Facebook and Twitter not producing results, or just starting out and not sure what to do? Here we answer typical questions you may be asking.
Do your keyword research. The keywords that you think your potential clients will be using to search for you, may well be different from those that are actually being used.
- Keep your bio concise, to a maximum of 160 characters. Don’t go over, it will just be cut off. Not good!
- Use keywords that your potential clients are searching for and use minimal #hashtags. Don’t use the same bio you’ve used elsewhere, vary it. Don’t leave your bio blanc.
- Write interesting and informative tweets that relate to your bio. If you say you’re an expert in a certain field, don’t fill your timeline with irrelevant posts or pictures of your pets.
- People are much more likely to follow you if you add a good Twitter header and either a logo or image of you in the circle. Then it makes it clear who you are and what you do.
- Use keywords and images where you can in your tweets. If its an important #keyword use the #hashtag too.
- According to Buffer – use no more than 2 #hashtags in tweets. Research also showed that when you use more than two hashtags, your engagement actually drops by an average of 17 percent
- When using images ensure they are ‘free to use’.
- Be consistent with tweeting – schedule at least 4 tweets per day if you can. If you or your team don’t have the skills, outsource it.!
- Use a platform such as Hootsuite, to schedule your tweets. Others include Tweetdeck or Buffer. Always schedule tweets to give them optimum exposure during busy times.
- Monitor new followers and mentions and thank them by using their twitter handle in a tweet and/or message them direct. Also, don’t forget to reply to direct messages.
- Keep promotional tweets to a minimum.
- Follow competitors to see what they’re tweeting about.
- Don’t feel obliged to follow, just because they follow you, otherwise you will end up with a really busy and irrelevant timeline. If you already follow loads, go through them and unfollow where irrelevant. Particularly if they don’t tweet often or they’re inactive.
- Join some #hashtag biz hours. Mine is #uckfieldbizhour @uckfieldbizhour. They’re great for increasing followers and engaging with potential clients.
- As with Twitter, create a good header.
- You need to create a personal page first, then a business page or group. If you don’t want to publish your personal private page you can change your settings to private.
- Depending on your business industry, a group may be better than a business page. I did this myself. I started with a business page, but struggled to gain momentum. As soon as I changed to a group I immediately gained followers and interaction with Business Support Uckfield.
- Write a good, effective, engaging ‘story’ and again, don’t forget keywords.
- Search for appropriate groups and write posts on them. However, as before, don’t be too promotional.
- Use town names that you serve for keywords, rather than counties, or both if you have the space.
It depends upon the industry you are in. For us, Facebook has resulted in more business than Twitter. However, they both help to raise your profile and keep you ‘out there’, as long as you do it regularly and consistently.
Integrate social media into your website
If you use WordPress, you can use a plugin to add social sharing buttons. Do this on all your pages and posts for maximum shareability. Top and bottom of pages.
When posting on Twitter or Facebook, link back to appropriate pages or posts as often as you can.
I know how daunting social media can be, and many businesses don’t have the skills or resources to do it in-house. If that sounds like you, that’s where I come in. Whether you’re not familiar with social media yet, or you’re struggling with it, I manage social media accounts or, if you prefer, I will train you on a one-on-one basis. Simply contact me for more details
Guest bloggers welcome! If you would like to blogger or you would like me to interview you, please get in touch. sue@sjemarketing.co.uk
