Updated: This post on social media marketing platforms has been updated on October 2020 with new and relevant information.
Whether it’s a new business or your just looking to boost your presence for your current business, the right social media marketing platforms can make the job easier.
We will cover what you should be doing on the top 5 social media marketing platforms to obtain the perfect audience and reach your business needs.
What Is Social Media Marketing
Social media plays a big role in today’s day and age.
It’s on the increase and will play a bigger role in the year 2021.
Long gone are those days where you could open a shop on the high street or online and by word of mouth you could make your fantastic sales. It’s all now about social media and how to effectively use it to grow your profits.
The bigger the presence and awareness on social media, the more visitors and followers you will get equaling to larger sales.
How Can Social Media Help My Business
The first thing to do is create a social media goal plan.
What do you wish to acquire from using social media for your business?
How can it help your sales grow?
Who is your target audience?
Once you have the above answers, Social media marketing can help with a number of goals, such as:
- Increase your website traffic
- Build conversions (brings in more eyes and converts to actual customers)
- Raise brand awareness (using the different platforms to increase your brand awareness)
- Create a brand identity and positive brand association (a name you can be recognized by)
- Improve communication and interaction with key audiences (builds client and customer trust – enabling repeat sales)
Having a strategy in place makes the above easily achievable.
Building social media relations
Social media is not just about sharing your services, after all, the platforms play a role too.
They have an algorithm which you have probably heard, changes often.
Whatever social media platform you decide to use, they also require your input. Not just your self promotion.
For example – you open a new store – great!
SO every day you post new pictures of your stock or services, BUT! Who will see all those great pictures you post?
NO-ONE!
This is why you have to create the platform of people you want.
You want people to see and be amazed with your new business and that’s why it all comes down to building those social media relations.
That way the more interaction you have on the platforms, the more you use the platform itself, the more they will increase your reach.
So lets get started on how you can build your social media platforms to make the most for your business.
Social media platforms for business
Here’s a list of the social media marketing platforms we will cover. These are the most popular used platforms across the globe for business expenditure.
Types of social media platforms
You probably already have used these social media platforms for personal use.
You post a picture of your cat here and there, or maybe show your friend following what color you dyed your hair today.
However using it for business purposes is slightly different and requires a consistent routine to obtain the most reach back.
How To Open A Social Media Account For Business
First things first, open a business profile for each social media platform listed above.
This should obviously be your business name.
You want to ensure you have the same name across all social media platforms. That way your customers or followers can recognize your account.
This will also give Google a chance to rank all your social media platforms together when one is searched for.
Choose a logo and business name (ensuring it’s available) and then start making your accounts.
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Facebook has over 2.3 billion monthly active users. There are 1.49 billion daily active users. That’s a lot of potential reach for your business right there.
Now I’m not saying you need to friend all those 2.3 billion people.
In reality you can’t.
Facebook has a limit of 5000 friends you can add to your profile, so make sure to fill those spots to people you see fit for your business.
The key thing here is to get noticed and to gain interaction.
To gain interaction you need to create a fan following of people who would like to buy your products or services.
There’s no point having 5000 friends who have no clue in the world of who you are.
As tempting as it sounds to friend every tom, dick and harry – DON’T!
Take your time to find those interested prospects through doing some of the things listed below.
How To Use Facebook For Business Growth
- Find and like 5 pages/groups – keep it up to 5-10 maximum a day so you don’t seem spammy to Facebook, otherwise you could end up in Facebook jail.
These should be pages related to your niche or product.
- Comment on those pages – This way you will be able to see the interaction you get back. BINGO – there you have your first set of friends who you can add to your prospects (friends list).
- Post 2 times a day related to your brand – This can be 2 pictures or just written posts to tell your friends and Facebook what your brand/business is about.
- Ensure to keep your profile public – That way content you publish can be seen by people all around the world depending on how Facebook decides to show it. Remember content/posts with good interaction are shown on similar news feeds of people who aren’t even following you.
Another trick – post on Facebook stories DAILY.
- Include a CALL TO ACTION – When you publish a post, don’t just publish it expecting people will interact. They won’t. We human’s need call to actions.
For example, if you post:
“Hey people, check out my new hair dye product, It’s the best on the market”.
You will most likely get SCROLLS. People will read and disappear.
WHEREAS if you up your game a little to something like this:
“Hey people, iv just launched my new hair dye. It’s the xxxx, and currently best seller on the market. Comment below if you would like to receive a free sample”
Now that will catch our eye. I will comment and interact, after all who doesn’t like a freebie.
I’m not saying you have to give away free products to obtain those followers or interactions, however it can help in building that perfect platform.
Plus the way the post is typed sounds more enticing to deserve a like thumbs up, unlike the other.
People are looking for a solution, so if you can provide a solution to their problem, then they are yours.
You can provide a free word template which you can type up in 5 minutes whenever someone comments. This method will boost your engagement and also make you more valuable in the eyes of Facebook.
Add hashtags to your posts so they can appear on trending topics. Who doesn’t love a hashtag hey!
- Join Groups – Some groups allow you to sell your services and products in them. Groups already have a number of people in them, in the thousands usually. So this is free advertising for you. Use it wisely.
From those groups friend more people who have similar interests to your business/brand.
Remember you want to aim to get your 5000 friends.
Because once you have those BOOM!, that’s your free list of prospects/customers created there.
Eventually you can begin un-friending those who are dormant or don’t give action and replace with new ones. The list is endless.
Build Trust With Your Potential Customers From The Start
- Facebook lives – Pop on for a Facebook live session once a week. Give your followers a face they can put a name to. People buy faces then products. Say a quick hi, talk about your brand/business. Even if it only starts off with 2 people watching. It will eventually begin to grow. Viewers can share your video and more people will have seen it. The power is in that share button.
Don’t just come live on your own profile. You can come live in group profiles where an audience of thousands already exists. Seek permission from the group owner first. Those viewers will click onto your profile and possibly friend you or like your page, giving you a bigger focused audience to grow your business with.
Tweet Tweet, that’s what the Twitter world is all about right?
I love Twitter, I find it very easy to use and the re-tweet feature can get you going viral.
Make an account and get tweeting. That’s the plan.
Consistency and hashtags can make you viral, and once your viral then BOOM! Your following will increase AND you could be trending for a topic.
Here’s how to master Twitter for your business as beginners!
- Post 3 new tweets a day! These can be business related or personal/social related to make your account more fun. Try to amplify your followers communities and give them something to talk, like or re-tweet about.
- Don’t have followers? Or enough of them? Then get following atleast 10 new people A DAY! Many will follow back and this way you could be building your twitter following consistently without looking like a spammer.
#AVOID TWITTER JAIL.
- See what I did there? YES Hashtags. Add Hashtags (#) so your posts can appear on trending topics. Hashtags have taken the social media platform by storm. It can narrow a search down by just entering a hashtag followed by the topic you want to search for! So, if your going to post about something juicy, then hashtag it! It could turn viral before you know it.
An example would be something like, posting about diabetes awareness month and how my little one had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
I could then hashtag that with all sorts of related hashtags such as #diabetes, #diabetes awareness month, #Type1diabetes, etc.
Now if someone was to search diabetes, my tweet would pop up in the top searches and could be re-tweeted several times making it go viral. YES! Twitter is powerful.
- 2 Re-tweets a day – Try and get noticed as much as possible, start off with 2 re-tweets a day, you can increase more gradually, depending on how much time you have. This way you will get more followers, as people always do like there posts being re-tweeted and to thank in return they follow you! Simple as that.
Re-tweeting will also boost your account showing Twitter that your active in the community by sharing posts across the platform.
You will get noticed by Twitter allowing you to get higher up in the tweet game.
Who doesn’t like VISUALS! We all do. That’s exactly what the Instagram platform is all about. Seeing and believing.
How to become a social media influencer using Instagram
- Fill in your bio to represent a true image of yourself. That’s the first thing people see before they decide to click that follow button. Make it enticing.
- Post 1 photo a day – This will give something new for your followers to look at and show Instagram that you’re an active member, boosting your profile up so non followers can see you more. Eventually down the line, you probably wont want those pictures to remain on your profile, so you can always go back and delete them to keep your profile looking neat. Allow the photo to stay on your gram for atleast 30-60 days before deleting it, giving plenty of time for your followers to like and comment.
- Use appropriate hashtags in your description. Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post. That’s ALOT to get noticed. You just have to make sure you choose the right ones that can get you on the homepage or at the top when your hashtag is searched for.
You can use hashtag finders to find the best ones for your post. Hashtags is like SEO, they have to include the right keywords to get noticed.
Tip – Google hashtag finder and a list of websites giving you the best ones will come up.
- Follow 10 new people a day – Yes similar to any other social media platform, 10 is a safe number lets say.
- Comment on 5 follower posts a day – Don’t just be a self promoter. These are those people who just post pictures of them selves and leave it to that. NO! You need to interact to get interaction back. Comment on posts you like, this will not only show Instagram that your participating, but also increase your awareness on the platform and gets you more followers.
- Like 20-30 followers picture posts a day – I love double tapping my phone every time I’m on Instagram. It’s like second nature every time I open the app. Scroll through your feed and like posts that entice you. This only takes around 5-10 minutes a day so it’s a perfect quicky to incorporate in your daily schedule.
- Tag the location of your photo when applicable
- Try to use these photos on all platforms – link back to the community whenever possible. Instagram gives an option in your settings to share your post to other social media platforms. Take advantage of that push button. Not only will your photo get shared on those other platforms, but you will also gain more following. Maybe a Facebook follower didn’t know you had Instagram, that way they will start following you on your Instagram profile too making your audience a stronger one.
Not classed as a social media platform but a SEARCH ENGINE.
Pinterest is in power nowadays, it’s where people go to search for things like they would do on Google.
Pinterest has nearly 300 million active use monthly!
Such a huge audience to showcase your business to.
If your not on this platform, get on it!
It can bring in traffic if used in the right way, like wildfire!
On Pinterest, the number of followers don’t really play a huge role in getting your content seen.
So don’t fret if you only have a following of 10!
Pinterest shows your content to it’s audience depending on how new it is.
How To Use Pinterest To Increase Website Traffic
- Create boards – Create relevant boards to your business/niche and pin your own content and other peoples content to it.
Create a new board each week related to your business – ensure to tweet about it too. (remember social sharing is POWERFUL)
- Allocate 15-20 minutes a day to pin to your existing boards. You can add new content to these boards daily and pin your existing content to these boards too. Everything newly pinned is seen as new content to Pinterest, allowing it to be at the top of the homepage. If your short on time or simply don’t have time to sit on Pinterest daily, you can invest in a scheduler such as Tailwind which can do the pinning for you on a daily basis. You can schedule up to a week/months worth of pins and just sit there watching your account grow!
- Follow 3-5 new pinners a week. This will help grow your following allowing you to see more content that you can repin to your boards or add to in the future.
- Group boards and Tailwind Tribes – These are communities where you can share your pin to. They already have a number of members inside them.
For example, you are new to Pinterest or simply don’t have enough followers, lets say you have 10.
Sharing your content is not really helpful when only 10 people can re-pin them.
So join group boards and tribes.
These have thousands of members in them allowing you to share your pin to these thousands without having to follow them or them following you!
AWESOME I KNOW!
Aaah I love Pinterest.
- Always use appropriate hashtags and descriptions under your pin so it’s clear. Sometimes pinners don’t even clink the link before re-pinning. They just re-pin the pin because of how good it looks and how good the description reads. Get your creative side out.
Tip – For normal pins stick to a 600×900 pixel image size. For a super pin go for 1000×1500 pixel image.
This is a great platform if your business is about headhunting, or anything else as well really.
This social media platform has a number of company CEO’s, managers, deputy’s, you name it!
The big ones are on here.
So if you want to get noticed or get your business out there, it’s a great platform to advertise on.
How To Use LinkedIn To Grow Business
- Connect with 3-5 new people a week. This builds your engagement with new brands to promote to and also allows them to recommend you, boosting your profile potential up.
- Follow 3 new companies a week – Companies that are similar to what your business is about and maybe those who you would want to sell your product or business ideas to in the future. Get them under your radar!
- Post 1-2 new recommendations a week – Here’s some tips on how you can write them:
– Make it Genuine and Personal. You’ve worked with the recipient of the LinkedIn recommendation, and if you’ve known each other for a while, you know their personality as well
– Keep it Professional.
– Keep it Short.
- Repost all your new content/blogposts/products on newsfeed.
And that’s a wrap!
Whatever business you do, social media can play a huge role in making your success.
Using each social media platform to it’s best abilities can help you grow dramatically, increasing your revenue.
Do you have a business? Drop it below in the comments for us to have a look at:) Sharing is caring and raising awareness is the key to success!
Want to read more? Then check out how I built my little side hustle business – it has plenty of tips to get you started too.
Such an informative post. Thank you
Thank you Ramsha. x
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Thanks for adding these points, these will be helpful.