10 Dos and Don’ts for Small Businesses in Social Media Marketing
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Every digital marketer worth their salt knows that social media channels are vital for brand awareness and could help supercharge your business growth in the long term.
Social media is vital for brand awareness and helps supercharge your business growth
According to recent stats, there are around 4.89 billion social media users across the world, with the average working-age internet user spending over 2.5 hours on social media every day – that’s a huge captive audience!
However, we know it can be tricky to keep up with the latest social trends if you’re low on time and resources. As such, we’ve put together a handy list of dos and don’ts to guide your social media strategy and help you attract those all-important followers.
Best Practices for Social Media Marketing
While every brand has different needs, capabilities, and audiences, there are a few practices everyone should include in their social media strategy to ensure their business remains competitive, including:
1. Aim for Consistency
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Posting frequently and consistently will ensure your brand remains at the forefront of people’s minds and boost your chances of gaining new followers.
Of course, we don’t recommend you favor quantity over quality. If you’re low on time, make sure you post at least a few times a week and plan your posts in advance. Ideally, you should use an app such as Hookle to schedule your posts across all channels in one easy-to-access place!
2. Post Different Types of Content
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Your followers will get bored if you’re only posting links to new articles or using your platforms for the sole purpose of promoting new products. Remember – social media users love novelty, so it’s a good idea to shake things up every so often with a poll, competition, or engaging infographic. You should also remember to tailor your content for different platforms.
Twitter, for example, is perfect for short snippets of information and videos, while LinkedIn is great for posting long-form posts tailored to professionals.
3. Make the Most of Artificial intelligence
Hookle AI Smart Content Suggestion
Crafting compelling social media copy can be time-consuming and stressful, particularly if you have a small marketing team. Fortunately, AI is here to save the day.
Posting has never been so easy!
Tools like Hookle allows users to generate engaging social media posts that suit your brand guidelines and tone, including hashtags and emojis where appropriate - just with a click of a button. Posting has never been so easy!
4. Include Calls to Action
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Calls to action guide your users to helpful content and improve engagement across your business. Whether you’ve got a webinar in the pipeline or want to promote a new product line, remember to tell followers how they will benefit from engaging with your brand, providing relevant links and details.
5. Track Your Success
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Tracking engagement on social media will help you understand what you’re doing well and what you could improve upon.
For example, analytics software will tell you which posts are attracting the most engagement, the times of day users are most active, which platforms are most popular, and much more.
6. Repurpose Content
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Repurposing content is an excellent way to save time and broaden your reach across different audiences. For example, you could turn a blog into social media post, an eye-catching infographic, create a podcast from a video, or turn a LinkedIn post into a long-form article.
If relevant, you could even encourage popular influencers to promote previous content to help strengthen your brand identity and reach a broader audience.
7. Stay Up-to-Date With the Latest Trends
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Social media trends move at an incredible pace, so you’ll need to track developments closely if you want to make the most of the latest developments.
While this may sound a little arduous – particularly if you don’t use social media in your personal life – you can streamline this task by reading industry-relevant blogs, attending social media webinars, and subscribing to digital marketing newsletters.
What to Avoid in Your Social Media Strategy
So, now you know a few best practices for social media marketing, what mistakes should you be avoiding? Here are our top three red flags.
1. Ignoring Negative Comments
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Ignoring unfavorable comments on your social media feed will make your brand seem untrustworthy. If a worrying comment appears, it’s a good idea to apologize to the user publicly and send them a private message to investigate the issue further.
2. Posting Too Much Salesy Content
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Posting high volumes of sales-oriented content is unlikely to build trust among your audience. While it’s fine to post a promotional copy on occasion, you should also post content that speaks to your audience’s needs and sparks friendly engagement.
3. Don’t Copy Other Brands
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While it may be tempting to copy impressive social media campaigns, plagiarism could land you in hot water and damage your brand’s credibility. Rather than replicate other campaigns, focus on creating unique content that furthers your organization’s mission.
Supercharge Your Social Media Strategy Today!
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To summarize, effective social media marketing involves following best practices and avoiding common mistakes.
Use apps like Hookle, which are AI-powered to supercharge your social media marketing to the next level. Such apps can assist in managing multiple accounts, engaging with followers, and tracking performance.
Are you ready to streamline your social media strategy and grow your following? Download Hookle to discover yourself!
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