Is Posting on Social Media Worth the Hassle?
Social Media has become an essential and addicting conglomerate for individuals, businesses, groups, and organizations to share aspects of their lives. Through a multitude of different platforms, people can share every detail - from big life milestones, such as weddings or the birth of their children, to trivial details, such as where they ate their last meal and why the appetizer was or wasn’t good. This can become quite overwhelming, especially for businesses.
As an individual, you can choose to not post often, not follow many people, not engage in certain platforms, and even just take a break from it all together. However, businesses do not have the same luxury. While they can technically do all those things, businesses worry that doing so may harm them and give their competitors an advantage. Therefore, they are forced to continue to keep up with it all. They follow many people and some key organizations. They may even look at similar organizations to follow some of their followers as well. They must post routinely, respond to direct messages and be on multiple platforms daily. This begs the question is it all truly necessary. Sure, it is nice, and followers see you, but is the headache, time, and money actually going to further the growth and success of your business?
Is it Worth It?
Now the best answer would be to say no, so you can have a huge, audible sigh of relief and cut back on all the time and energy you spend posting. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. It is in fact worth it. Social media has become so popular, so quickly, and it only seems to continue to grow. All of your customers use at least one or two platforms. (yes, even the baby boomers – you’d be surprised at how many grandparents have Instagram accounts so they can follow their grandkids!) However, the best way to generate leads, traffic, and brand awareness is through advertising campaigns and SEO services. Although social media will not generate the results of other campaigns it is still very important. Sometimes, people will search for a business or organization on Facebook, Instagram, etc. before going to Google. If not, they will definitely be sure to look at the social media profiles of a business they would like to learn more about. Social media is a peek inside of the business because it shows what the company is like in a more informal way. Many times, businesses will post pictures of coworkers working together and smiling. It’s usually casual and candid. Companies tend to post un-staged, in-the-moment content to demonstrate that the business is approachable.
Additionally, it’s imperative to engage with your users on social media. These platforms give businesses the opportunity to demonstrate that they care about their customers and are involved in the conversation. If someone leaves a positive comment, respond and thank them! If someone leaves a negative comment, respond and apologize that they had a negative experience. Ask them to message the business privately so you can figure out a way to remedy the situation. Having the public see these comments and responses is important because it shows how you operate as a business and what you think of your customers. Silence speaks volumes so make sure you respond.
Many customers will also ask questions via direct message on social media instead of email. Not responding to these can result in losing business, since their questions are usually about business hours, a product of service you offer, etc. Make sure you check this often or turn on your notifications setting on your smart devices to alert you when someone sends messages about your company.
Potential clients and customers also like to see the progress of social media. If a business has a page but hasn’t posted anything in years, that reflects poorly on them. It tells the viewer that they do not care about keeping in touch with their followers. What is the business up to? Are they promoting anything? People are not going to search a website unless they need something. However, people are always scrolling through social media. As long as they follow the business and that business posts routinely, the user will have that constant reminder of the business. The goal is to be top-of-mind to the user… “Out of sight, out of mind.”
It is also a great way to contact your target audience. These individuals are interested enough in your business that they follow your page. You can use this to your advantage. See what they post about, the people they follow, the demographics and groups they belong to, and use this as a way to expand that audience to similar people. You can also use this as a tool to post content you think they would respond positively to, based on their posts.
Tips for Social Media
Yes – it’s overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be! Break it down so you are running the media, instead of trying to stay on top of it. Start by choosing the right platforms. It is good to have as many as you possibly can, but with the multitude of platforms out there, you only need to have a few, so see what your audience uses most often and what applies best to your business. They may all have LinkedIn profiles but if you are a B2C business your customers probably won’t be as engaging or even follow you on that platform.
You can also disperse how often you post on each platform. For example, if most of your audience is on Facebook, a good amount are on Instagram, and some are on Twitter. You can post three times a week. Twice a week on Instagram, and once a week on Twitter. If there is not a lot of traction on certain platforms, it’s still necessary to keep them up (even if it’s only once a month) to show that you are active on that specific platform.
Getting Started
Do you have little to no social media presence? It’s paramount that you get started! Begin by putting all of your business information in your profile. No one wants to follow a page if they don’t know who it is! Start with a good profile picture if you don’t have a logo. Make sure you also include a statement about who you are/what you do in the bio section. Also, add your contact information, address, and website. The next two things you should do are post and follow. Before you begin routinely posting, create a few posts (a minimum of 3, though 5-10 is good) so when people see your page it’s not blank. Then you need to build your following.
Start following a lot of people. Not everyone will follow you back so the more people you follow, the more followers you can acquire. A good tip is to put a bunch of hashtags in your post. Then click on those hashtags and follow people who have used that same hashtag – odds are they have some interest in your business.
Make it Easier on You!
A good way to plan out you’re your posts is to create a bunch when you have spare time. You can do all the posts for a month and schedule them. Another great tip is that you don’t need to create a bunch of original content. Repost an article and say why you thought it was interesting. Post a blog from your website and encourage people to read it. You can even repost old content if it’s relative to what might be happening in the world at that present moment.
Still too Much – We can help!
Now that you have a better understanding of the importance of social media even with all these tips and tricks, it can still be overwhelming and all-consuming. If you still think that the time and headache are not worth it, contact us! We have several social media services. In addition to our social media ad campaigns, we can post routinely on multiple platforms for you. We can even build a page and create an account for your business if you do not already have one. If you want to promote something, in particular, all you have to do is email us about what you want to promote, and we’ll take care of the rest! We will even post on holidays for you! At aha! we are brand specialists so we can use your social media as a tool to develop brand awareness while ensuring brand continuity. For more information, contact us today!