As a social media manager, I often repeat the same social media marketing tips, but in different scenarios.
But these tips below are simple and easy fixes – and can be the difference between whether potential customers perceive your business as professional (and approachable)… or not.
So here are five simple tips to take your social media marketing from amateur to professional:
1. Don’t use multiple hashtags on Facebook
You can share your Instagram posts directly to your Facebook page – which can be a huge time saver. But I beg of you: If you’re going to share a post directly from Instagram, please make sure you are not sharing a post that has 30 hashtags in it.
Hashtags do not work the same way on Facebook as on Instagram. I think it’s safe to say they are pretty useless. They mainly serve as an eyesore to innocent newsfeed scrollers.
In a perfect world, you’d create posts natively for each social media platform so that they are optimized for each individual social media platform (i.e. little to no hashtags on Facebook, please).
The exception: a branded hashtag or a ‘themed’ hashtag to help drive the message of the post. e.g. #MotivationMonday or #ForTheThrone (an official Game of Thrones campaign hashtag).
2. Post quality images
Sorry, folks, it’s not 2008 anymore. Images that are small and pixelated have no place on social media now. People have become accustomed to high-quality imagery (especially on Instagram), so images of a 100×100 pixel dimension (and that are so small that the text cannot even be read on mobile) will never fare well on your page.
Why? It simply makes your brand look unprofessional. If you’re struggling for imagery, check out reputable stock imagery websites like Unsplash and Pexels.
3. Fill out your bio sections
Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, or any other platform, make sure that you fill out your important business “about” and contact information.
This includes your email address, physical store address (if applicable), website, and phone number. If you’re a sole operator or service professional, mention your name! (If someone is looking up local beauty therapists, they will likely want to know who they are going to call up to book in their wax appointment (and who is going to be doing the deed!)
And who wouldn’t want to make it easier for potential customers to contact you and book an appointment?
4. Choose a smart profile image
A smart profile image will represent your business the best at the first impression. If you’re a sole operator (or building a ‘personal brand’) a professional headshot of yourself would be a good choice. Otherwise, a popular option is to use your business logo as the profile image.
Bonus tip: Use the same profile image across all your social media platforms, in order to keep everything professionally consistent, recognisable, and on-brand.
And remember – Keep it high quality!
5. Link to your socials from your website
An easy way to gain new followers and drive website traffic to your social media platforms is to put links to your social media on your website.
Make them easily accessible (the header, footer, or sidebar is usually a good place) and last but not least, make sure the links are working correctly.
You’d be surprised at the number of websites I’ve seen that, while they may be encouraging their traffic to visit their social media platforms (a reasonable effort, not to be laughed at), either the link is broken, or there is no link in the first place!
So there you have it folks, five simple ways to improve your social media marketing and rock it like pro.