Social Media Marketing Strategies You Should be Using

• Oct 01, 2022
• Architechs for the Web
• Online Marketing for CPAs

In today’s world, it’s critical to have social media accounts for your business. But you have to know how to use social media correctly to gain any traction. Here are a few tips to do just that and make your presence known on social media. 

1. Post regularly and in your story as well as your feed. This one may seem intuitive, but the number of businesses that fail to do so is astounding. The average American may check their social media up to 63 times a day, according to Slick Text. If you’re only posting once a week or less, even with those numbers, you will barely be seen. So how often should you post? To keep the momentum growing, you want to post at least once a day, but not more than twice a day. If you post less than that, you fall prey to “out of sight, out of mind.” But if your presence is constant, people will notice, and your already existing followers will notice your commitment. That said, posting more than twice a day may desensitize people to your posts, and they may stop paying attention. In fact, studies say that engagement drops for accounts that post more often than twice a day. So be consistent. Keep your followers expecting a new post and maximize opportunities for potential new followers to see them. But don’t overdo it either and spam your followers. 
3. Post more than just ads. We’re overwhelmed by ads on tv and streaming services, online, on the radio, in magazines, and on flyers and billboards. People are on social media for engaging with content, not to browse ads. So while ads on social media are effective, and you should definitely use them, make sure you’re also posting fun material people want to engage with. Include posts about the staff, either with fun photos of them or even short videos of them telling about themselves. People like to know who’s behind the scenes. Design fun holiday or national day posts. Nationaldaycalendar.com has a long list of national days that you can pick from for your social media. Make sure you also post updates for your business, such as different holiday hours or event info, etc. Keep it dynamic! 
4. Use live videos! Statistically, 96% of people would rather watch a video than read text. Remember in high school how you tried to get away with watching the movie rather than reading the book? Live videos are even more fun because people can actively engage with the speaker in the video. Host a Q&A about your product or services. Encourage questions. Choose a lively background or setting, or walk around your shop or office building as you record the video. Be relatable and talk a little bit about yourself, who you are, how you started the business or what your role is in it, your hobbies, etc. Show your audience what your workspace looks like. 
5. Have giveaways! Who doesn’t like free stuff? Any business can find a way to do giveaways. If you’re a beauty salon or chiropractor, maybe you offer a free haircut or session. If you’re a shop, you give away products. If you’re a bank or real estate agency, you could offer merch or even gift cards for a local ice cream shop. The point is that you get people’s attention. If you do the giveaway in a live video, make sure you hype it up before the video starts. Post several times leading up to it, saying there’ll be a giveaway. Or that if you’re the __th person to sign on, you’ll get a gift! Or you can follow the standard giveaway posts and do name drawings. Come up with your own ways of doing giveaways and be creative! 
6. Keep branding in mind for consistency and building trust. Everything you post should be consistent with your brand. That doesn’t mean you should have a template, necessarily. And you certainly don’t want all your posts to look the same. But if you’re a law firm and your social media posts are sometimes super businesslike and gray and other times designed comically with neon colors, I’m going to question your professionalism. Or if you own a coffee shop but your live video has you in a corporate office wearing a gray suit, I may be confused as to what you’re actually selling (unless you’re doing a corporate-themed coffee shop or something). The bottom line is that your brand should match your business, and your social media should consistently match your brand. Think colors, tone, logo, customer service, etc. 

And don’t forget to have fun! Social media can be a powerful tool for business. But it should also be fun for you and not only for your followers. Make it a friendly, aesthetic place that draws people’s attention, and your social media presence will begin to grow!