Social media is some sort of magic these days.
There is so much that goes into each social media post, story, and video, that sometimes it’s hard to keep up with the new trends. But the ability to reach potential clients in an organic format is one of the best marketing tools that social media has to offer. You can reach prospects, and your current client base will always have your business top of mind.
If you’ve done any research in the field of social media, you are probably aware of all the tips and tricks to a successful social media business platform. Today, I’m here to discuss a few social media “rules” that you don’t actually have to follow.
1) You have to post every day on every platform
Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to post to your social media every day on every platform. Turns out, each platform needs a different posting frequency to hit an ideal amount of audience engagement. Sometimes finding a good posting schedule can be difficult, and for most social media marketers out there, we often have to test and analyze what works best for our company. If your posts are receiving a lot of engagement, great; keep up the consistency in your postings. If you are posting often, and aren’t receiving quite enough audience participation, try focusing on well-thought-out content and posting less often. Finding that “sweet spot” does take some trial and error, but here are a few suggestions on posting frequencies.
On Instagram, post between 3-7 times per week.
Instagram offers other daily posting options such as Lives and Stories. Instagram Live is a real-time live video stream where you can share what is happening at your company or event. Live streams are a great way to show off your company “in the moment.” Stories can be used in the same way but can be preplanned. Instagram stories allow you to upload a graphic or image for a 24-hour period. After the 24-hour window, your stories can be saved into your story highlights, which can be viewed on your company’s page.
On Facebook, post between 1 and 2 times a day. Source: Facebook
Facebook posts do have a longer lifespan than other platforms. The trick to Facebook is varying your content. Posting videos, gifs, images, and links to external pages should vary daily. Text on posts should remain under a sentence in length and should only contain one external link to keep things simple for your audience.
On LinkedIn, post between 1 and 5 times a day. Source: Adobe
LinkedIn is a great place to show off your business’ success. Whether you share your staff’s accomplishments or a press release on hitting an all-time record, post one to five times per day, depending on the size of your company. If you have a relatively small company with a smaller audience, I would stick to only posting once a day. However, if you are a larger company with a bigger following, stick to a more frequent posting schedule to keep your audience engaged.
2) You Shouldn’t Post “Behind The Scenes” Footage
Behind The Scenes (BTS) footage is some of the most relatable content out there on social media. And when you are setting up a successful social media campaign, humanizing your brand is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Similar to a cookbook, would you pick up a cookbook that just said the word “Recipes” as the title or one that read, “Amelia’s Favorite Homestyle Recipes.”
Putting a name or face to a brand helps us as humans build a relationship with the company itself. Taking videos and photos of your company giving back to your community or setting up a booth at a trade show lets your audience see that your company is more than just a product or service. We trust and build bonds with people, not a logo. Showing your social media audience behind the scenes lets viewers feel like they are a part of your online community. And sometimes an inside look at your business is all it takes for a prospect to turn into a client!
3) Keep it Strictly Professional
Relax! Social media is supposed to be fun! The biggest takeaway I hope you get from this article is to have fun with your social accounts. Your content should be a mix of strategic social media marketing and fun! Whether that is sharing a silly photo from a conference or recreating a dance trend in the office, making your content relatable is a great way for your content to make an impression. Sharing lighthearted content is great for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.
4) Post the Same Content Across All Social Media Platforms
This is probably one of the biggest mistakes I made in my early days of social media marketing. Do not post the same exact content across all platforms. Turns out, most of your audience is following you on one or more platforms at a time. Your audience may see the same content twice and ask themselves, “Haven’t I already seen this today?” Eeek!
If you are going to use the same content on all platforms, make sure to adjust the posts to each audience. Change up the text and links to ensure your audience will receive the right message when viewing the post on the platform.
Need to reshare content that was previously posted on TikTok to Instagram? Not a problem! By using the Reels feature, you upload your TikTok video into the app. Reels are housed next door to your posts on your company’s Instagram page. This allows your audience to easily tab over to view all of your video Reels in one section.
5) You Have to Know Everything About Social Before You Post
Social media, like most new things, is a game of trial and error. And, not one size fits all when it comes to social media advice. Learning and tracking what does and does not work for your company on social is how you develop in this digital realm. With apps and algorithms changing every day, social media is still a relatively new marketing tool. Creating a schedule, working on quality content, and posting regularly are the best three things you can do to advance your company’s social media presence.
And if creating content for your social media isn’t your thing, no problem! We have created an abundant amount of shareables that you can publish on your own company social pages!
Or, if you want more than sharables, check out SAGE Website Professional Plus. We’ll load your website with fresh content (created by us) that you can push to your social accounts. It’s really that easy!
Takeaways
There are many tips and tricks out there for bettering your social media presence, and this is just a small snippet of advice from my years in the social media kingdom. If you need to develop a good social media content strategy, you can also check out my How to Find Content for Social Media blog to get started!
