If you want them to know your name in 2018, you’ve got to be rock solid with your marketing strategy–the digital kind, to be more specific. Tons of organizations maintain a fairly active presence on the garden variety of social media networks, but you'd be surprised to know how many of them are coming up short in the popularity game. Not all of them utilize venues like Facebook and Instagram to their maximum potential, nor do they fully harness the power of advertising that these web hubs are able to offer. Luckily, Codex is all about making strong connections with a diverse range of people and organizations all over the globe, and we like to think we’re quite good at it! For your convenience, we’ve gone ahead and created a list of some helpful social media Do’s and Don’ts that, if implemented properly, will help cultivate priceless relationships between you and your social fans. Take note!
It’s quite simple really: 80% of what you post on your brand's social media should consist of interesting and engaging content (videos, photos, memes, articles, etc.) that will be sure to excite users and spark conversation on the post or elsewhere on the page. Most users who follow your social accounts are following for specific reasons, so make sure to engage and connect with them on a regular basis. Do this by sharing with them unique photos, videos, content from
The remaining 20% of posts should contain sales pitches and brand awareness content, like notices of special offers, flash sales, discounts, contests, so on and so forth. It’s important not to inundate your audience with too many promotions, pitches, and number-heavy copy, however. These kinds of posts, like your creative content, should be exciting and innovative, and should only be deployed when appropriate—for example, if you’re having a sale on event tickets, make sure to clearly and actively promote the sale on your social media. If no such sale exists, don’t try and overcompensate by creating a misleading, pseudo-sales promo with your real goal being to drive traffic to your business. Engaging in tactics like these is a surefire way to earn a reputation of being sly and spammy, and you definitely do not want that for your organization! Stick to the 80:20 rule and you’ll be a favorite on social media in no time.
Unless you’re writing a series of blog posts where the sole intention is to be read like a book, get in the habit of writing short, concise, and creative copy for the majority of your posts. Right off the bat, social media users are drawn to bright, high-contrast images that depict action; big, chunky paragraphs, no matter how well written they might be, not so much. Remember this: You're only given so much space within a post before character limits truncate your copy from instant view (and sometimes even less space than that while in mobile format) so make sure to communicate your main idea or objective as soon as possible (this pertains to both
Posting different variations of content on different social media accounts, on different days of the week, and at different times can be an overwhelming endeavor, but it doesn't need to be! If you have not yet developed a brand guide for your business (the go-to manual for anything and everything having to do with your venture–
Whatever you decide to roll with, make sure that it is designed with your
Try your best not to spam your followers by
Pause before you post. Repeat this mantra 3 times over.
There is a fine line between being totally amazing and becoming absolutely annoying, and you must resist the urge to cross over to the dark side no matter how badly you want to post that really cool YouTube video or product teaser promo. Now don’t be afraid to throw a rogue post up here and there, outside of your normal social media activity hours, but make sure to use common sense when doing so and don’t be too persistent when trying to get people to engage with your content 24-7. Take things slow to start, execute smoothly, and if your content is good and you stay persistent, public intrigue will build naturally.
Don’t send out a post and then disappear, leaving it alone to do its thing. Doing this will open the door to all kinds of potential problems and slam it shut on any possible rewards, like spikes in user engagement and potential sales leads. You'll want to make sure that you monitor your posts, keeping a close eye on impressions, reach, and engagement, and learn the difference between these three metrics. This can be done by casually sifting through your posts here and there, facilitating user engagement, and on a more advanced (but equally important) scale, by running regular audits of your account activity via your social media
One of the most important elements of a building and maintaining a successful social media powerhouse is to directly engage with your followers. If a customer asks a question via a comment on a Facebook or an Instagram post, make sure to acknowledge that individual and even reply to their inquiry or concern. Even if a user posts a comment saying “I love this product,” or “great job on that event you hosted last Saturday” you should always make sure to acknowledge the interaction in a timely and professional manner, and reply back when possible and appropriate. By interacting with your fans on a regular basis, you will foster a
And because it’s also worth mentioning, you should never, ever ignore people who try and interact with you, unless things get really heated (i.e.
While social media plays an integral role in your organization’s success in the digital sector, it is only one part (albeit a big one) of the equation. Good social media etiquette goes a long way but must be used in conjunction with a properly integrated marketing strategy. Make sure to use these tactics religiously, but don’t be afraid to jump outside the box and try new things! Often times variations of proven strategies work rather well for certain social media accounts, and followers always like to see new and innovative content being pumped through their feeds. Just remember: Keep things interesting, remain relevant to your audience, and establish your brand as an informed player in the game that strives to deliver the best, most engaging content available in the social atmosphere today!
Happy posting!
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