Start Strong in Social Media
If you’re like a lot of furniture companies, you’ve put off starting social media accounts. Maybe you thought it was going to be a fad. Perhaps the prospect of starting and maintaining a presence just seems too big, or you’re not sure what you would contribute. That’s why the marketers here at Amber Engine have assembled a quick start guide to help your company engage with your audience fast.
3 Steps to Set Up Your Social Presence
1. Choose Your Network(s)
If the thought of social media seems overwhelming, take a deep breath and remember that you don’t have to be all things to all people at all places all the time. For a truly successful presence, choose one or two channels and manage them meticulously. Facebook is a wonderful top-of-funnel magnet simply because of its size, while LinkedIn is great for targeting professionals by job title. Instagram is a must for visually-driven brands, and Pinterest helps you help others with hands-on pursuits.
2. Build a Post Calendar
Use one calendar per social channel to outline your posts ahead of time. This saves you from feeling like you have nothing to say because it’s already planned out. Include the post copy, image, video and hashtags you want to use for simple copy/paste into your channel of choice or onto your scheduler. (More on schedulers later.)
An additional benefit – the social calendar allows you to review your topic cadence. Are you devoting too much time to one piece of business and completely ignoring another? Are you spending too much time selling and not enough time sharing? Try to see the collection objectively and make necessary adjustments prior to posting.
3. Engage
Engagement is the golden egg of the social media game. You want to encourage your community to ask questions, comment and share your material. And, when they do . . . respond! The idea is to create a space for conversation and relationship building with prospects and existing clients/customers. Just don’t forget to Like or Comment on other people’s posts. Engagement goes both ways.
Now that you have the basics, let’s talk about measurement. To know if your social media channels are performing, you must set goals and objectives that you can track – and, no, Likes aren’t a good metric to measure. A better goal would be to attract X number of new customers in a month. Or, to increase community engagement by 5% next month.
You can track performance on the in-app analytics area or on a software platform like Hootsuite, Sprout Social or Buffer. These networks offer the added benefit of scheduling posts, so you don’t have to do it manually. Just be careful to follow along to your scheduled topics carefully and turn off auto-posting during times of crisis, like Covid-19.
Use Social Media Tools
Several software platforms exist to make it easier to create attention-grabbing images and videos. With intuitive point-click-drag navigation, these powerhouse options include companies like:
· Canva and Crello are great options for smartly designed social media templates, including infographics. In addition to graphics and text, they offer a variety of pre-set filters to give your image (or your stock image) plenty of life. Depending on your social network of choice, you can even post directly from Canva to your account. Added bonus – both platforms offer templates for plenty of other business and marketing applications to ensure you’re putting your best foot forward across all fronts.
· PiktoChart is an amazing tool for compelling presentations you might want to share on LinkedIn in addition to other packaged “shows” when you need instant professionalism.
· VSCO is an outstanding editing download for photography and videography. Rich in stock imagery, it offers plenty of presets to ensure your images look professionally edited.
Helpful Hints
Use the 80/20 rule of social sales.
This means that only 2 of every 10 posts are actually sales-driven. The other 8 share thought leadership articles, funny memes, appropriate tips and ask questions to get to know your audience. This doesn’t mean that you can’t mention your company or your products – you’re just holding hard sales for 2 of each 10. That’s all!
Address issues quickly.
If your business is online, you will receive unflattering comments and complaints. After all, if someone perceives a flaw with your products or service, they will share negative feedback openly. Respond publicly with an apology and, if possible, a solution. In general, people most want to see that someone is listening and responding to customer issues. So, don’t be shy. Show up and participate to create a great reputation for your company.
Have a look around to see what you can learn.
See what the competition is doing and whether it’s working to drive comments and questions. Find inspiration from successful companies in other industries. Poke around for fun ideas that you’d like to try.
If all of this feels overwhelming, remember to stick to the 1,2,3 to get started. The rest will come in time. For now, the most important thing you can do is research the available social channels, figure out where the people are that you most need to reach, make a post and engage. If you try it and don’t like it or feel like it’s not a good use of your time, rest assured - outsourcing is available.
See the previous post in this series, Business Future Post Pandemic
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Alex Borzo
Writer at Amber Engine
A brand can only communicate with messaging behind it, and that's where Alex Borzo comes in. A digital content marketer with a decade of experience, Alex's expertise shines in the research and writing she does for dozens of clients. When she connected with Amber Engine, it was a natural fit—AE had ambitious plans to provide their audience with even more valuable content to win in ecommerce, and Alex's background working with SaaS innovators positioned her to jump right in. The result? Brands and distributors are now discovering AE and all the best tactics to get to Amazon and other online marketplaces in weeks instead of months.