Full Service Social Media Marketing

We celebrated Social Media Day 2018 in a BIG way, we went tip-crazy. Our team collectively came up with 20 of our favorite tips from the past year, and blasted them all over social media. Miss it? Lucky for you, we've cataloged them all here for you to save and enjoy.

1. Make friends with the algorithms. Trying to beat them will be an uphill battle. Adopt the "rules" of the platforms and watch your profiles grow. They're ever-changing, so be sure to stay in the know.

2. Instagram is looking for authenticity, and although automation is your friend as a social media manager, you need to be active outside of the schedules. Share your raw and behind-the-scenes content in stories, engage with your audience inwardly and outwardly and respond to those DMs! The more often your followers are interacting with your content, the more often your content will appear for them.

3. Utilize Pinterest! It’s not just for craft boards and vacation ideas. Pinterest is the second largest search engine outside of Google. Use visuals and strong keywords and hashtags to get your content in front of a whole new audience here.

4. Ditch Snapchat. There, we said it. Sorry, we just don’t think this is where brands need to be investing anymore. Engagement and views are down here, and we don’t see them coming back. Follow the MASSES and spend your precious tie and budget on Instagram Stories.

5. Develop the KPI’s (key performance indicators) that are necessary for your brand to measure success. Everyone and every industry is different. Are you looking for sales? Are you looking for website traffic or app downloads? Or maybe you’re just looking to grow your online presence? Determine your own set of goals and make sure this is shared company-wide.

6. Engagement is everything. The reason social media is successful is that there can be back and forth, content sharing, relationship building happening on a common network. But if you expect to just set up a profile and watch leads roll in, you're going to fail miserably. Both human beings and algorithms are going to care less about what you have to say (and what you want them to do) if you don't do the same for them. So like, comment, share, ask and be real!

7. Faces in photos have more impact, so you're going to have to get comfortable getting behind the camera! "Georgia Institute of Technology and Yahoo Labs researchers looked at 1.1 million photos on Instagram and found that pictures with human faces are 38 percent more likely to receive likes than photos with no faces. They’re also 32 percent more likely to attract comments." So time to strike a pose!

source: http://www.news.gatech.edu/2014/03/20/face-it-instagram-pictures-faces-are-more-popular

8. Let the API's be your friend. Don't fight technology and all its power. Use it to your advantage. For example; when building audiences to advertise to on a platform like Facebook, upload a customer list (people that have already proven they'll buy from you!) and tell Facebook to create a Lookalike audience that automatically finds and advertises to more people like that. Saves you from having to make guesses about your target market--like what their interests are or how old they are.

9. Always use location tags on Instagram! It's easy to do, and it ups your chances of reaching more people searching a particular location. In our own experience, we find that our reach/impressions nearly doubles every time we add that in to posts or stories. You'll notice it when it happens! And, fun fact: As much as you might assume that it works better in bigger cities, we've found it works as good in smaller locations. Sure--you might get more reach if you get picked up by the "Boston story". But there's more content being created there, so it's harder to get placed. Whereas in smaller cities like Penticton, you can usually get picked up.

10. Ask for LinkedIn recommendations! LinkedIn is your platform to brag on... and it's 100% accepted. It's your living resume! Want that resume to be complete with public glowing references that no one has to dig for? Every time you work with someone in any capacity, flip them a quick request for a recommendation. Whether they leave you a positive one-liner or a lengthy review, anyone scoping you out will know how great you are at just a glance! So powerful.

11. Post consistently: Social media moves f a s t! And by fast, I mean your content will be lost in a sea of content in a matter of minutes. If you’re not publishing constantly, it’s easy to get lost and forgotten.

12. Don’t just share to share. Make your content valuable to your followers. What does your target market care about? What do they need help with? Target your content towards them and you’ll be successful!

13. Test different versions of your copy! Writing copy is hard - but it’s gets even worse when no one is engaging with your content. Create 2-3 different versions of copy for each post you think you’ll repurpose later on. See which post resonates the best with your audience and keep using it!

14. Beware of the fake influencers! Influencer marketing is huge right now, and if that’s part of your brands marketing strategy, make sure you’re only collaborating with real influencers. You can spot fake influencers when they have high follower numbers and low engagement rates (i.e. likes & comments) on their photos. For example, if someone has 100K followers and an average of 30 likes per photo, they definitely have fake followers (through buying followers). Follower numbers don’t matter if no one is going to be listening to those “influencers” talking about your brand.

15. Utilize your Instagram Highlights in a professional manner. Highlights allow you to permanently showcase your best Instagram Stories on your profile, and in an organized fashion! Stories It’s also a great way for you to promote the content you want users to see first - since it’s one of the first things users will see on your Instagram profile. Fun tip: you can even create covers to make the previews match your Instagram profile’s aesthetic!

16. Don’t just be self-serving. Share relevant curated content (third-party content) across your social media networks. Establish your brand as a knowledge centre and an industry leader and support your peers!

17. Follow the trends! Use trending hashtags within your twitter and instagram posts. Sign up for our "Days of the Year" calendar, and never miss a trending day.

18. Use images. Whether your posting to Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter include an image with your copy. According to Buffer, posts with images are 39% more likely to get interactions.

19. Use a strong call to action. Ask a question or give direction to create engagement with your posts. Give your audience a reason to converse with you, start the conversation!

20. Know your audience! Use research and your own analytics to find out when is the best time for your brand to publish posts to social. Experiment, experiment, experiment!

Need more? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter AND Pinterest for endless social media tidbits. Have something you think we should have added to the list? Let's chat!

#socialmediamanagement #socialmediastrategy #facebook #twitter #linkedin #snapchat #pinterest #instagram #tips #socialmedia