Social media; don’t know where to start? What platforms to be on? We’ve got some hints and tips to help.
Social media has become a huge part of business. Whether you are an owner of a small or large business in Northern Ireland, social media will have an impact on how you choose to operate, especially with the impact of COVID, which forced more people into online shopping than ever before.
Choosing what channel/channels to be on
As a business owner it can be daunting to put your business onto a platform you aren’t too familiar with so here are a few questions to help you make an informed decision:
Know your target audience
Learn what platforms they are on
What platforms are you on yourself?
Can your business be adapted across all platforms or is better for it to be tailor around one?
What works for both you and your business?
(if you want to go into more detail on this, check out our blog post on Choosing Social Media Channels).
Creating engaging content
The ultimate goal of social media is to build a relationship with your followers to turn them into customers, or even better, organic brand ambassadors. To do this, you need content that is engaging and adds value.
Try a few posts and take note of what your audience like best. This can be tracked by looking at the ‘engagements’ that appear when you post on your digital platforms. From this you can see what posts are engaging your audience and those that aren’t doing so well. Using data to make digital marketing decisions is a smart move.
Use a mix of pictures, videos and graphics and see what works best for you and your business. Try stories and reels on Instagram as well as posts.
Golden Rule
Respond to your comments and thank people for sharing your content, especially when you are starting out. Building that connection is so, so important.
Some tools to help you
There are some tools you can use to help with keeping track of your digital content for social media/marketing:
Canva- this can used to make graphics, videos and size images for your posts. You can even upload your brand colours to make sure all your creations stay on brand. Canva also has a post scheduling tool so you can plan your posts in advance.
Facebook business manager- this allows you to analyse recent posts through the insights in terms of trends and audience It also shows recent updates that have occurred on your pages i.e. comments, and it allows for posts to be schedule ahead of time. Perfect if you want to bulk upload posts in advance and look after your Facebook and Instagram pages from one place.
About the author:
This is a guest blog written by marketing student, Meghan Mclaughlin. Megan is in her final year at Ulster University and has been creating some great, engaging content for Ivyhill Digital over the summer months.
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