As a marketer, there is an ever increasing amount of channels and platforms available to display your content on. But, it’s not always easy to find the correct content for each different social media platform.
One of the most popular (and most effective) marketing channels small businesses can use is social media. With a variety of social media channels, it’s important to distinguish one social media outlet from another with what you post and how you post it.
Every social media site is different and it’ll benefit you to know how to best post to them to get the most traffic and interaction with your posts.
Social Media Posting Etiquette
There are four main social media platforms that small businesses tend to interact with.
They are:
– LinkedIn
– Instagram
– Facebook
– Pinterest
Each of these social media platforms is slightly different in design, post structure, and posting style. So, a post that you published on LinkedIn may not do as well on Facebook and vice versa. You need to find content that will perform well on each social media platform.
If you’re not yet active on these social media sites, I strongly suggest you start creating profiles on at least two of these sites. Having multiple social media channel outlets will allow you to index your small business information in more places and connect with a wider audience.
How to Post to LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a professional, business social media platform and with that comes a specific type of posting and content that’s expected.
To start off, your posts should be more on the professional level. It’s great if you can incorporate humor, emotion, and relatability into your posts, but keep them “office safe” at the same time.
On LinkedIn, people expect to see useful and practical content that they can learn from or that can help them solve an issue they have. People use LinkedIn as a networking, research, and connection tool, not a place to fill their idle time.
Native LinkedIn videos, quick text based posts with emojis and icons, and native LinkedIn articles all tend to have high engagement levels. Your posts need to be engaging! Make sure they add some sort of value and give scrollers a reason to interact with your posts. Additionally, make sure to respond to any social media interactions your posts receive. Whether it’s a like, share, or a comment, you need to engage with your audience. Your LinkedIn newsfeed shouldn’t just be a one-way street.
How to Post to Instagram
In recent years, the amount of businesses, both large and small, taking advantage of Instagram as a content marketing channel has dramatically increased. If you’re trying to target younger generations, Instagram is a great platform to use!
Instagram is marked by high-quality images or short videos accompanied by emojis and several hashtags. You have a little more freedom on Instagram to use emotion, humor, and personal opinion. However, if you want to start an Instagram Business profile, I would suggest you still keep it professional.
Before you decide on which hashtags to use, make sure you note how popular it is. Try to aim for hashtags that aren’t too popular. The more targeted your hashtags are, the better chance your target audience has to see them.
Instagram is for quick updates accompanied by dramatic images or videos. The Instagram story feature is also a great place that marketers use to advertise new products, sales, and their latest updates as well. Your Business Instagram content posts should be a mixture entertaining and useful at the same time.
How to Post to Facebook
Facebook is probably the most relaxed social media platform of the group. Images, videos, and meme type content perform best on Facebook because they’re entertaining and users like to share them.
If a post is emotional in some way, there’s a high chance that many people will share it and it’s reach will multiply greatly!
People use Facebook to connect with others and entertain themselves. They want to see important business updates, fun pictures and videos, and be able to gage the character or personality of the small business they’re researching. Use Facebook as a place to be open about what your small business stands for and who you are as a small business owner. Relax a little and be open to honest connection.
How to Post to Pinterest
Pinterest is a popular social media, content marketing site that many small business retailers have started to take advantage of. However, even if you’re not a retailer you can still take advantage of Pinterest marketing. Here’s how…
What makes Pinterest effective as a marketing channel is the ability to create clickable “pins” and “boards” to market products, services, and other information. Pinterest pins (which can be images or video clips) can be created with a link back to the original website so viewers can gain more information and have the opportunity to buy right then. And if you’re not marketing specific products, you can create pins to advertise your business, post videos about your company values, post a useful infographic, and so on.
To make sure your pins stand out, they need to be visually appealing, dynamic, well-described, and fully developed. A well-written description and a working link will give you a better chance of gaining more traffic back to your website.
Pinterest is mainly a research social media site. You want to get your information out there (whatever it is) so your target audience is aware of who you are and what you have to offer as a small business.
In Conclusion
Long story short, do not neglect social media as a lucrative content marketing channel. Social media draws large amount of traffic from every demographic, so it’s guaranteed you’ll be able to interact with your target audience in some way. Make sure to pay attention to what and where you post content. Not every social media site is the same and the expectation change from platform to platform. Take a few minutes to review the article above to make sure you’re covering all the steps before you start posting!