Jul 17

Post & Engage on Social Media

Interacting with your customers and build your brand on social media. It’s a free and easy way to connect with and expand your customer base.

Step 1: Assess what platforms your customers are most likely to be on to simply your time and effort.

With a constantly growing number of social media platforms, it's important to know who your audience is. Younger audiences tend to be on Snapchat or TikTok. Business-to-business marketing might be better focused on LinkedIn. Learn more about the 7 types of social media and how each can benefit your business.

Step 2: Set up your business profile on each platform

Please, please, set up a business profile on social media! You can always share information on your personal profile but a business profile. There are many more features available to you with a business profile. You also get options for advertising, which can be beneficial for "boosting" posts to a targeted audience or even creating an ad campaign. Your account typically offers analytics as well so you can see who has clicked on post links, shared your posts, follower demographics and more.

Step 3: Invite Friends & Customers to Follow Your Page

Posting to your social media platforms will be in vain if you have no followers. Invite them through your account, via email, and utilize your social media links on your website and other marketing materials. A QR code linking to your website or social media platform can make it easy to share. There are a number of "free" QR code generators but one of the best is through Canva. Canva is a free-to-use online graphic design tool that has professional templates to create social media posts, presentations, posters, videos, and more. Create your free account and then go to the menu and click on "QR Code Generator" under the Marketing dropdown.

Step 4: Create a posting calendar

While it's tempting to post when you have time or happen to think about it, your followers expect a fairly regular routine from your business. If you don't post regularly, interest falls off and your followers tend to not see your posts. Most platforms allow you to schedule your posts in advance so you don't feel like you have to stay on top of it every day or week. You can even find out the best times to schedule your post so it's most likely to be seen! Consistency and frequency will help you strengthen your brand...2-3 times per week is optimal.

Step 5: Use Professional Social Media Templates

Using images, graphics, and videos in your posts increases engagement. Use your free Canva account (see above in Step 3) to access hundreds of professional templates specifically designed for social media.

Step 6: Interact

Monitor your posts and interact with people who comment and engage with your posts. Follow and engage with other businesses on social media.

Step 7: Network

Social media can also be useful for networking and gaining insight from others in your type of business. Facebook groups, Reddit, Quora, and others are good places to not only learn from others but also insert your expertise and give a quick introduction to your business.