As companies, we know that having a active social media platform is vital to getting the attention of new fans and followers. Building up our platform seems to mean having to be on Facebook, Twitter, G+ and LinkedIn 24/7 while still making sure to continue other more traditional marketing efforts. How can you make sure that the time spent and money invested in Social Media is making an impact?
Quality, not Quantity
We’ve all heard the saying “if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say it at all.” The same applies to social media. Don’t inundate your audience with posts that aren’t relevant to them or are boring just to get a post out that day. It’s better to not post than to post something that can disengage your audience. Effective social media follows the 80/20 rule. 80% of what you post on social media should be fun, uplifting and not self promotional. Only 20% of your posts can be about you. The whole point of social media is about being social and shouting “me, me, me” all the time is not social, it’s selfish.
Post at the Right Time
You’ve finished your new company blog post and it’s 5 pm. Time to post a link to the new blog all over your social accounts before you call it a day, right? Wrong. Unless the majority of your target audience is online at 5 pm, you’re wasting your post. Each social platform is different when it comes to the best time to post. For example, the best time for most people to post on Facebook is 11 am and 3 pm as the engagement level is the highest. Your audience may fit the norm or it may not, the best way to find out is to experiment with the times to post your content. The days and times that you get the most engagement are when you should be most active on that social platform. This takes some trial and error but when you find out what time works the best, stick to it.
Schedule Posts for Effective Time Management
Tools such as Hootsuite allow you to schedule your posts ahead of time. If you finished writing your new blog at 5 pm and your optimum time to post is 11 am, pop your post into Hootsuite, set the post for 11 am the next morning, then enjoy some well deserved rest without having to worry about having to post it yourself. It saves time because you can schedule one post across multiple social platforms. Remember, social media is still about being social so make sure to check and respond to comments. I highly recommend not fully relying on scheduling tools and making sure you're still staying social.
Monitor Google Analytics
If you don’t have Google Analytics set up on your blog or website, this is something that you need to set up right away. Google Analytics tracks visitors to your site and where they came from (such as which social platform). If you have analytics, there is a section that outlines social acquisition by network. This shows you how many visitors your site received each day from which platform. Plus, you can also see which page they landed on (the link that they clicked). Analyzing these numbers can show you which social network brings you the most traffic as well as which article or blog you posted got the most visits. This is essential information to help you focus on what is working the best to build your network up in the most time effective way possible. One of the most important things to look at is your bounce rate. A ‘bounce’ is when a visitor lands on your site and immediately leaves. The lower the bounce rate the better. How can you decrease your bounce rate when it comes to visits from social networks? Make sure your post description matches your link. We all want to get clever with our posts to get visits to our site but if your description and link are not relevant enough, you’ll get a high bounce rate.
One of my favorite ways to monitor posts is through Google's URL Builder. This tool allows you to track specific campaigns. Let's say you have a new event and you want to share it. Build it with this tool, changing campaign source (ie Facebook, Twitter, G+) and medium (post, ad, comment) for each post, while keeping campaign name (event name) the same. This is also a great way for anyone posting on behalf of companies to show how much return they are getting. I'll usually add my initials into one of the fields (usually medium) so I can pull a report on analytics showing exactly how many clicks I got on links I put out there. Pop new URL's into the Google URL Shortener if you want a cleaner appearance.
Make New Fans
You have great Facebook fans but if you keep sharing posts to those same fans day in and day out, they’ll get bored. Plus, if your fan base is still relatively small, you’re missing out on an opportunity to reach new people. Instead of using your time to post only on your own wall, find and join groups and communities on Facebook and G+. By sharing your posts with new people through these new groups, you’ll avoid boring your audience and you’ll gain new fans. A word of caution - there have been reports from a variety of sources that running campaigns to increase Facebook likes is ineffective because most of the likes you will get are fake. You may get more fans but do not expect greater engagement. Try to reach your fans in other ways rather than buying them through advertising.
Social media is one of the most exciting platforms for businesses of all size because it can connect you with those interested in your services. By using your time on social media effectively, you’ll get the most out of your network while still being able to keep your main focus on your writing.
Elizabeth Becker is the Marketing Manager at PROTECH. Looking for a new career in IT? Choose the experts in Technology Staffing and Recruiting.
[Image via Jim Benton]
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