Social media can be one of the most effective ways to market your business. But before you can truly leverage it, you need to define your goals and determine which platforms can help you meet them.
Consider the following goals as starting points:
Generate new leads on LinkedIn and other platforms for your business that you can use to make connections with potential new clients/ customers.
Develop a stronger following for your company on Facebook to increase your ability to promote new products and deliver valuable content.
Increase awareness in your local market of your business and all the services you have to offer.
Here are some tips for using social media to help you meet these three goals and any others you may have.
With so many social media platforms, how do you know which one will be the most effective? Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are still the top platforms to use for business, with Instagram and TikTok close behind.
Consider which platforms your target audience uses and prioritize them first. Don’t “follow the herd” and set up a business account on a channel just because you think it’s popular. If it isn’t relevant or frequently used by your intended audience, it may not provide enough ROI to make it worth spending time to develop and post content.
Nurturing leads on social media requires dedication and a commitment to engaging with your chosen audience. As the social media platform Hootsuite notes on its blog, it’s better to have fewer high-quality leads than many low-quality leads.
Consider giving valuable content to your audience in exchange for their information by promoting it on social media and directing them to a form on your website. You could also create a group on Facebook, LinkedIn or another platform and ask some simple questions to determine the quality of the lead for each person who requests to join the group.
While it may seem basic, optimizing your social profiles really is the first step in succeeding in social media from a business perspective. Businesses get excited about being on social media, but often fail to spend the necessary time creating a profile that complements their brand. With this in mind, for each platform make sure you pay attention to these tips from Hootsuite:
Optimize your profile for lead generation.
Your profile should provide links where your customer can easily contact you, sign up for emails and newsletters, shop, etc.
Offer the right incentive to share information.
Contests, sweepstakes, discount code or top-quality content are all great reasons for your potential customer to share information, join your email list or Facebook group, or attend a webinar.
Personalize your offer.
When it comes to social media lead generation, personalization is key. A study done by Heinz Marketing and Uberflip shows that personalized content helps more with lead generation.
Collecting analytics is another important aspect of boosting your business’s social media. Most platforms have an analytics dashboard that can help you identify the type(s) of posts that work best for engagement. This is the true test of social media success: Getting a positive reaction from your followers. Keep track of the activity on your various platforms and use it to plan the content you’ll share.
These tips are just a starting point for growing your social media presence. It’s important to regularly evaluate your goals and the strategies and tactics you use to achieve them. Just like any other part of your business, social media requires a commitment of time, thought and energy. Focus on being efficient as you work to maximize the positive impact of the platforms you use. If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to switch it up for something that better fits your current social media needs.