Smart Ways to Use Social Media Marketing

It’s my belief that all types of businesses can benefit from being on social media. And the businesses who think they don’t have to because none of their competitors are, they have even MORE of an opportunity because they’ll be able to get noticed much easier.

The market is changing, and millennials are starting to make actual money. This means we’re consuming more, and most of us check out a brand or business online before we go visit it, and certainly before we ever buy anything.

There is so much potential out there with organic social media marketing, and you can see returns with very minimal investment. Organic social media can help you reach your audience on a more intimate level, get your product or service in front of more people, and let people get to know you on a more personal level. That emotional connection is really the secret sauce behind any strong social media marketing strategy. 

Start with a Solid Social Media Marketing Strategy

First, determine what you want the outcome of your social media strategy to be and work backward from there. I like to set monthly goals for this. Do you want to promote a new product? Are you opening a new location and you want to create some buzz? Do you want to grow your email list? Figuring out your goals will inform what social media platforms you’re showing up on, how you’re showing up, and what content you need to create.

I like to create calendars and plan out my strategy a month in advance. I use Google Spreadsheets for this. In them, I list the date and then have columns with different topics. I have a colum for the Instagram caption, the IG image, Facebook caption, FB posting time so I can outsource scheduling, etc.

This is a loose guideline, and I’m always moving things around or adding columns as needed. Social media is always changing, so your strategy documents and outlines will be changing too. Don’t freak out if your content isn’t fitting perfectly in the calendar.

In fact, that’s the fun part! There aren’t really any rules here, so follow your instinct and if it makes more sense to create a video for a program launch rather than a bunch of static “photo with caption” posts, go for it. Start breaking rules. It’s fun.

Brand and Optimize Your Profiles

Generally, you’ll have your logo as your profile photo for traditional business accounts. If you are your brand, you get to have your photo as the face of the brand.

For the logo example, make sure that it’s a version of your logo that fits nicely in a circle, especially on Instagram and Facebook which is what I’m focusing on in this article (and in life, to be honest). If your logo is long and narrow, ask your designer to help you with a version that’s stacked, or altered in a way that will be recognizable in that small little profile pic on the Instagram app or Facebook messenger.

Add some branding elements to your Facebook banner too – both on your business page, and if you’re a personal brand like a coach or consultant, go ahead and brand your personal page banner as well. Canva has some nice templates you can follow, or you can outsource this design to your graphic designer.

There are tons of Facebook groups full of freelancers, so if you just join a few and post that you’re looking to outsource a designer for a project, you’ll more than likely to get a very good response. I’m not a huge fan of Fiverr or Upwork speaking from a freelancer’s perspective, but those are resources where you can find a freelance designer as well.

Pick Your Instagram Grid

I like Instagram feeds to have a nice, branded, cohesive look. Go on Pinterest and search “Instagram grid” or “Instagram feed inspiration” to get some ideas. You will see a bunch of different options, and you can choose one that aligns with your brand best. Are you using all photography? Do you want any graphics or quotes? Pick the design and vibe you think represents you and can help people get to know your brand, what services you offer, what you stand for, and how they can connect with you.

Side note: Invest in some high-quality photography. Especially for businesses like boutiques and restaurants, you want to show off your products in the best light possible. Plan to do photo shoots at least quarterly so you can create a library of photos to choose from when posting to your feed.

Keep Your Instagram Stories Active

Stories are where it’s AT on Instagram these days! It’s important to post on your feed and use strategic hashtags of course, but your Story is where you can really let people “in” and allow them to get to know your brand and your personality better.

Some ideas for keeping your Story “Active” (aka it has the Rainbow Ring around it at all times) include:

• Video intros of your team or staff.
• “Behind the scenes” videos of when you get a new shipment of something, have new menu items, or team meetings.
• “Company culture” videos – do you have an office dog? Do you always have donuts catered on Thursdays? Show it off!
• Give tips or tricks on your stories of your expertise. 
• Share your own posts in your Stories, and share other posts that inspire you.

Set Up Your Facebook Page and Schedule Posts

In order to reach an even larger amount of people, it’s a good idea to set up a business Facebook page. There are rumblings in the industry that “no one is on Facebook anymore” but that’s simply not true. As of June 2019, there are over 2.38 billion monthly active users. It might not be the sexiest social media platform out there, but it’s definitely still relevant, and worth spending some time on. 

We already talked about having your banner professionally done, and I can’t stress that enough. It makes a huge difference in how professional you come across to people. 

Now you can refer to your strategy document and social media posting calendar, and schedule out your posts. I like to do about a month’s worth of posts at once, and like them to go up a few times per week.

This way, if and when you decide to start running Facebook ads, your page will have content on it. How awkward would it be to advertise on Facebook and then someone goes to learn more about you on your page and your only post is your very first banner design, and that’s it. Yikes.

Start a Facebook Group

Facebook is pushing Groups HARD! Think about the people you are serving. How can you support them? I have a group called The Content Marketing Girls Club where I help women in business with their content marketing and energetics of being an entrepreneur. If you are an accountant, you could have a group that supports business owners and offers accounting tips. If you are a health and fitness coach you could have a fitness challenge or support group.

Facebook wants the experience for their users to be more personal. Groups are a safe space for people to connect and interact. Don’t think of your group as a place to sell your offer. Think of it as a place to grow your community and people will naturally ask about your services and products. 

Start Showing Up on Live Videos

Video is extremely important! This article is focusing on Facebook and Instagram because that’s my expertise, so let’s discuss all the different places you can show up on video on just those platforms.

Go Live! It’s a little scary at first, but you get used to it, and also the algorithm loves when people go Live on Facebook and Instagram. You can go Live on your business page, personal page, and in your Instagram Stories.

I’ve seen businesses kill it by going live on a regular basis. Chefs, for example, can go Live to show a behind the scenes look at what’s on the specials menu for that day, or to give a cooking tutorial. Business coaches can go Live to give some tips and marketing strategies, and then stick around to answer questions. 

If you don’t want to go Live, that’s okay. You can still record videos and post them to your Facebook feed or Instagram feed. These you can have fun with some effects or editing, too. Add in closed captioning, your logo, a “bottom third” with your name and title, or animated graphics. 

IGTV is only going to keep ramping up in popularity too. Here you can post longer videos, and also feature then in your regular IG feed. BONUS – you get to pick the teaser photo so it will still stay consistent with your grid. Hooray!

Another bonus because I like you: REPURPOSE these videos all over the place! Turn the transcripts into blogs, use pieces of those blogs as social media captions, use them in your email marketing as text or links back to your blogs. The farther we can stretch one piece of content, the better.

Put Your Personality in Your Branding

People want to have an emotional connection with you. If you’ve been hiding behind your logo or storefront for years, I’m here to lovingly tell you that the times, they are a changing, and you’re going to want to get out in front of the camera and the people and let them get to know you. 

Think about how you feel when the founder of a brand you love and follow on social media pops up on their Instagram Stories to say hello or answer some questions. It’s cool, right? It shows that you care! Or think about how cool it is to see what actually goes on at the headquarters of a big company that you like. 

Social media is supposed to be fun, and used as a way to connect people. When we use it for GOOD, it’s very powerful, and really has the potential to help people on a massive scale. So are you ready to jump in and get started?

I offer a variety of ways to support you. From my own social media channels that I stay active on, to content marketing consulting services, and 1:1 mentorship for freelancers who want to grow their business. Just email amy.a18media@gmail.com and we can discuss some options. 

And just one more thing – I’m a strong “repurpose your content” advocate. It saves SO MUCH time and effort when creating all the social media posts, emails, landing pages, email funnels, etc. for your business. I made this “Spread Your Magic” Free Guide that gives you 20+ Ways to Repurpose Your Soul-Driven Content. YOUR words deserve to be read by more people, on more places and platforms. Grab your copy HERE.