Managing social media as a small business owner isn’t easy – not only have you got all the management of your own business to do, but you’ve then got to try and keep up with posting content, engaging with followers, and figuring out what’s hot on the platform. If you fail to keep up, your followers will forget you exist, or the platform will stop organically sharing your content with potential customers.
So how do you make sure you’re doing all the right things without dedicating all your time to social media management? Here are 6 of our top dos and don’ts to help you stay on track.
6 Social Media Dos and Don’ts
- DO: set the right frequency. It doesn’t matter if the guru you follow says you should post 3 times a day, if you can’t keep up with that frequency for more than a few days at a time, or if the quality of your posts drops, then it’s not going to do any good. When deciding on the right frequency, choose one you can actually keep up with.
- DON’T: Mesh personal and business accounts. With so much talk about personal branding, it can be tempting to share just as many personal pictures and stories on your business account as you do on your personal. While there are certainly benefits to sharing some behind-the-scenes of your personal life, make sure you maintain a degree of separation.
- DO: Engage with your audience. Those early days of a social media account can feel like you’re shouting into a void, but once you start getting comments, you need to engage with them. Reply, like, and ask questions – this is your opportunity to build a relationship with your customers, so don’t lose it!
- DON’T: Engage with trolls. Or, more specifically, don’t give them as good as they’re giving. If you get someone in your comments trying to get a rise from you, either don’t engage with them at all or kill them with kindness. They want you to say something evocative, so avoid it at all costs.
- DO: Use compelling graphics. How fast do you scroll through social media? How fast do your kids? Most people aren’t pausing to read text, they’re looking for a graphic to capture their attention before they consider pausing to read the accompanying text. Make sure your pictures and graphics can grab the attention of your ideal customer.
- DO: Discuss current topics. Bringing up the latest political debate is not what we’re talking about here; you need to stay on top of what others in your industry are discussing on social media so you can have your say. For example, if you own a pet store and competitors and customers are discussing the smallest size for a betta fish tank, write a post or do a series sharing your expertise.
If you do all 6 of these dos and don’ts, you’ll be well on your way to maintaining successful business social media profiles. Of course, we know that this isn’t easy! Finding the time to keep your profiles up to date with engaging content is tough, so if you are finding it difficult to keep up with social media, consider hiring a professional to do it for you.
A professional social media manager makes planning and managing your social media stress-free, and you can free up your time to take care of managing your business (or enjoying your free time!). We manage social media for a range of businesses across the US, and we’d be happy to do the same for you – click here to learn more about our social media management services.
