Social media has become a regular part of our everyday lives and the best way for brands to reach the public. By leveraging social media platforms effectively, brands can spread the word, cultivate loyal customers and continue to engage with them. Below are some effective tips for the three main platforms to keep in mind when creating a social media plan.
Facebook has long been the most popular social media platform for adults. According to Pew Research’s 2021 data, 70% of adults between the ages 18-29 are on Facebook, along with 77% of adults between 30-49 and 73% of adults between 50-64.
When wanting to reach the vast majority of adults on social media, Facebook is the place to go. According to Facebook, 2/3 of users across all countries have visited a local business page at least once a week.
Effective Tips for Using Facebook
When posting to Facebook, it is best to curate a mix of posts to keep audiences engaged. According to Hootsuite, adopting the 80-20 Rule, meaning 80% of posts inform, educate or entertain and 20% are promotion, will keep your target audiences interested.
Your audience won’t be interested in a promotion unless they already feel your brand provides value. Keep your followers engaged through interesting content and stories, personal interactions and brand promotion. By adopting all three types of posts into your plan, your target audience will feel more connected.
Be sure to use high-quality images and video as well when posting to Facebook. Similar to what you would do on Instagram, you want your posts to stand out from those of the average user so your followers will view your brand as professional.
Every day, hundreds of millions of tweets are posted and read by the diverse communities on Twitter. With such an active platform and wide reach, Twitter makes it easy for brands to bridge the gap between the business and the customers.
While Twitter might not be the most popular social media platform among U.S. adults, Twitter users are generally younger. According to Pew Research 2021 data, 42% of U.S. adults between 18-29 are on Twitter.
Effective Tips for Using Twitter
Twitter can simplify sentiment analysis. You can easily gauge who is talking about your brand and what they’re saying by simply typing the brand name or brand-specific hashtag in the search bar. It is a quick and easy way to test the customers’ temperature.
Because of Twitter’s link preview feature, promoting your site or new content is made easy without the need for creating additional graphics for the post. Just a few snappy sentences (thanks to their short character limit), hashtags and a link can direct traffic towards your website or other content without much additional effort on your part.
Twitter is also useful for connecting with customers. While many use Twitter to engage with customers and establish a rapport, Twitter can also play a critical role in a brand’s customer service plan.
According to Sprout Social, you can quickly and easily respond to customer questions and issues by regularly monitoring your brand mentions. And for the more complicated issues or issues involving private information, you can quickly respond to a tweet directing the user to the support team.
Instagram is an image and video-based social media platform with a massive reach. Millions of users scroll through, post and engage with others on the platform. Because the app is focused on the visual, it is an essential application for businesses in artistic, beauty and other visual-based industries.
According to Pew Research, when trying to reach the young adult demographic on a social media platform, Instagram is the place to go, with 71% of U.S. adults between 18-29 using the app. In addition to reaching a younger crowd, Instagram is ideal for connecting with other businesses within the industry since it is an all-around popular social media platform.
Effective Tips for Using Instagram
One of the most important principles to keep in mind when running an Instagram account is curating your posts. Instagram profiles are made up of pictures and videos that tell a visual story when viewing the posts in grid view. By establishing a visual aesthetic, your profile should tell a story about who you are as a brand.
According to Buffer, Instagram’s algorithm heavily relies on user engagement. So, accounts need to post regularly to give their followers more opportunities to engage with their posts. The same rule can apply to other social media platforms. Often, the key is consistency.
Similar to Twitter, leveraging hashtags on Instagram is vital to reaching the masses. Without hashtags, people who don’t follow your account may never hear of you. By leveraging relevant hashtags, you improve your chances of showing up on users’ radars.
Using Social Media Platforms
Social media has become a crucial piece to any marketing plan; however, it can still be confusing for many despite its popularity. With social media platforms flooded by users and businesses, getting noticed can be difficult.
Despite the competition, the key to using social media platforms effectively is part picking the right one for your target audience and part using the platform’s capabilities to your advantage.
While it can be tempting to adopt all platforms into your plan, the best course of action is to use the few that promote your brand the best and pour the time and resources necessary to create consistent, high-quality posts.
Contact Wordsmyth Creative Content Marketing today for help with your social media needs.