Having a strong Internet presence is essential for businesses of any size in order to promote their products or services, find new customers, and compete successfully within their industries. A big part of your company’s Internet presence will be your social media participation. Using social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and others can go a long way toward building your brand.
Reach Out to Customers
Using social media is a great way to interact and reach out to the people who buy your products or services. Most people will ‘follow’ or ‘friend’ a business whose products or services they have used and enjoyed. By posting your promotions, information about your business, or upcoming releases of new products, you will keep your current clients informed while attracting attention from potential new customers.
Many of your customers may post questions or comments on your social media accounts. If appropriate, you should always respond to your followers by answering their questions or responding to their comments. Always make sure to be professional when responding to your customer base in order not to offend anyone, but also because anyone who has followed or friended your account, including your competitors, can read your responses.
Update Frequently
While you shouldn’t post every movement you make on social media, you do want to post frequently enough to help maintain awareness of your brand. Usually, one post a day on Facebook will be adequate for most small businesses. You should try to post, or tweet, on Twitter about three times a day. However, space out your tweets so people who may not be looking at their accounts during the day will see your tweet in the evening.
Be careful about posting too frequently, as that can annoy those who are following your account. In fact, one of the main reasons that people will stop following a brand’s social media account is because they post too much. If you do not have time to post yourself, hire a company who helps with social media strategies, such as the HubGroup advertising agency.
Content to Post
There are many forms of content that you can post to your social media accounts, but the type you use will depend on where it is being posted. As you are limited to messages of 140 characters on Twitter, you should post a short introduction and the link to the content on your company’s website. You have a bit more freedom on Facebook because you can post a longer message, or add a video, an image, or a link to your blog.
You should strive to create shareable content, which is content that informs your audience about your products, services, or business, to post on your social media accounts. It helps attract attention to your brand and can help you find new customers because if your followers like the content, they will share it with others. Developing a strong social media presence is one of the best ways to effectively build your company’s brand.