The prospect of using social media platforms can be intimidating, but you must have seen the increasing importance of business presence on these platforms. Various social media platforms are out there, and all of them have somewhat a role in improving your visibility and pulling your target audience to your products and services. Whether you have a start-up or an established business, you will need a social networking site to reach out to your target audience and improve brand awareness. 

The need for investing in networking sites has dramatically gone up in recent years. Even though you are a start-up, you need to build your presence on social media sites. Understanding the importance of social media presence, some young entrepreneurs are borrowing money from direct lenders. Many of you think that social media marketing is all about creating posts and uploading them every other day. 

Getting likes, comments and shares are enough to ensure that your posts are engaging and you are on the right track, but the fact is it is much more about that. It requires proper planning and strategy. If you are looking forward to optimising your social media presence, you need to bear the following dos and don’ts in your mind. Look at them.

Here are the dos

• Set clear objectives

There is no point of publishing posts every other day if you do not know where it would lead you. Almost every business is present on social media sites, but not all of them have the same goals. Some of them may be maintaining a presence on these sites to improve visibility while others would be doing so to generate leads. 

What goals you have will serve the basis for framing strategies. If you do not set goals, you will never be able to know if your social media presence is contributing any benefits to your business. Having goals means having a particular direction in which you will set your efforts. 

• Social listening

Social listening allows you to track your social media accounts for mentions of your brand name and keywords related to your business. Social monitoring and social listening are two different things. 

The former requires you to analyse engagement. However, the latter allows you to get an insight into how people are discussing your brand. You will have to track competitors’ progress and efforts, find pain points of your target audience, what people are talking about on social media platforms, and the context and tone of the message that have a mention of your brand, keywords or products. 

• Post regularly but avoid over posting

When it comes to building a presence on social media sites, you will likely post every day. If you feed your audience engaging posts every day, your audience will not forget you. However, consistent posting does not mean over posting. Otherwise, you will overcrowd your audience with feeds. To begin with, follow these tips:

• Facebook: minimum of three posts per week, maximum one post every day.
• Twitter: minimum of three tweets per day, maximum of 30 tweets. Consider retweet time to time.
• LinkedIn: minimum twice a week, maximum one post every day. 

However, make sure that the post you create is engaging, compelling and spreading the right message to your prospects. Here is an example:

Suppose you are a financial company and offering various types of short-term loans and want to create a post on loans for unemployed.

Case 1: You want to generate leads

Loans for unemployed
Interest Rate – 5.8% Now 4.3%
Offer Valid until 30.8

Case 2: You want to provide informative content

What to consider while choosing for loans for unemployed from direct lenders only

Regular posting is compulsory, but at the same time, you need to ensure if it is justifying your goal. 

Here are the don’ts

• Use all social media platforms just for the sake of it

Many entrepreneurs think that they should feed posts on all social media platforms because it will help them grab more audience. If you are also doing so, you are making a big mistake. You should make your presence on a networking site where your target audience is present. 

For instance, it does not make sense to use Pinterest (commonly popular with fashion and beauty streams) if you are dealing in financial products. You should instead use Facebook and LinkedIn. So, while choosing any platform for the promotion of your products, make sure that your audience is present there, and it justifies the type of content you want to promote it. 

• Ignore questions, comments and messages

You have got followers, so you are all done. Wrong! If you have been receiving questions, comments and messages, you should answer them as immediately as possible. Not responding them on time will tarnish your image and all your effort will go in vain. 

Social media conversation is supposed to be two-way, not one-way. If you respond to the comments and queries of your users, they will get a more delightful experience. 

Now you must have a better understanding of dos and don’ts of social media marketing.

The way people from the business realm market their products or merchandise has evolved together with the advancement of technology. Such change has made marketers closer to consumers. It has also given almost anybody the opportunity to create their own niche through various social media. However, building a social media empire requires clever strategies, commitment, drive, and creativity more than anything else. But, how should one really go about establishing a social media empire?

1. Table of Contents

   • 1 Develop the concept.
   • 2 Use different social media platform.
   • 3 Build a Network.
   • 4 Utilize diverse media content.
   • 5 Publish frequently.

   Develop the concept.

After deciding to use social media for business growth, the next thing to do is to develop a concept or idea which could easily attract the attention of potential customers. Being comfortable in working with the concept is very important at this stage.

Moreover, the brand has to be defined. It has to be able to convey the message it purports to deliver to the target audience. At this point, working with a consultant to come up with goals and to identify the appropriate social media or networking sites.

2. Use different social media platform.

The type of media to use in social media marketing is very crucial to be successful. Social media sites to be utilized must fit the concept or brand that is being promoted.

Networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedn, and Instagram are all powerful promotional sites. Opening accounts with these multiple social media sites helps marketers to reach a good volume of online audience the soonest possible time.

Furthermore, it is essential to manage these accounts regularly. In such a way, marketers can monitor how effective promotional campaigns are via these sites.

3. Build a Network.

The core of an empire is its members or network. In social media marketing particularly, a strong network is vital to create brand awareness among internet users. A network, however, does not only have to be composed of a large number of people. Quality of network is also very essential.

People who are considered to be influencers must be reached. Such kind of people can swiftly spread words about the marketer or company and can drive online audience.

4. Utilize diverse media content.

Blog posts are effective tools to promote. However, they should not be the only way to advertise products or merchandise. With the way things are going in the internet, people seems to be fascinated with photos and videos. For this reason, marketers also have to creatively link their concept or webpages to such types or media content. Being able to maximize rich media may spark more interest among the target market.

5. Publish frequently.

Posting content on a regular basis may be laborious but it can be very efficient in keeping the customers actively involved. Regular publication of photos, videos, blog entries, and microblog posts will engage the audience and can even make them share the content with their friends and connections. During this phase, creativity is a much-needed skill.

In the process of building a social media empire, having a set of goals is necessary. However, it is also important to remember not to keep expectations too high. It can take a little while before an audience can fully embrace the concept and the business. Establishing an empire via social media marketing is not a race, anyway. It should be done slowly yet surely.