Do we all spend hours a day on social media? Yes. But does that translate to effectively running a business account? Not necessarily. We caught up with digital account manager Georgia Gazette to learn these five rules to live by on your way to becoming your company’s next social media guru.
1. Facebook boosts vs. Facebook ads
A frequent gospel of ours is the difference between Facebook ads and Facebook boosts. While Facebook boosts allow you to put a little extra money toward a specific post, Facebook ads run off a completely separate dashboard within Facebook called “Ads Manager.” In Ads Manager, you can create custom targeted campaigns, pace your monthly ad spend, control ad placements, create lookalike audiences, track conversions and schedule the times your ad appears — all things that are not controlled by a boost. In short, you follow your buyer’s journey more closely, and therefore can bring them what they need when they need it.
2. Likes aren’t everything.
As some of you may have heard, Instagram is rolling back likes. Dismayed teens and influencers alike are having to bite the popularity bullet. And honestly, likes aren’t doing a whole lot for your business. It’s not so much about likes and comments as it is qualified leads and, as you can imagine, comments from online trolls don’t always equate to a conversion or sale. Instead of focusing on how to get more likes, focus on building a consistent presence.
3. Post the good stuff.
Part of building presence means giving the kind of information your audience wants. Ask yourself: Why is my audience following me? Is it for a cliche, “Happy *insert holiday of choice here,*” or is it for unique, behind-the-scenes content? Social media is a space to share a common viewpoint, create an experience and show your personality. It’s a great way to interact and network with your customers rather than constantly trying to sell them. You’ve gotten them this far, now is the time to build consistency and trust by talking to them rather than at them.
4. Story-telling in 24 hours
Posting Stories on Facebook or Instagram can be a great way to get out blurbs or time-sensitive information without cluttering your timeline or annoying customers with an overactive feed. It’s also a great space to experiment with video marketing. Here you can create videos telling consumers who you are, performing product/service demos, providing customer testimonials and spreading awareness of events. Make sure to hit your key information succinctly and with a bit of gusto. Pro tip: Keep these under a minute.
5 Getting out of your comfort zone.
Just because you love Facebook doesn’t mean that’s where your customers are. You might be surprised to learn about the platforms your specific audience engages with the most, so don’t put yourself in a box by only being in one space. Explore other areas such as Youtube, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn to see where your audience best gets to you. Exploring your options and creating different “test tube” marketing is going to be the best way to find your sweet spot. So don’t be afraid to try videos, check into Ad Manager and scroll through Tik Tok for the first time. A healthy dose of trial and error is where you find the most success.
Georgia Gazette is a digital account executive for local website design and digital marketing agency FLEX360, a member of the Arkansas Business Publishing Group family.
