Setting Up Your Social Media For Success

Social Media Marketing – Walk Before You Run

In business as in life, we are often being told: “Walk before you run”.

There is a stage when a business first builds a website or sets up their social media accounts. Many people launch into their social media marketing or content marketing wholeheartedly. They plunge ahead with great enthusiasm not considering the benefits of a more methodical approach.

At the beginning, people often add content frequently. They spray posts all over the internet thinking that it will draw in customers. But this can often be extremely inefficient and counter-productive.

When people say “walk before you run” it means, of course, start with the basics. Get the basics correct in social media and you lay the foundation for the success of your marketing efforts.

Why Social Media Needs the Basics

There are two important stages for operating a business website or social media campaign.

1. Get people to see your page, profile or content.

This is usually pretty obvious. You want potential customers to visit your website or social media (see SM) account.

People will visit your site, page or profile when;

• You have content they are interested in.
• You have a product or service they need.
• They want to research your business when making a purchasing decision.
• They want to contact you.

Gaining visitors begins with setting up your social media profiles or website, and publishing content. The effects of this can be enhanced through search engine optimisation (see SEO).

Ensuring all the basics are correct will greatly aid in this process.

2. Prompt viewers to take action.

Once people are on your website or viewing your social media account, you have made it halfway there. These people are not yet customers, however. The next vital stage is moving people from being potential customers to being actual customers. This is called “Conversion”.

The conversion of viewers to customers is based upon a number of factors. Some elements are obvious and others can act on a more subconscious level with viewers. Mostly though, it comes down to trust and a decent call to action.

When customers are looking to purchase, they want to feel comfortable with the financial transactions they are making. Getting the basics right is the first step in building trust with your customers.

What Are the Basics

The basics are those elements of your social media profiles that should always be available to customers.

Sometimes there are things so simple and yet easily forgotten or overlooked. The unfortunate situation is that they are not as often overlooked by potential customers.

Each different social media platform will have its own requirements. Setting up a Facebook page will be different than completing a Linkedin or Twitter profile. Making a Google Business page work for you needs a different approach than setting up a Pinterest or Instagram account.

What they all require however is a certain level of basic information.

Make sure these elements are always included and done properly for your social media profiles;

Contact details.

Always, always make sure your contact details are correctly displayed. This includes any method through which you wish to be contacted.

This could be any combination of phone, email, website, messenger or other way or contacting your business. Don’t forget to add a postal address if customers are able to walk into a physical location or you wish to receive standard mail.

If customers have too much difficulty finding contact details for your business, they are likely to go elsewhere.

Business description.

Business descriptions can often be split into a short excerpt and a longer Overview or About Us section. Whatever website or social media platform you are using, your business description should be clear and concise.

Descriptions should also be keyword optimised for search. The keywords or phrases chosen will emphasise the key elements of your business. The information you add to your description is vital in telling a potential customer what you do. This will alert them as to the type of products or services that are available.

Your business descriptions are often what will be displayed on any search results page (see SERP). There are many businesses that fail to do these clear descriptions and visitors are left in doubt as to what is on offer.

Call to action.

As stated above, getting visitors to your page is only half the battle. Getting them to take action is the other half.

What action you want people to take can vary. Sometimes it will be simply to make a purchase. At other times the action will be to sign up for a newsletter, answer a survey or click a link.

It is important to let customers know what action is expected of them. Be clear with your expectations and it will increase the chance that the action will be taken.

Profile information.

If there are additional information fields available to fill on your social media pages, ensure that you do so. These can include product categories, awards, media mentions or even map listings. Each extra piece of information builds the vision of your business in the customer’s mind. The better that vision appears, the more likely they are to take action.

Beyond the Basics

Of course, there are always more steps that can be taken to set up and promote your website or social media;

• Have a clear idea of your business goals.
• Develop a strategy for your content that supports your business goals.
• Create good quality content.
• Publish content across relevant SM platforms and marketing channels.
• Have an attractive and effective website. This is the hub to which all your marketing efforts can be directed.
• Be passionate and speak with people about what your business does and offers.

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If you need assistance with your social media marketing or setup, please fill in our contact form. We are able to help with;

• Social media audits of your existing accounts. We make sure all the basics are in place. For a more comprehensive, business-wide health-check of your content consider a content audit.
• Social media profile setup. We help you select and set up suitable platforms for your marketing.
• Content marketing and strategy. We develop and produce great content for your business.