Tips for Livening Up Your Social Media

Saying that social media has skyrocketed in popularity is the understatement to end all understatements. According to Pew Research Center, 76% of all American adults with internet access were using social media as of July 2015. This means it should be a significant part of your marketing plan. But there’s more to reaching the social network crowd than simply making regular posts. If you’re stuck in a rut on low engagement and ho-hum content, here are a few social media marketing tips to help you kick things up a notch.

• Get engaged in current trends. As long as you avoid getting overly edgy or offensive, it can be fun and customer-attracting to participate in the latest viral topics, like posting your staff’s vote of who thought that infamous dress was blue/black and who thought it was white/gold, or getting involved with theme days like Throwback Thursdays by posting a fun photo from years ago.
• Share others’ material (selectively). Don’t limit yourself to only the content you Try sharing interesting articles from other organizations about topics your audience may enjoy. But a word of wisdom: read everything before sharing it and make sure it aligns with your business branding.
• Have fun with hashtags. Keep up with trending hashtags and try out some fun ones to see which will get the most engagement from your audience, like #HealthTip or #FunFact. Be careful about going overboard, though. It’s generally best to limit each post to two hashtags at most.
• Ask for audience input. People enjoy being involved in the conversation, so try directly speaking to them by asking for their opinions. Or, you could even try a contest or a giveaway. For instance, if you’re a med spa, try something like, “What’s your favorite skin treatment? Post your answer in a comment below to be entered into a drawing for a $20 gift certificate!”
• Make your posts visually attractive. Include attention-grabbing photos in as many of your posts as possible. Another visual element which can draw in a lot of consumers is an infographic, like a chart or graph or a collection of several pieces of information in one picture. These can be time-consuming to create, but our graphic design specialists can make customized and high-quality designs for you instead. If you share an infographic someone else created, make sure you give credit appropriately.
• Mix it up. Remember, many of the people who follow your social media page will see your posts every day, so the key to keeping them interested is variety. Steer away from using too many posts which sound like sales pitches.
• Consider paid advertising. There’s a reason so many companies invest in paid promotions on social media – because they work. Try a few different methods, like Twitter ads or boosted Facebook posts, but be selective. Don’t pump your entire marketing budget into social media (or any other single strategy, for that matter).
• Track, track, and track some more! Every audience is different and your social media followers may respond to entirely different types of posts than those who follow some of your competitors. Use data like Facebook Insights to see which posts perform particularly well, what posting times work best, etc., and keep revising your strategy as needed. But remember, variety is still important, so don’t restrict yourself to the one or two highest-performing types of web content.

In the midst of breathing a little lift into your social media campaigns, just remember to stay true to your brand along the way. If you’re a company who focuses on a warm, professional, and soothing image while catering to senior citizens, it would seem a bit out of place to post about how your newest services is “the bomb.com.” To discuss how our team of experts at McCauley Marketing Services can combine the latest trends, time-tested strategies, market expertise, and your unique brand to really make your social media work for you, give us a call to schedule a meeting. Or, for more helpful tips, follow McCauley Marketing Services on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.