With so much competition out there, it’s important that you have a solid social media strategy in place. It has been estimated that 70% of the US population is at least somewhat active on social media, making it a great marketing tool for your business if utilized the right way. Here are some basic do’s and don’ts when it comes to building your social media presence.

DO

Engage your Audience
You don’t want your customers to feel like they’re interacting with a blank void or computer. In a survey, 90% of consumers said they’ve used social media in some way to communicate with a brand, so it’s important to respond to comments, questions, and messages as soon as you can. If you receive critical feedback, don’t ignore or delete it, but try to move it to a private message so you can resolve it one on one. It has been estimated that businesses exchange nearly 8 billion Facebook messages with customers, making it an extremely important avenue for customer service. If you get tagged or mentioned in a positive post, like and/or share it!

Build a Consistent Brand
While you may use different strategies across different platforms, you need to make sure that you use a similar voice and brand. This doesn’t mean you need to post the exact same thing word for word on every outlet, as different mediums work for different channels, but there should definitely be a flow or similarity between them. This means, if one social channel uses a more conversational voice, the other shouldn’t be technical. For example, compare these two different posts:

1. 1.) When photons from the sun hit semiconducting materials such as silicon, electrons are knocked free from their atoms. If conductors are attached to the positive and negative sides of a solar cell, it forms an electrical circuit. When electrons flow through such a circuit, they generate electricity, powering electrical devices or sending electricity to the grid. (Source: US SunPower)
2. 2.) When energy particles from the sun hit the surface of a solar panel, electrons are knocked free from the atoms. If the panel is connected to a conductor, it creates a circuit which results in electricity, powering the connected devices or grid.

Assuming a potential customer has no knowledge of how a solar panel works, which do you think they will respond to more?

Be Creative
A social media strategy that works for someone else may not work for you. Be willing to try new things and see what your audience responds to the most. The more creativity you try to implement, the more likely your content is to be shared by other people. Find your niche when it comes to the content you’re sharing. What seems to resonate most with your audience? Build on that once you find it in order to stand out from the competition. According to AdWeek, content shared by a person is 83% more likely to be trusted when compared to the same information shared by the brand. This means that the more your content is shared, the more people you’ll potentially be able to convert into customers.

DON’T

Overextend Yourself
There are so many social media channels out there, but they may not all be a good fit for you and your business. Determining who your customers are and what platforms they are using can help you make a plan on the best places to allocate your resources. For example, if most of your customers average between the ages of 35 and 50, building a presence on a platform where the average user is between the ages of 18 and 25 may not be the best use of your time because while you may get likes or shares, that won’t translate into booked jobs. On average, 91% of brands only have two social media channels, so quality over quantity is a good thing to keep in mind.

Post Too Much
While it’s important to post regularly, overposting can bombard a person’s feed and cause them to unfollow you, losing that connection. It has been shown that Facebook pages with less than 10,000 followers actually receive 60% fewer clicks the more often they post. On average, you should be posting to Facebook at least three times per week, but no more than once per day. For Instagram, at least once per day, but no more than three. Twitter has a little more flexibility, but you should make sure whatever you’re tweeting/retweeting is quality content.

Overpromote to Audience
While social media is a great marketing/sales tool, you shouldn’t constantly be trying to sell your products or services. In general, about 80% of your posts should focus on helping or educating your audience, while the other 20% can be directly about making a sale.