Simon Harrison
If you are a B2B company that has recently established a presence on social media – first of all ‘brilliant, well done’, and secondly if you are thinking ‘now what’ then hopefully help is at hand.
It may be you have set up a LinkedIn company page or opened a Twitter account. You might have established a YouTube account. Or you might have created a Facebook Business page. Whichever one you have done, there are some Do’s and Don’ts that it might be wise to look at. I’ve picked out half a dozen that I think are key and can at least get you up and running in ‘social media’ world.
DO complete your profile
Your branding and image is as important on your social media platforms as it is on your website. First impressions are crucial, so take the opportunity to create an impression and give your audience some information about what you do. The banners for all your platforms can be designed, so consider a graphic or select a photograph that sums up your business as succinctly as possible.
DON’T just sell yourself
You’ll soon switch off any followers if the only content you put out there is about yourself. It needs to be balance of content that will engage your audience, encourage interaction and inform them. If you have a new product to launch, or you have invested in some new machinery, then by all means tell the world. But that needs to be countered with industry news, relevant technology information, helpful tips, local news, customer and supplier re-posts and the occasional humorous/random bit of content that gives you some personality. If you can get that mix right, your audience will engage.
DO be visual
With such recent stats as:
- Tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than tweets without images
- Articles with an image once every 75-100 words received double the social media shares as articles with fewer images
- 54% of consumers wanted to see more video content from a brand or business they support (all stats courtesy of HubSpot)
it’s no wonder images and videos are a vital ingredient to your content. You literally cannot afford to post on social media without an image or a video.
DON’T repeat the same message
It will get very boring for your audience if you just repeat the same thing over and over again. Be creative with the content – if you need to mention something again use a different context and change the image. Remember, social media is all about engaging with your audience not boring them to death.
DO post regularly
How regular is regular? Good question… and there isn’t one easy answer. As a B2B company a good balance we have found is try and put new content out there once a week, or even once a fortnight is ok. In addition, also make sure you check your feeds perhaps twice a week to interact with your followers, repost/share relevant content, comment on posts etc. The impression you are creating is one of engagement and interaction – so if you don’t look at your social media platforms for 3 months you are missing out on a tonne of opportunities to talk to your audience.
DON’T worry about the numbers
Whilst the number of followers or likes is an indication of engagement, it is at a very superficial level, so don’t get too stressed about chasing numbers. Your social media activity is aimed at brand awareness and growing your network which is a long-term strategy. So the focus needs to be on quality over quantity and delivering content that is central to your audience.
Hopefully the above gives you a foundation to get you started on your social media journey.