You have heard of social media, you know the names Facebook and Twitter, it’s simply that you haven’t bothered with it. You know that it would probably be a useful addition to your business, it’s just that you really don’t understand it all so wouldn’t have a clue where to start. Well, let us help you with this today, as we share with you a quick guide to social media for your business.

Social media works for all businesses

Social media works for any type of business, you will simply find that some platforms are more relevant for your industry, or you feel more comfortable on certain sites. Whether your business is in compulsory acquisition or pet boarding, you are going to benefit from well-run social media accounts.

It’s worth you first looking at the platforms that your key competitors use as the chances are that these are also going to be the best places for you to spend your time. You will also be able to get a feel for the types of content that they share so that you can understand what works and think about what you could do to be more original and show off your unique selling point.

Choose your social media platforms

Now that you have familiarised yourself with what’s available out there, it is time to choose your social media platforms. All do work in slightly different ways, often with algorithms in place governing your exposure. These are four of the most popular platforms for you in a nutshell:

Twitter - this is probably the chattiest of all the platforms and it moves very quickly. They say tweets have a life of around 15 minutes, though of course people visiting your profile page will be able to see all you’ve shared.

Pinterest - this is more of a search engine and requires little direct customer chat and interaction. Follower numbers will boost views and reach, but so will pinning quality content regularly. 

Facebook - most people know this one and probably have a personal account here already. You will share status updates that show up in people’s feeds, and photos do tend to do better in most cases, rather than links. Facebook also likes it when you share other Facebook content.

Instagram - this one is the visual platform, as you share updates as photos or videos. Do share all about the photo in your update, add personal stories and touches to encourage interaction and use relevant hashtags. 

Set up your accounts 

Once you have decided which social media platforms you want to be active on, you will need to set up your accounts. Choose names (handles) that are most similar to that of your business so that people can easily identify you or find you when they are searching there. After you have created your profile you will need to add an avatar-like photo, a header photo, a mini biography and you are good to go. You can now start posting, sharing and interacting. 

Be yourself

You now know which platforms to use, you have your social media accounts set up so you are ready to start posting. But what do you actually say?

You are going to want to stand out on social media, and often the best way to do this is actually the simplest, just be yourself. Be you, be professional, represent your brand and have fun with it.