With over 3.2 billion users around the world, roughly 42% of the world’s total population, it’s more important now than ever to have your business on multiple social media channels to engage, build trust and loyalty and build brand awareness with shoppers. In today’s world, however, it’s not just enough to be on only one social media channel. It’s about balancing your exposure across multiple platforms.
While there are a lot of factors that can be part of the decision as to which social media channels to use, below are a few simple best practices that every business can use to make sure that you are maximizing your impact.
Instagram is known for being the platform for product discovery and education. Being a visually based platform, an appealing image to grab consumers attention is key, but the most effective images avoid overlaying text, keeping things clean and simple. Hashtags have also become another part of effective posts, which can be added in the post itself or as the first comment. Posts with at least one hashtag average 12.6% more engagement and will help consumers to find your product/services easier as they search key terms and hashtags that interest them.
As the world’s third most visited website, Facebook is one of the most well-known social media platforms. With 74% of users logging in daily, this is a perfect option to increase awareness and gain followers. For Facebook, images and videos are important, but they perform better when they are a vertical orientation so the image can cover more of the screen and demand a user’s full attention. While some businesses tend to consistently post the same style of content, it has been shown that businesses who rotate different styles have better results. Simply put, this means that you should be using a mix of static images, gifs, videos, etc. in your content. This variety will allow you to attract more followers as different methods attract and draw the attention of different people.
Pinterest is known for attracting users that are looking for inspiration and ideas. Being another visually based platform, the images you pin are crucial to your campaign’s success, but a 2:3 image aspect ratio is the best size to offer optimal visibility in the news feed. It is best to limit the amount of text that you put on the image, but make sure to be detailed in the description when creating your pin so that people can easily find your product or services. Adding a logo is always a great way to connect your business with your products, but avoid adding it in the lower right corner where the navigational functions for Pinterest live.
Most users admit going to Twitter to “discover something new and exciting” which is a great way to showcase your product and build brand awareness. To start on this platform, you should customize your profile page and pin a high engagement or important tweet to the top of your page to attract readers. To gain trust and credibility with users, you can also request verification through Twitter for the blue check mark next to your company name to show consumers that your business is verified and reliable. Finally, when creating content, tweets with images are shown to be reposted more, but keep in mind that horizontal images work best with this platform and within its newsfeed.
YouTube
YouTube’s power on purchase decisions is evident as 90% of viewers say they discovered a new product or brand on YouTube. With YouTube reaching more consumers between the ages of 18 and 49 than all cable TV networks combined, your content on this channel should have a powerful call to action and grab viewers’ attention within the first 10 seconds. Once you upload your video, make sure your titles, keywords and descriptions are very detailed to attract viewers. Finally, ensure that your thumbnail image is eye-catching.
Looking for more in-depth answers and guidance for your business? Call us today for help! For an example of one of our current social media partnerships, visit Café Rumba’s social media accounts. To see how social media can be used in a larger campaign to build an online presence, take a look at our Baby BuYou case study.
