What are social media best practices you should be adopting?

Did you know that there is a right way as well as  a wrong way to “do” social media for your company? Most of the time, it actually comes down to the content that you’re posting. Writing social media content is about more than promotional posts with your latest products and advertisements.

Rules Of Engagement: Pay More Attention To Your Audience

It can be super easy to get lost in the content-generating machine where you just post content regardless of if people are engaged or not. Some individuals might say that having some presence on social media is better than not having any at all. However, what is the point in making use of a digital marketing channel if you aren’t going to use it to connect with your audience?

Listen to what they have to say. If they aren’t saying anything, then you need to find ways to adjust what you’re saying in order to encourage dialogue. Your emphasis should be on adding value for your audience in everything that you post on social media.

Learn To Use Hashtags

There are many individuals who still don’t understand what hashtags are and that they assist you with tracking conversations and, in some cases, dialogue about your brand and specific initiatives.

The key is finding the hashtags that make sense in your industry and focusing on joining the dialogue that way. Once you start to build a following of your own, you might consider introducing new hashtags so that other people can engage directly in your conversations.

Write For Different Platforms

Using the same content across all platforms might seem like you are being more efficient but that is misguided. If you can’t handle managing all platforms, hire someone or cut back.

You won’t be penalised for only taking on what you can handle but your audience might not engage with you on all channels if they are just getting the same content across the board. Each platform should have a specific purpose, and the tone you use might not match across all platforms. Plus, the length and timing could also vary.

Avoid Passive Voice

Don’t live in the past. Make sure that you live in the now. The action that you take can be described in a way which is either “passive” or “active”:

• Active voice is a straightforward manner of describing the actions that you took: “I did this.”
• Passive voice uses a third party or an unknown agent in order to perform the action. “This was done.” Passive voice tones down the impressiveness of your accomplishments.

Use A Clear Call to Action

The call to action is a vital element on a webpage. It acts as a signpost which lets the user know what to do next. Without a clear Call to Action (CTA), the user may not realise what are the next steps to take in order to purchase a product or sign up for a newsletter. They are likely to leave the site without accomplishing their task.

A CTA makes it clear what action has to be taken next. In addition, it helps to remove friction in moving the user down the sales funnel. There can also be a number of calls to action on a webpage if there are multiple actions that you want the user to take.

For instance, if a reader lands on a blog article and there is no clear CTA at the bottom of the article, it is quite possible that the reader will leave the site without doing any other than reading the article. However, if a CTA can be seen at the end of the post requesting them to read more articles – or to sign-up for an e-mail newsletter – that can encourage them to continue interacting with the website.

Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing

Want to discover more about social media best practices so that you can take your business to the next level? If you do, then you should do our Social Media Marketing Online Course.