Are you using social media for your business? If you’re not, you should be.  Businesses ranging from Fortune 500s to solo-entrepreneurs are utilizing social media to engage with customers and prospects.  It’s not enough to just promote your business through social media. Social media posts need to be informative, educational and helpful.  Occasional social media posts advertising your business are fine, but what other content can you be sharing that will give people a reason to engage with and follow your social media posts? How can you make your social posts more appealing than those of a similar business? Here are some suggestions:

Make It Look Businesslike

Are your social media profiles reflective of your brand and mission? Do you have a quality profile and/or cover photo?  Not having those things can make your social media page look like a troll account.  Images you can use are location photos and your logo.  Just make sure the that images are current and of high quality. 

As for the posts themselves, they need to be grammatically correct and free of typos. If you are going to use abbreviations, make sure they are the ones currently used in business writing. As for emojis, use them sparingly.  While kids today sprinkle their social media posts with abbreviations and emojis, you’re an adult with a business and your social media posts need to reflect that.

Choose the Right Platform(s)

Business owners ask me this all the time, “Which social media platform(s) should I be on?”  And the answer is, “The one(s) where your customers are.”  If your customers are on Facebook, be on Facebook. If they are on Twitter/X, be there, and so on.  How do you find out where they are? Ask them or research your target audience demographics to see what social media platforms they frequent.

Another thing to remember, is to only set up as many social media accounts that you are able to manage. You can’t be everywhere for everyone. Unless you have a full-time social media manager on staff, the best course of action is to start with one or two platforms and build from there. You don’t want to set up a social media account that you don’t have the time to manage. That just doesn’t look good for your business.

Follow the Rule of Thirds

Just because you can post anything on social media doesn’t mean that it is a good idea to do so.  Your messaging needs to be interactive, so that followers are prompted to ask questions, make comments or just like posts.  Their reactions can help you improve business processes, as well as your product and service mix.  Once you know what is working and what isn’t, you can make necessary adjustments for your business.

We recommend following the “Rule of Thirds” when it comes to social media content. Your posts should be 1/3 original content, 1/3 shared content and 1/3 promotional content. Your original and shared content can be a mix of informational posts consisting of articles about your industry, blog entries, helpful tips, as well as photos of your business and a once-a-week promotional post. That is a good mix that will help to keep followers interested and engaged.

Schedule Posts Often

Another question people ask about social media is how often to post.  There is no set rule on this, but it’s wise to post a minimum of twice a week and check your social media platforms at least once a day. It’s helpful to create a social media calendar of posts to schedule. You can use a scheduling app like Hootsuite or schedule the post for a later date on the platform.  Scheduling the post for a later date prevents the dreaded “It’s Thursday and I haven’t posted anything on social media for this week!” feeling.

Video—Use It

One of the good things about social media is that you can post video content.  The videos don’t have to be fancy or high-tech. They can be “day in the life” of you or your business, a new product or service announcement, introductions to team members and staff, or a brief perspective on something trending in your industry. You can easily do this with a smartphone if you are on a tight budget.  

Social media can allow business owners way to share information, promote their products and services and learn what their customers want.

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