Best Practices: Social Media

How often you post to social media depends on the platform, the target audience, your content, and strategic goals.

There’s no exact formula that will guarantee social media success, but these suggestions can strengthen your online presence.

A Guide to Social Media Platforms

1. Facebook: 1 to 2 posts per day. Facebook is a great place to start. You can post links to articles and blog posts, plus images, videos, and testimonials. It’s also a great platform for interacting with leads.
2. Twitter: 3 to 5 posts per day. Twitter keeps users in the loop with breaking news and updates. But the sheer volume of daily tweets your audience encounters means your posts could get overlooked. And most retweets occur within an hour of posting. Use this platform for company or industry updates.
3. LinkedIn: 1 post per day. Keep these posts strictly business-related. Use LinkedIn’s connection-building atmosphere to scout talent, share tips related to your industry, or post company news.
4. Instagram: 1 to 2 posts per day. Instagram is all about images, videos, and live streaming. While you have the option to include written captions, your audience is there to see visually engaging posts.

Tips for Starting – or Starting Over – on Social Media

You won’t know if your social media efforts are effective if you can’t measure them or compare them to a standard. So, start by creating a strategy with goals that make sense for your business. Your plan should address questions like these:

• What do we want our social media content to achieve? Generate revenue? Drive traffic to our website? Grow the number of our followers?
• What’s the timeline for meeting those specific goals? Six months? One year?
• Are we willing to spend money to boost posts and increase exposure to our content?
• What types of messages do we want to present?
• Which products or services, if any, will we promote in this channel?
• Who would benefit from this information?
• Why should someone read our social media posts? What type of value are we delivering?
• Should our page educate? Entertain? Inspire action unrelated to our brand, such as supporting social causes?

You want your audience to get in the habit of engaging with your posts, so post regularly.

To reinforce your message, create content within a range of messaging that’s appropriate for your brand. If pictures of kitties have nothing to do with your brand or goals, don’t post them.

And remember: don’t waste your audience’s time. Give them value with each post.

Being Social on Social Media

It’s called social media for a reason. Use your presence on social media platforms to interact with your audience. Like and reply to comments, answer questions, and use direct messaging. Social media posts help create transparency, especially if you post your company’s service reviews.

TouchStone can optimize your social media content. Email Steve Evert or call 419-724-7311.