The Four W’s of Social Media

We all know how much social media matters – especially now.  We know how much time some people spend on social media (some spend too much)!  So it only makes sense to have a social media strategy for your business.  With a little bit of research and learning, some investment of time and maybe a little bit of money, you can have a killer social media presence to boost your business.  We will go through five key things that will help you on that journey.

Where

It matters what platforms you use, depending on your target audiences’ age!  Younger generations tend to use a few different social media platforms, like SnapChat and Tumblr.  Older age groups, in general, don’t use SnapChat.  So if your target audience is around 40, I wouldn’t use SnapChat as part of your social media marketing strategy.  Udemy states that 18-25 year old’s focus on SnapChat, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube and Facebook.  Alternatively, 35-40 year old’s focus on Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  As you can see, these are completely different as far as where your focus should go.

What

It matters what you post to specific platforms- i.e. quotes, videos, blog posts, photos, etc.  While there are some platforms that are good for many different types of content, there are others that are good for only a few types of content.  For example, Udemy teaches that with Facebook you want to post videos, any type of images and blog posts.  For LinkedIn, you want to post blogs, quotes, educational videos, and corporate updates. So even if you create great content for one social platform, you may only be able to use it on a few others.  You will have to come up with some different content depending on the platform you are posting on.

Another thing to keep in mind is the 80/20 Rule.  This rule states that 80% of your posts should inform, educate and entertain your audience.  The other 20% should be used to directly promote your business.  So for the 80%, use things like home buying/selling stats and infographics; blogs (for certain social media platforms); memes, comics, quotes, etc.  The other 20% you can use to promote your business and you should put some thought into the best way for you to promote YOUR business.

When

It matters what days and times you post to different platforms.  You definitely want to make sure you are maximizing your views and engagement for your posts.  Knowing when to post on the different platforms keeps you ahead of the curve and helps organize things.  According to SproutSocial, the best times to post to Facebook are Wednesdays 11a.m.CST and 1-2p.m. CST.  They also say the best times to post to Instagram are Wednesday at 11a.m. CST and Friday from 10a.m.-11a.m. CST.  They have a great article with loads of good information on the different platforms and the best times to post.  Check out that article here.

Use a scheduler to make things easier!  Two popular ones are Hootesuite and Buffer.  Both are social media management tools to help manage all of your profiles and social media pages under one system.  Having one of these will allow you to concentrate more on the content you want to put out, as well as freeing up more time to do what you love with your work!  Zapier has a great blog comparing Hootesuite and Buffer.  Part of what they say is that “Buffer shows your scheduled posts, while Hootsuite shows your timelines, replies, and more. The difference between Buffer and Hootsuite is never more clear than when you’re using their dashboards.”  There are quite a few other social media managers out there.  Some others I found are Loomly, Sendible, AgoraPulse, Promo Republic, CoSchedule and Tailwind just to name a few.  Do some research and see which one works best for what you want to accomplish and which one is the most user-friendly for you.

Why

A strong social media presence is key these days to getting your name and your business out there. The biggest piece of advice I can offer is to take a social media course and do your own research on the social media platforms, posting days and times, best things to post to the platforms and scheduling posts out.  It’s a great way to let people know about you, what you do, your successes, your likes and even your sense of humor!  As I said earlier, use it to educate, inform, entertain and promote your business.  Gather your information, schedule it all up and then just sit back and watch it go!