I do not know about you, but I would love to see more engagement on social media. Since I began over 17 years ago social media has changed. The truth, however, is social media is no longer optional for your business, it is a necessity. Today, I’ll give you some great Social Media Tips.
The Truth About Social Media
Social media used to be optional. It was something you could do by scheduling the content to be released a few times a week. Now, however, social media is a necessity for all businesses today.
“The truth about social media, however, is that it is no longer optional for your business, it is a necessity.”
tammy s durden
Today you need to have a presence on social media every day. It helps you significantly if you have engagement on those posts.
What is engagement?
Engagement
Engagement means others are commenting, sharing, and/or liking your content (post) on the published platform.
Social media engagement measures the public shares, likes and comments for an online business’ social media efforts. Engagement has historically been a common metric for evaluating social media performance but doesn’t necessarily translate to sales.-Big Commerce Essentials
Ultimately, having comments and/or a shared post(s) is the best type of engagement on most platforms. Over the last few years, however, we have seen less and less engagement for business pages.
Why Is There Decreased Engagement on Social Channels
There are many reasons why engagement has decreased and I will let those much smarter than I debate out the multiple theories. A few possible reasons (in my opinion), I believe engagement has changed in the last few years.
- Algorithms are always a factor in declining engagement on every social media platform. This is particularly true of Facebook.
- Recent Challenges in our society have caused many to seek work online. It can affect who can view your content and when they are able to view it. The significance of this is that these changes have caused a multitude of individuals to take a leap into entrepreneurship online. The end result is that many rush to the platforms with even more businesses promoting themselves.
- People are numb to business posts, in my humble opinion. Unless, of course, you have a post that will jump out at them, causing it to be viral. Leaving many to wonder, “How can we make a difference with our posts on social media?”
- Less Content = Less Engagement If you do not post content regularly you can expect to see a decrease in engagement or irregular statistics at minimum.
Building Relationships Still Number One
Building relationships is still the number one way to build your audience. I will share some tips to help you.
Think of your social media presence as the foundation and beginning of your organic traffic flow (or one of your funnels).
Establish A Presence Online
It is not enough to run ads on platforms and have content after content posted. You must first establish an online presence.
Then consider ads to help boost that engagement and traffic. Just as Katie Sehl of Hootsuite shares, the foundation has to be established first.
As a result, businesses often underestimate the importance of organic marketing. But organic social is the foundation that your ad strategy rests on. Behind every successful ad campaign is a consistent and creative social media presence that strengthens brand, relationships, and trust. – Katie Sehl of Hootesuite
Social Media Tips
X (formerly TWITTER)
- Welcome & thank new followers.
- Thank You Comments & Shares on Twitter (before you have many followers) – thank all who comment & reshare your Tweets. Once you have thousands of followers it is a little more difficult to keep up this practice.
- Post Directly on Facebook (or schedule via Facebook) as you will get more out of your post if you schedule it directly on Facebook’s platform. The algorithm is geared to put your post in front of more people if scheduled or posted directly.
- Change Your Personal Profile to a Professional Profile. If you have the ability to change it, you can find it under settings on Facebook. This will allow you to post business activities, content, and helpful tips on your Facebook Profile (professional profile). If you do not have this you will need to stick to the business page and groups. You will get more engagement on your personal changed to a professional profile. If you like keeping personal separate for family and friends you still can by creating the groups (marketing people as family or friends) and when you post instead of making it ‘Public’ you can post it just to ‘family’, ‘friends’, or both and still have some privacy.
- Reels Are a Great Option for Facebook – create short videos or even record your screen and show what you are working on that day. If you are consistent with Reels you can attract more to your audience.
- Instagram is pictures and videos – if you want to post here use photos and videos to show you and your brand.
- Posting on Facebook Shares to IG – if you link your IG account to your Facebook account it will post to Instagram also.
- Give Your Best Wishes on LinkedIn – give your best wishes to those who have new jobs.
- Wish Happy Birthday – to colleagues & friends on Linkedin.
- Share Profession Tips – from your work. This is especially important on this platform as it is all business.
- Share New Awards – as well as, certifications, honors, and degrees. For instance, I received an award of “Best Coach in Richmond” and was so honored and shared it.
Use tools, software, and planners to help you plan, organize, and post.
t.s. Durden
GENERAL RULES:
- Develop a Strategy – You must know where you are leading your audience. Create a strategy plan for your content. I cannot stress how important this one action is for all of your marketing. You must have a marketing strategy! Utilize content calendars, themes, and Holiday templates to create branded templates that will help you with your content strategy.
- Comment & Share On All Platforms – comment on people’s and company posts you follow & like as well as reshare their content with others (do not do this with competitor posts of course). This often produces your posts being shared by those you comment on and share (reciprocity) – not always, but some will do this.
- Produce Content, Content, Content – post at least one post per day (Twitter & IG can have more per day). My secret tip is to produce one piece of content a week – my blog article and then take quotes from it to share each day on my social channels.
- Videos and Photos are the Best Type of Content – when you produce your content utilize photos and videos as much as possible. Videos get the best views, comments, and likes. Post videos on Facebook Reels, YouTube, Instagram, and other platforms you utilize (if you use TikTok post them on there). YouTube is excellent even for ‘shorts’ and remains SEO searchable.
- Write Articles On Your Website (blogs) and share them on all of your social media platforms. Try to write at least one article per week. Write them to be SEO friendly.
- Take Quote Excerpts From Your Blogs put them on a branded background and post with the links leading back to the original article. Missinglettr can do this automatically for you. It will pull content from your blog stream add it to your preferred brand colors and allow you to approve them. Then they will post this content spread out throughout the entire year. It is a wonderful resource.
- Be More Transparent and Share More About Yourself – be Professional, yet Personal. People want to know who you are and sharing a little of your life will help them trust you more. Share photos of you out around town, at your desk working, and any other clever photos that you think will resonate with your audience. Feel free to share screenshots of your meetings on Zoom (if other attendees agree to it). It shows you actively engaging and working. It will go a long way to earning your potential client’s trust as they get to know you better! [Caution – Never treat the platforms as a personal diary]
- Stay Consistent – this is not the time to disappear because you get busy and do not post 1 day a week – post every day (Twitter & IG can handle more posts per day). You can use schedulers such as Hootesuite, Buffer, and Social Pilot to help you schedule content ahead of time. If you find it difficult to do this, the best thing is to outsource it and let another person or company help you with managing your social media. These are usually called Social Media Managers.
- Share Tips That Will Help Your Potential Client Audience – share tips that are not found everywhere but that will also help a potential client. Provide value for your prospective clients and they may just become clients as well.
- Offer Special Pricing & Discounts (especially if selling products) – is it a time of year when a special is appropriate?
- Create A Free Group And A Paid Group – Although business page engagement is down group activity is where you can see more engagement.
- The Free Group’s Focus is on attracting all in your target audience. Keep them active with discussions, surveys, tips, etc. Give, give, give & ask questions about their needs so it gives you more information about your audience. Do NOT sell, sell, sell. Once a week give this group a good offer or allow them to post a promotional post once per week.
- The Paid Group only admits those who have purchased from you in the group. This can be laser-focused in helping others especially if you teach or coach online and they are purchasing from you. Give them bonuses of one-on-one time with you, or other freebies that are of value to build loyalty. After they have had time to see the value in your paid group and programs ask them to give shoutouts in the free group so others see even more value and benefits in the paid group.
“Your network naturally grows when you do great work, treat others fairly, and go out of your way to meet new people.“
Matthew Kobach
These Social Media Tips should prove helpful for you. Yet, I saved the best for last…
BE YOURSELF! Be genuine, real, and engaging and others and you will attract your potential clients to you and your social channels. Stand out in your own way, do not try to imitate anyone else. You are unique and have qualities that are special and specific to you – let them shine!
TS Durden
In Summary
These social media tips are not to be used all at once, rather integrate them as you go. If you are already using some of these, then try to bring in some of the ones you are not using yet. It takes time to build an audience and have followers in the right audience (your ideal prospective clients).
You must continually provide value and tips that your audience will want to hear.
Think about the posts that draw you in to comment. What are they made of and why do you comment or share them? Although being personal and personable is good do not consider Facebook your diary. There is a fine line between venting about your recent family matter and giving your professional opinion about a new software program.
As you know the real key to most engagement is content!
Consistency and building relationships are what will get the most on social media. Ask intriguing questions of your audience. Do not discount the ads either. Ad dollars on platforms combined with good organic use of the platform can partner well together. Use both to your best advantage. Keep in mind, however, that one cannot happen without the other.
Thanks for reading. I look forward to your sharing and commenting!
Tammy Durden is a thought leader, speaker, and business coach for online service solopreneurs.
Tammy has established herself as an authority figure over the last 17 years of owning several online service businesses. She specializes in helping women online service providers grow a business to fit their lifestyle not squeeze a life around their business.
She loves teaching them how to Earn More and Work Less
Reach out if you need help growing your business or if you are ready to build an agency! This is her sweet spot.
*May contain affiliate links (I do not share anything or any products that I do not use myself or recommend highly).