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SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS TO HELP YOUR MARKETING
Neil Kinnerly • May 30, 2022
If you're a business and want to want to promote yourself, you should be on Social Media. That's a fact. Especially as social media is the heart of the post-pandemic shopping experience as we have grown more confident using online portals to access the products we need.
Most of us are usually scrolling through our smartphones throughout the day so it's a great way to reach a wider audience that we wouldn't necessarily via other routes.
But, having a business profile and occasionally posting basic content isn't enough, however.
Every platform offers a range of tools that allow you to push your profile further, but it can be hard to keep up with all the latest features as they evolve weekly. This is why we wanted to help you by compiling a list of the top tools you should be using right now...
- Posts - This is the main way to share your content, and when done well, you would expect your audience to engage and share onwards. Varying the type of post you share is key, and making sure you include a CTA (call-to-action) to encourage your reader to act further depending on what you are offering in the post.
- DMs (Direct Messenger) - This might be an obvious one but you'll be surprised how many accounts do not respond to private messages from potential customers. The quicker you can engage with your audience (on comments also) the more people will engage and consider doing business with you.
- Reels – Videos that grab attention, entertain, and provide something of value is the best type of content you can share. Reels on Instagram are short videos that allow you to promote your brand in the most creative way, just like TikTok videos. The algorithms across the platforms are favouring videos and giving them the most visibility so if you want to be seen, this is the best type of content to do so.
- Carousels – This is a great way of posting multiple images, graphics or videos all in one post that can be viewed by swiping or clicking left. Up to 10 can be added on Instagram and up to 30 (as pdfs) can be uploaded on LinkedIn (although that many is a bit excessive in one post don't you think?).
- Hashtags - A hashtag is combination of letters, numbers, or emojis following the # symbol that categorise your content and make it more discoverable in searches. This is a great tool to help you promote your brand and reach an even wider audience than just your followers. For even more information on how to use them, you can read our blog 'A beginners guide to hashtags', here.
- Geotags - This is a way of adding your location to your content and similarly to how hashtags work, it makes you even more discoverable to your target audience searching in your tagged location.
- Buttons - Social buttons are clickable icons that allow your readers to share your content on their own social networking profiles. You can also add CTA (call-to-action) buttons on Facebook which allow your audience to act further. This is a great way to take them directly to a web page, or a phone number, or even to donate to a charity, for example.
- Connections - This is essentially the network of like-minded people you build on social media. When you share content you want it to go out to people who will either want to do business with you, or people who will support your brand and share onwards. This is something you want to constantly build on and update regularly.
- IGTV - This is essentially Instagram's answer to Youtube as a way to watch videos designed for the mobile-optimized viewing of long-form videos. Any user can set up their own channel and share video content that's up to an hour long.
- Stories - This function allows the user to tell a story or share information in short clips that appear in a sequence and allows you to give a more 'behind-the-scenes', personal feel to your content. The stories of who you follow sit at the top of your home feed and showcases content before it's even shown on your main feed. Although the content disappears after only 24 hours, you have no restrictions in terms of content length. It's also a good way to draw attention to your latest post.
- Highlights - These are selected Stories (see above) that are saved on your profile and can be viewed beyond the 24 hour limit from posting. This is a good way to group your content into categories such as services, tips and tricks and progress images for example.
- Lists - This tool allows you to customize, organize and prioritize the content you see in your timeline from specific accounts. You can choose to join lists already created by others, or create your own from your own account by group, topic or interest.
- Jobs - This is becoming a popular way to now find jobs as more and more businesses are using their platforms as a recruitment tool. You also need to be cautious however, as employers frequently check out prospective employees’ social media footprint, so maintaining an ‘uncontroversial’ social media presence is a must when job hunting.
- Publishing tools - This tool on Facebook allows you to access all your content whether it be archived content, drafts, shop feature, as well as scheduling future posts. It can recommend the best times to post based on your engagement and allow you to view the post as you're editing it.
- Event pages - You can set up a page specifically for your event which will include all the details as well as the option to upload images, include directions, and invite a targeted audience. You can post in the event page (and allow others to if required) and people interested or attending will receive updates directly.
- Saved posts - Saving posts allows you to access content from any account open to you at anytime you want and remain private to you to access. This is good if you need ideas or inspiration to revisit at a later date.
- Blogs - This is such a useful way to share invaluable information relating to your services and products whilst getting people to website. Blogs don't need to be long-winded essays, but rather a way to get straight to the point of a particular topic. You can find out more about what it entails in our blog, 'Things to consider when writing a blog'.
- Insights - Measuring what content is working well/ not working is so important to allow you to learn and improve going forwards. Instead of focussing on how many followers you have, you should monitor what type of content is working best for you and how much reach (content views) and engagement (reactions) you get.
We hope this has helped but if you need more information about any of the features mentioned above you can get in touch for support via our contact page.
There is so much to cover when it comes to social media so why not book one of our training packages, all personalised to your business.
Find out more about our services
here or get in touch today.
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