Social media for business can be daunting when you're tasked with creating relevant, engaging posts that will draw your audience to your site. We all know the feeling of sitting in front of an empty Facebook post composer, not sure where to go next!
When you get stuck, use this checklist guide to keep your gears moving, and your leads flowing.
Rule #1 of social media for business is defining a specific target audience (alternatively, building your buyer personas). You're not trying to get EVERYONE'S attention, so don't make that your end goal. Aim to get the attention of your best buyers above all else.
Rule #2 of business-focused social media activity is creating & sharing interesting content that is valuable to your target audience. The content you share doesn't have to be created by you - in fact, research shows it's best to do a 10-4-1 split of social media content (10 pieces of other people's content, 4 of your blog posts, 1 of your premium offers).
Sharing content created by others demonstrates humility and a true desire to help your customers, not just promote your own content.
Rule #3 is consistency. Consistent updates, consistent sharing, consistent branding, consistent voice. You want your posts to be easily recognizable and unique. Use the checklist below to make sure you're posting frequently and consistently.
You don't have to be posting frequently on ALL of the networks below - if you're short on time, try to focus on the ones your buyer personas use (for example, manufacturing clients are extremely unlikely to be browsing Pinterest every night). The ones you do pick, however, should be handled with all of these best practices.
Below is information to act as a checklist with tips for the following social networks:
Additionally, we've included some general tips and guidelines to ensure success across all social media platforms.
⬜ Identify the problems that they might be having, and be mindful of your products / services that could solve their problems. This is a good way to decide where to begin with content production.
⬜ Outline commonly asked questions, and brainstorm ways you could utilize social media platforms to answer those questions.
⬜ Create informative content to share.⬜ Post your created resources to Facebook AT LEAST weekly.
⬜ Promote these posts using the boost tool on Facebook to expand the reach.
⬜ Tag relevant people and pages in third party posts to expand reach and grow a network.
⬜ Use the events tool in Facebook to promote company events and encourage attendance.
⬜ Engage with the audience in a timely manner when they comment on your posts.
⬜ End posts with a question to help increase the likelihood of engagement.
⬜ Optimize your Twitter bio utilizing relevant industry hashtags to be seen by members of your industry exploring Twitter.
⬜ Use videos and graphics frequently to capture your audience's attention.
⬜ Retweet posts from industry thought leaders and your followers. Be sure to quote tweet when you can add something valuable to the conversation!
⬜ Use hashtags provided for industry events, like trade shows.
⬜ Use tools like Twitter polls to increase engagement.
⬜ Include a clear call-to-action when posting resources from your company site.
⬜ Monitor your mentions, responding when helpful to encourage engagement.
⬜ Establish LinkedIn profiles for your business and important thought leaders at your company. Have individuals share company resources to their personal networks.
⬜ Connect with prospects as a means of social selling.
⬜ Re-purpose your blogs on LinkedIn's native publishing tools.
⬜ Research and utilize relevant industry hashtags to join the conversation.
⬜ Film informational, informal 1:1 videos to share information.
⬜ Follow 2-3 new boards weekly in your industry to find content to re-purpose / share for your audience across multiple platforms.
⬜ Add infographics, videos, and images to your company's board weekly.
⬜ Link all pins back to content that is native on your website.
⬜ Optimize your Instagram bio to include relevant industry hashtags.
⬜ Use relevant hashtags on each post.
⬜ Share posts from thought leaders in your industry on your page's story.
⬜ Post branded graphics to stand out in the feed.
⬜ Utilize video when / wherever possible.
⬜ Showcase your company's brand identity and culture through fun posts.
⬜ Share written resources on your site with tools like Linktree.
Social media will only grow in usefulness for business as we continue to integrate the Internet into our daily lives. Expect to see the Internet of Things have an impact on social media for business - especially the Industrial Internet of Things for manufacturers.
Don't neglect your social media presence. If you don't currently have profiles on the first four networks listed here, you're lagging behind. Now's the time to catch up; it'll just get more difficult later on.
For more information on social media for business, check out this page. For more effective online marketing tips, download these free 30 Greatest Lead Generation Tips.
Editor's Note: This blog post was originally published May 27, 2016 and was updated on October 3, 2019 to reflect additional insight and resources.