We’ve seen it all when it comes to social media – the good, the bad and damn right ugly. Some businesses absolutely nail their organic social posts with the combination of enticing content, creative imagery, suitable hashtags and the proper use of emojis (🙌). So, what do these businesses have in place to make their posts thrive? The answer: strategy (and best practices).
Social media can be a complex digital place if you don’t fully understand how each individual social platform works and how to get the best out of them. We completely understand that outsourcing your social media might be out of the question for a multitude of reasons, so we are here to pass on a little advice in the hopes that you can put a stop to your social media suffering whilst managing it in-house. Here’s a really simple rundown on the best practices you should be performing and the nasty habits you ought to kick.
1. content – content, content, content – we cannot stress this enough. Don’t get us wrong, off-the-cuff and in-the-moment types of posts are brilliant for authenticity and should certainly be embraced, but social media is also about planning and setting goals. Once you know your endgame for the month (e.g. what topics you’re going to focus on) ensure your content is consistent. Consistency is CRUCIAL, get it wrong and you could be sending conflicting messages to your audience and in turn they could refrain from engaging with your brand.
2. interaction – the action doesn’t stop once you’ve pushed a post live, engaging with your audience is VITAL. Think of your audience as your biggest fans – they are the key to your success on social media. Make it a priority to respond as much as possible to comments and direct messages whilst also getting involved with other accounts posts – visibility and activity is key.
3. hashtags – we often see posts with lines and lines of hashtags and we get it, the more the better, at least one of those hashtags will surely help boost a post? In theory yes, but you need to check you’re not using dead hashtags and by that we mean hashtags with little engagement, not relevant to your brand or inappropriate. There are lots of great tools available to help with this. Do your research – you’ve been told.
4. imagery – please do not use a low-quality, blurry, pixelated images on your social, it literally screams unprofessional. If you’re not a dab hand with a phone or camera, you can use a free online design tool that provides thousands of templates, stock photography and editing features to create visually pleasing images.
