This Simple Checklist Will Keep Your Business Growth On Track
Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Instagram. Social Media has become an integral part of brands and their digital presence, and for good reason. Customers are looking online more and more to connect on a deeper level with businesses and share their opinions, reviews and get updates.
As a result, companies are flocking to multiple platforms and outlets for their share of the profits, but most are making costly missteps along the way. Here’s an essential checklist to ensure that your business stays on track with it’s social media presence, and reaps all the rewards it can!
- Post Regular Content: Social media never sleeps and your content shouldn’t either. Not posting regularly is one of the biggest missed opportunities most businesses make. New content on a daily basis not only shows your audience that you are active and committed to your social media presence, but also makes you much more attractive and trustworthy to new (and potential) followers and customers. So get out there and get your business talking, the conversation pays off.
- Don’t be selfish: Share. It’s not enough to simply post links to your website. Content on social media should be interesting and engaging, and oftentimes this means sharing insight from unrelated third party sources. There are so many great sources and articles just waiting to link to, and it makes your brand seem super current.
It’s also important to involve your audience by getting them to share, comment, like, RT (retweet, for you newbies), and communicate with you. Ask them questions, have them caption interesting photos, or get them to like a funny post. These simple calls to action will allow your audience to see that you value their input and they will be more likely to engage with your brand and spread the word.
- Proof Read and Stay Organized: Take a page out of your third grade English teacher’s handbook and proof the content before it’s published. Nothing’s more embarrassing than a misspelled word as it damages your credibility and is a turn-off to most customers. Usually, mistakes are made by rushing, so avoid that morning scramble to post something (anything!) on your platforms by maintaining a clear and organized calendar.
Mark your regular content, campaigns and promotions as well as what’s being posted where. Update your calendar weekly with new ideas, drafts of posts, and campaign ideas. Adding order will provide a sense of calm to your social media management and help you avoid any embarrassing snafu’s.
- Monitor Feedback: One of the biggest areas of complaints and poor reviews for businesses comes directly from social media itself, so it’s important that your company monitor its mentions. As many as 56% of customer tweets are ignored, so make sure this monitoring is done daily and that there is some form of positive engagement.
If you find an unhappy customer, ask them what can be done to resolve the issue. Quick action can easily resolve poor customer feedback and help change their low opinion of a brand into a great one.
- Build Up Your Likes and Followers: Not very popular? Building up your followers and fan base doesn’t just happen by accident. It takes work and wonderful, engaging, specific content. Devote time to building your social media presences by connecting with brand advocates, influencers and relevant industry thought leaders.
Retweet and follow, share content, start conversations and respond to comments. Developing these connections will help increase loyalty to your brand, improve reach, and make you more, well, popular.
By staying active, interesting and getting organized, your social media will connect better with it’s customers, engage them, turn their opinions, and get them into advocates. Which is, after all, what good #socialmedia is all about.
