When you’re just getting started on social media, where do you begin? It may seem daunting that companies you see yourself competing with have a large following, but they were in the same position as you at some point. We all start at zero. But where do you go from there?
Set your objectives
Crucially you need an objective as to why you want to start social media. It’s not just the time and financial commitment, but ultimately what you want to get from it. Our client’s objectives range from brand awareness, fast & fun communication with their audience especially with new products, gaining a competitive advantage over their new rival and even purely targeting a new demographic of clients for business continuity. You need to create targets to achieve these objectives, which will be portrayed in your copy.
Social media should be a massive influence in the thought process of naming your business. It’s important to check whether your business domain is available across all social media channels. Even if you’re not planning on opening an account on a specific channel now, it is important to create an account to secure the name as the opportunity of using it may arise in the future. Social media channels should work in integration, so the names of all accounts should be the same to make them easily recognisable and avoid confusion with your audience.
So which social media channel is right for you?
Take your time to research this. Ask your clients which channels they use, how they use it and what they would like to see from you. Spend a little time checking where your competitors are and how they use their social channels, as well as using common hashtags. Look at their posts critically to observe which type of posts create good engagement. Find out what works and what doesn’t. Sometimes, a post you personally think is great will get no engagement, and conversely, the posts you think are naff, score with the audience! You will need this information to build your more engaging content.
Another point to consider here is the tone of voice used. What is your brand’s tone of voice? Maybe think about a different tone of voice per channel; to attract different audiences. You can show a different side to your brand, and your brand’s personality on social and even within different features, for example, being more fun on Tik Tok.
It’s also worth considering how much time and effort you can devote to social media so that you don’t take on too much and can consistently post and engage on your chosen channels.
Here we give you some more pointers on the key channels:
With the most active users, Facebook has some great features especially if you are a local business to use the power of local community groups and Shop feature. This is pretty much the ‘must have’ of any social media and really useful as your main ‘news’ stream.
Getting Started on Facebook here.
TOP TIP: You need to gain a minimum of 25 likes to claim your names url. We suggest getting your family & friends behind this to get you over this first hurdle!
A favourite of team hype, Instagram is visually led and boasts high engagement for brands. They have lots of features to get to grips with such as Stories, Reels, IGTV, Live and Galleries. Instagram works really well with a ‘behind the scenes’ focus on your content and also links to your Facebook shop.
Get started now.
It’s no longer the business to business sphere, but a mainstream channel and great for capturing journalists, bloggers and Millenials. They are also great for Twitter Chats so if you have a local one or industry-specific version, get yourself involved to network away and have some good old fashioned banter! You might find the character limit frustrating at first, but once you get into it, it makes your chat more interesting.
Get Started on Twitter here.
The ultimate mood board. When you want to inspire, Pinterest is the platform to use. See the Pinterest mood boards we have created for bespoke stationery and illustration client, Wagtail Designs.
It also boasts great results in purchasing products, with rich pins linking straight to locations or online shops. We use this with our more creative clients and it makes good content to cross over and promote on other platforms.
Get going on Pinterest for Business here
Well known for its networking abilities and potential for nurturing leads, we would recommend you put yourself on as an individual as well as creating a business page.
Get started here.
SnapChat
This is a mobile-only social network with a key demographic of Generation Z’s. With the original ‘Stories’ concept, deleting your image after just 24hours, and selfie’s as their focus, brands have carved some unique strategies to make the most of this platform. Mystery and competition work well here.
Get started here
The thing about social media is that there is always something new. From new features, new algorithms to consider and then new platforms like Clubhouse and Tik Tok. If it seems too overwhelming getting started on social media, get in touch and we can help with either training or social media management to take the pressure off.
If you want to check out one of our social media clients that we have taken from zero to hero, then please check out Remi Cachet and maybe give them a like or follow.
Our next blog will talk a little more about getting going to grow your social media organically so stay tuned.