbol. Hashtags on your post connect you to the relevant clients and audiences as it is the most convenient way to categorize and search content on social media channels. But be choosy enough while writing hashtags because it will only work if it’s relevant to your business. For example, if you are running a business of fashion and creating hashtags on your content on topics like food or interior, then trust me, it’s a total waste. Hashtags will increase your online visibility, reach, and followers so use appropriate hashtags and don’t ignore it.
Final Thoughts
With the constant evolution of social media landscape, there would be a constant change in the do’s and don’ts of usage of social media profiles. The etiquettes are dynamic; they keep on changing with the change of social media channels. So be alert and keep a pace of the changing etiquettes and incorporate the appropriate ones in your social media marketing strategies. Keep your social media strategies fresh and effective to be in the flow. What else would you like to suggest on the etiquettes of social media profile usage? Share your ideas and thoughts in the comments below.