Building your Business on Social Media Platforms
The Spotz Guide for Sellers
Building your Business on Social Media Platforms
Getting started with social media for your business can be intimidating: there are so many parts, that many people get too flustered, and don’t even start. Stop worrying – our guide will walk you through the basics of how to launch your business’ presence on these platforms.
First Off: Which platform is best for you?
The answer to this is simple: know your audience! All social media platforms have slightly different audiences, and so you should first focus on the audience that is most likely to engage with your product or service.
This is the biggest social media network in the world, and has a ton of information-sharing capacities. It’s the most popular starting point for a reason: Posting text, photos, integrating catalogues or polls is easy and (mostly) free. The large audience also allows for you to reach hug numbers of people, or to target smaller niche groups. However, if your target audience is under 30, you should also be using ‘younger’ platforms, like Instagram, or TikTok.
Facebook is an arena where you can engage with your customers, answering questions, creating contests – finding out exactly what your customers want, and figuring out ways to give that to them. This is the most important part of any social media presence, building relationships with the people who buy your products. Customers who feel heard will grow deeper connections to your brand – and will be more loyal customers in the future!
The photo album of social media is a really powerful resource when used well. If your product is visually striking, you definitely want to build a presence on Instagram, and fast! However, good advertising on Instagram should be less blatant than on other mediums. If you need lots of text or explanation, this might not be the best platform to start with.
Instagram offers some really great (free!) analytics options for business owners who set up a professional profile on Instagram, so this is HIGHLY recommended. You’ll be able to see which types of posts are working, and which can be improved. Use hashtags to find new customers interested in the ‘broad strokes’ of your product – more focused hashtags tend to work best. One easy way to build your following on Instagram is to follow creators of relevant content, and comment on or share their content – this will be seen by their followers, who may in turn choose to follow you as well!
Sharp, snappy bursts of text that provide great information to customers. If your brand is fast-paced, or information-based, Twitter is a MUST.
As we noted in our article ‘Taking Pictures that Sell’, photographs accompanying social media posts HAVE to be great photos – a bad photo will cause customers to scroll by even the best of posts or promotions. Make sure the lighting is good, the details are crisp and the best features are displayed!
Additionally, remember to post regularly. Social media pages that don’t regularly post new content tend to fade away, slowly losing followers rather than growing. It’s important to create a schedule of when you’ll be posting new content, and plan in advance. This way, you can consistently grow your audience.
Remember to include references to your social media pages on your website and e-mail signatures, as well as ‘real world’ locations – business cards, signs and flyers can have references to your pages.
Once you have a substantial amount of content, consider running a paid advertising campaign. This can be a great way of picking up new audiences that might have otherwise missed your content. At the end of the day, this is the point of social media – growing your business by growing your audience.
Now get out there and make some connections!
