New year, new you, new goals - we all tell ourselves we'll do better every time a new year begins. For some it may be going to the gym more, for others, it may be spending more time with family. But from a small business perspective, "be better at social media" could be one of yours.
More often than not when we talk to clients, they say that social media isn't on their list of priorities. Or they may even say that social media isn't their strong point and they don't know where they're going with it. Whether it's content that's not engaging or just finding the time to post, everyone has their own struggles. But we appreciate that not every small business has the funds nor resources to improve.
So, we've put together a few things you can do in an hour to improve your brands social media presence.
1. Be consistent
We get it, you want to make each profile stand out and be it's best. But there are some simple things that may have just missed the mark, but thankfully are easy to correct.
Ensuring you use the same profile image throughout helps people recognise your brand, and know that it's official. But it's also important to keep it relevant too. You don't want to have images of your family on your business profile if you work in the construction industry. I'm sorry to say it, but they're not relevant to what you do as a business.
Maintaining the same profile image across all your profiles helps people recognise you from the first instant they see you. It could be as simple or your logo, or something like a mascot. But they should link with your branding.
Leading on from this, you want to have your profile name as something relevant to what your business is called. This will make it easier for people to find you. For example, "roseblademedia" makes more sense than "roseblademediasouthwales" or even "marketingagencysouthwales".
Not only do the longer names look a bit messy, they don't necessarily say who we are, whereas our actual handle does just that.
2. Use your profile to it's full potential
Check all your profiles and if a field is empty - fill it.
Why? Because an empty space on a profile could give off an unprofessional or lazy image.
But don't just fill a box for the sake of filling a box, it should be relevant. Talk about:
- your business and what it offers;
- why should someone choose you?
- What sort of things should followers expect?
- Maybe even add a call-to-action (CTA)
3. Make sure everything works
If you have a link to your website or to another profile, make sure it works.
Typos happen. Unless you spot it, there could be potential traffic just dropping off because a link is broken. For example, roseblade.media works just fine, but if it was mistyped as roseblsde.media, this doesn't go anywhere and could mean we're missing out on important traffic.
If you're linking to external sites, be sure to check these regularly too. Things move!
4. Build links with yourself
This may sound odd, but link your profiles together.
If you have the option to add several website links, why not drop your other social media profiles in there too?
If there's only one website field (like on Instagram for example) use it to link through to your current promotion or offer, or your most recent blog post.
5. Check your images
There are 2 parts to this -
Firstly, check your own profiles, specifically the images used. Each platform has their own image sizes - the cover image on LinkedIn is different to the one on Twitter for example.
If everything is the right size, they will look neater and better fitted. By all means use the same image, but check that they fit neatly and sit well on your profile.
Secondly, check the images you're tagged in. The great thing about these platforms is someone can quite easily tag you in a photo, but the downside is those photos aren't necessarily good. Regularly check your tagged images and where possible untag yourself from the not so good ones.
To tie in with this, check that your tagging settings are all good too. Allowing others to tag you is great because it helps spread your name and expand your reach, so don't disable it completely. But there's nothing wrong with wanting to review things before they're published to your profile too.
6. Build trust
People buy people - a review can mean much more to someone than your latest offer.
Try and encourage your clients to leave reviews for you on your profiles as this helps build trust in your business.
If someone left a 5-star review on a business, would you consider them to be better than someone with 1 star, or even none at all?
This one does take longer than an hour to get on your profile (sorry), but just ask a few clients to leave a short review for you.
Hey John, it was awesome working on that last project. Our team were really excited to be working with you and we're delighted to hear you loved the finished product! Would you be able to spare a few minutes to leave us a short review please to let others know about your experience?
It doesn't have to be long, it doesn't have to involve competitions or prize giveaways for them (although that generally does encourage people), it just needs to be honest.
Where next?
If your profiles are in tip-top shape, focus on ensuring you're active on your profiles. Posting often shows you're still here and still going, plus, it helps spread awareness too.
