Category Archives: smm

Helping you with Social Media Basics & Beyond

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Many individuals think they can “do social media” because they’ve been doing it for themselves personally for years. The fact is it’s different for business, and there are some basics that can help you on the right path. Things are constantly changing, and this is how I see it today.

Develop content in advance

There’s some time savings in not staring at your computer each day you set out to post, trying to figure out what it is you want to say. It’s also a way to be more strategic about what you’re posting. When creating your content it’s key to not only promote your organization and events you might be having, but to also promote other orgs.

Are their businesses or organizations that have a similar mission to yours? Are there individuals doing great work in the space you’re working in? Use their content in your posts. Also seek out their posts, and engage with them on their platforms. Let them know what they’re doing is awesome!

  • Put that content into a written plan of consistency using a tool like CoSchedule (coschedule.com) or PostPlanner. This will help you get an even spread of the different kinds of posts you’re sharing with the world.
  • Use a scheduling tool, like Buffer (better) or Hootsuite (fine), but don’t rely on it completely. It’s still important to mix in organic, active engagement with both YOUR account, and accounts you are following.

    Cross-promote content between platforms…

    But word the posts differently. I suggest writing for Facebook so that it’s natural and descriptive… and then pare it down for Twitter. 

    On Instagram there’s no real character limit, but most people aren’t there to read — they’re there primarily to see your images. Write a quick caption, and refer your followers to a link in your bio if you’re trying to drive them to register for an event, read a blog post, or donate money, etc. Also follow “thought leaders” in your industry who aren’t tied to a particular organization, but from whom you (and others) can learn.

    LIVE Video is hot hot hot.

    The videos don’t have to perfect, and they don’t have to be long, but Facebook is putting live video at the top of the feed and increasing the organic growth (that’s mostly gone away). If you “go live” directly in Facebook, your followers will be notified that you’ve gone live, and they are more likely to see the video. They might not see it live, but they are likely to see the replay.

    Special events are a great opportunity for this (create fear of missing out / FOMO for next time!), but your team / board can go live also at any time, so long as there is something of value to be shared! You should have a strategy, but have no fear because you have to start somewhere. Consider a weekly show at the same time each week… And just press RECORD.

    Good images are crucial.

    People aren’t very forgiving of images that aren’t appealing. This is important on all platforms, and especially important on Instagram. Your images should have a consistent look and feel. The algorithms on the platforms work based on people liking your content, and you’re likely to see more content similar to that which you’ve shown an interest (which means your account will be suggested to the “right” people also).

    Consistent voice is important.

    You might have different people writing your content, but it’s important that the “voice” sounds consistent. This can be accomplished by having the same person editing the calendar that ultimately goes out. You might also consider developing a style guide that everyone on your team follows, ensuring that the branding, verbiage, and look is consistent. Having consistent types of images is also important.

    Don’t be afraid to repeat content that does well.

    While you don’t want to always be “self-serving” when you post, you also don’t want to miss opportunities to promote the big events you have going like fundraisers or product launches. If you’re partnering with sponsors, this is a great opportunity to tag them and give them love for working with you! It’s also an opportunity to re-post evergreen content that has had a good response before.

    There’s no “one-size-fits-all” regarding frequency of posting.

    Even some of the experts disagree, but everyone agrees that it “all depends”! Your followers are different from the followers of other organizations, so you should test to see what times / types of posts get the best engagement. This might sound like a lot of work, but it’s worth it. If you post and no one engages, it’s not relevant, right?

    * Twitter tips: Use Tweriod.com to test best times to post for your followers (it works well with Buffer too). It also makes sense to use the hashtags appropriate for your industry to be found, but don’t use more than 2-3 in a single post.

    For example, in the events industry, use #eventprofs to make sure you’re seen/found by others in that space. In non-profit world, there are a bunch, but #socialimpact is a big one, and #givingtuesday is a good one also (more on hashtags in a minute!).

    * Facebook tips: Research has shown recently that posting more frequently will hurt, rather than help. More than likely you can get away with posting 4-5 times per week — just once per day. However, organic visibility is extremely difficult, so if you aren’t going to “pay to play,” you should have a tribe of people who are liking, commenting, and sharing what you’re posting! This helps increase the visibility (along with LIVE video posting).

    It is worth targeting VERY specifically in Facebook and spending a little bit of money to increase your reach. DO NOT use the boost button (even though they put it in your face all day long), but use the Ad manager instead. Within the manager you can get very specific on target demographics to maximize your spend (even at as little as $5 per day).

 

Pro TipHashtagging is an art – learn it.

You should develop appropriate hashtags, be consistent, and tweak/re-tool as you go. Use them somewhat sparingly in your initial post, but strategically. Figure out primary ones in your industry—use them, and experiment with others.

Some platforms “require” them, while others use them less liberally.

Facebook– You can search by hashtags, but it’s not done much here.
Twitter – Important here to be found – no more than 3 per post.
LinkedIn – Hardly used here, but they are searchable.
Instagram – Crucial to be found – used here religiously.

Some sites will tell you what’s trending…

In Conclusion

There’s no one right way to do things, but you will find the right way for your business or organization. Hopefully these tips and guidelines will help you to discover what works best for you. The tactics of how to use the different platforms will continue to change on a regular basis, but  you should be consistent with your strategy.

Need any help figuring out the right direction for your social media? Reach out to me, and I’ll see if we can help you with your strategy!

Ten Tips for Using Instagram for Business

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I had a young college student ask me for some tips on Instagram because her employer has asked her to take over their Instagram account, and she had only used it on a personal level. How we use Instagram absolutely depends on the product, service, audience, etc., but I really think these tips should help anyone who is just getting starting with a business account. They’re in no particular order!

1. Create a hashtag that you’ll use with every post that is reflective of your business–hashtags is one of the main ways your account will be found.

  • Keep in mind whether there are other locations or businesses that yours might be confused with, and use location as part of the hashtag. For example, there are several Harbor House restaurants around the world, so the San Diego restaurant uses both the #HarborHouse and #HarborHouseSD hashtags. The SD one reflects the location, but by also using the other, the restaurant also has a chance of being “found” by a larger group of people.
  • Search on hashtags using https://www.hashatit.com to see if the hashtag you want to use is already in use.

2. Look at what hashtags similar businesses, the competition, and industry are using—and use them also. 

  • Also use variations on the hashtags that are a bit more unique. Some are totally over-used, so it makes it harder for your posts to be seen. #SanDiego, for example is one of the most used hashtags (so popular people who aren’t in SD use it!). 
  • See what the “top Instagram hashtags” are: http://top-hashtags.com/instagram/ 

3. In your initial post* how many hashtags to use for “maximum impact” is different depending on which expert you listen to, but 5-11 seems to be the range. However, you can then add a comment with numerous other tags, and your post will still be found by all the tags attached to it.

  • This also makes your post more visually appealing to followers in their feed—there’s nothing worse than hashtag overload!
  • Use a notes app on your phone to store your most used hashtags so you don’t have to re-type them every time you post.
    * Instagram now “auto-completes” hashtags (& lists similar ones) as you enter them in the initial post (only – not in comments), so you can see how many times the tags are being used. 

4. Each time you log in to post, I recommend searching on your top hashtags first. This will show you posts your guests or customers might have posted of or about your business. 

  • Go through and like all of them, at a minimum—but make comments on as many of them as you can to show your appreciation. 
  • Repost the good images, and give the initial poster attribution. This gives you more content (“user generated content”), and people LOVE being highlighted for their photography! 
  • NOTE: Some people will include your location in their post (like a check-in), but haven’t used your hashtag, and you do NOT get notifications on those posts, so seek those out in the posts that have used both… it was a goldmine of content once I figured this out.

5. Good community / social media managers are also relationship-builders. In addition to liking posts using your hashtag, you should also be regularly following those people who you think are good, and who might be following your account also. 

  • Make sure to like a handful of posts by those you are following whenever you log in. 
  •  Also make comments on those posts you like—they should be genuine, though—so you don’t need to overdo it. 

6. What to post & how often? Visually appealing photos get the most activity, period. 

  • Colorful product photos, scenery… along with clever words—make your caption brief, and try to use your business hashtag within the sentence structure. 
  • Mix in some videos in your posts if it makes sense for your business—Instagram has them auto-play in the feed. 
  • Do not post a bunch of images all in-a-row because that’s the quickest way to get un-followed! How many will depend on your business–I typically post just one per day (5-6 days per week) for my client’s accounts.

7. Be sure to reply to every person who comments on your posts. 

  • Make your comments personal based on what they have written, and know that you have to use their handle in order for them to get a notification. 
  • To include their handle, swipe left on the comment, and click the arrow–this will add their handle w/o having to re-write it.
  • Many times people will just say “Great!” or post a thumbs-up emoji, and for them it’s okay to reply “Thanks” in one comment using all their handles. 

8. If you’ve noticed you made a mistake after you’ve posted, you can edit your post (yea!)—click the three little dots to the right of the heart and comment bubble, and click edit.

  • You cannot edit comments, so if you need to edit your own comment, you’ll need to delete it and re-write it. 
  • You do have the ability to delete comments that other people have made—occasionally people will spam your posts, so you can either report them (which will delete the comment) or simply delete.

9. The only “hot link” (clickable URL) you can have in Instagram is in your bio.

  • Normally you would want this to be a link to your Website or blog, but if you’re running a contest or have some information that’s particularly important (like a press release), you can always switch it up. 

10. Instagram provides the ability to simultaneously post to different social platforms—Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Flickr. 

  • Unfortunately, either the Twitter or Instagram engine gets confused… So, if you’re managing multiple accounts, that post can go to the wrong Twitter account! 
  • As a workaround, I recommend posting to Twitter separately — I copy the initial post after I write it, put it into the notepad file, copy out the additional hashtags in a comment, and then post it to Twitter. 
Of course, this isn’t everything, but hopefully it’s a good start as you get going with Instagram! And perhaps even you veterans learned something new? If you have any additional tips, I’d love to hear them in the comments, and perhaps I’ll use them in a future post.