How to engage social media followers

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Many small and medium businesses struggle with social media. All too often, their profiles are ghost towns. No one comments, shares or even seems to care about what you’re posting. You probably think this whole social media thing is a waste of time.

While it’s true social media has a learning curve, many businesses do find success with it. Take Hershey’s or Netflix for example. Both businesses regularly get hundreds of Likes for each of their posts. Those are big business, though, right? Small business don’t stand a chance…

Well, let’s examine the Facebook page of Johnny Cupcakes, a clothing company that sells cupcake themed t-shirts. While this small business has less than 10 employees, they also have over a hundred thousand followers. What’s more, they also regularly get Likes in the 100+ range.

So now that you see small businesses can succeed in social media, I invite you to examine your strategy in a different light: in a way that’s customer focused, adds value to your followers’ lives, and emphasises engagement over sales. Just like in all marketing, engagement leads to business. When you focus on building the relationship, the sales will come in time.

So to get a better understanding of how to improve your social media updates, let’s look at three prominent networks, starting with the granddaddy of them all…

Facebook

With Facebook, there’s a lot of ground to cover. So let’s simply cover 4 specific areas that are important to your success.

Varieties of posts – A common misstep many businesses make is to only share links, which traditionally produce the worst results on Facebook. With that said, you should not eliminate them completely (especially since they’re making a slight comeback in terms of News Feed reach), but instead use them as part of a posting strategy that includes videos, images, links and even Facebook Live streams.
Get off-topic -This may seem a bit counterintuitive, but it’s good to post updates slightly off-topic. For example, if you’re a meditation teacher, not all of your posts should be about meditation. Remember, you’re in the personal development field, which means you can post on topics within that field such as self-development, goal setting, and motivation. If you focus solely on the specific service your business offers, whether it’s meditation or IT repair, fans will quickly become bored.
Utilize Facebook Insights – Did you know you can find out what time your fans are online? Facebook Insights will tell you. Simply go to your Facebook business page and click on Insights > Posts. This will reveal a graphic that tells you what time the majority of your fans are online. Once you know this, schedule your posts appropriately to maximize engagement.
Cover photo – In addition to posts, it’s also important to have a professional cover photo. Having one legitimizes your brand and ensures customers will take you seriously. A couple ideas for your cover photo include a picture of yourself, an image of your product or service, or a special deal you’re offering. Whatever image you choose, be sure that the image is high quality and follows Facebook’s best practices.

Instagram

As we all know, Instagram is all about images. And like Facebook, Instagram is a fun social network, meaning you can be a bit more casual. If your business offers a visual product—like us at Asia Media Studio—then success on Instagram can come rapidly. Posting bold, beautiful images are one way to quickly grow a following. But if your business doesn’t specialize in visuals, what can you do?

Well, you can still post images of your products, but we highly suggest adding personal images as well. Post images of your employees, yourself at a conference, or photos from a staff outing. Use the mindset that you’re giving followers a behind-the-scenes look at your company, which is almost always a hit, as it personalizes your brand.

LinkedIn

People are on LinkedIn to network with other professionals, find jobs and share career related milestones. And because of this, your posts should be professional…mostly. Share valuable articles or photos of your completed projects, but also consider sharing personal images as well. While personal images on LinkedIn are frowned upon by some, I challenge you to observe the most viral posts on LinkedIn. If you do, you’ll notice that more than 50% of these posts include a personal image and a story of a person overcoming a challenge. The point is, it’s more than okay to be personal—but keep your post framed in a business mindset.

We at Asia Media wish you the best in your social media endeavors. If you’re ever in need of a professional cover photo for Facebook, LinkedIn or another social network, we are happy to help. Email us today at info@asiamediastudio.com.