5 Tips For Improving The Social Media Marketing For Your Business

If you read the previous blog, then you remember us talking about the different social media platforms, what types of content they want to see from their creators, and whether or not your business should be on these platforms based on this information.

With social media marketing becoming even bigger over the next 5-10 years, we wanted to give business owners our top five tips for helping them improve their social media marketing strategy.  Because the better you get at your social media marketing, the more following you get, the more sales you get, which means you have to spend less on things like paid advertising.

Tip #1 - Make Sure You Do Your Market Research

The first tip we would give any business owner is to do your market research ahead of time.  Too many business owners simply choose a platform because they THINK it's the best one, someone has told them that, or they think it'll be "easier."  This type of thinking is a recipe for disaster because it will have you doing a lot of work without knowing if you're even getting the best ROI.  Doing your market research is the foundation of any good social media marketing plan, so make sure you take the time (we took a month) and make sure to really understand each of the platforms and ask yourself, "Is this platform a good long-term play for our business?"

Tip #2 - Create A Plan Before You Start

Before you even start posting you need to figure out (based on your market research), what type(s) of content are you going to be creating, how many times are you going to be posting, are you going to be on multiple platforms, and any other questions that help give you clarity around the plan you're creating.

Don't just say you're going to be on Instagram . . . you need to take it further than that.  How many times are you going to post a week?  A day?  Are they all going to be reels?  What other types of content are you creating?  How many stories are you doing a day?  What will they be about?  How often will you update your highlights?  Will you do collaborations?

It's not just about picking a platform, then winging it.  You need to create a plan that you can stick to, but more importantly, when you pass your social media marketing off to someone else (because unless that's your superpower, you should be looking to do that ASAP), THEY have a plan that's written out, makes sense, and that they can implement and you won't see a drop off in your posting and numbers.  The famous quote goes, "Make a plan or plan to fail."  Don't fail because you didn't take the time to create a plan for your business.

Tip #3 - Create Weekly Habits & Routines

 This is more of a personal tip based on our journey and what we've found to work extremely well.  We don't just run our social media accounts, but we're responsible for close to 100 social media accounts spread across our various clients.  Now, that can sound daunting and make you wonder how we're able to keep track of it all and make sure that everything gets done . . .

I can tell you that the single thing that has made the biggest difference is creating weekly routines and habits around our social media marketing and that of our clients.  What do I mean by this?  For example, we always do ALL of our Pinterest content on Mondays, whether it be our content or that of our clients.  This allows us to know that every week, no matter what, Pinterest comes on Monday.

What happens when you create habits and routines around work is that you get quicker at completing these tasks, but more importantly, you start to create BETTER QUALITY content because you allow yourself to get into a flow.  You haven't left your content till last, or treated it as leftovers . . . on the contrary, by cementing it into your calendar on the same day at the same time, you've made it a top priority.  And when you make something a top priority, you're setting yourself up to get maximum results from it, because you've given it that attention.

Tip #4 - Stay Consistent

I can't wait for the day when I wake up and don't have to talk about consistently when it comes to businesses and their social media marketing . . . but unfortunately, when I spend time engaging on our accounts and the accounts of our clients, I see social media riddled with businesses that STILL are not understanding the power of consistency.

I know that you'll hear the debate about "quantity vs. quality," but let me ask you this question: how do you expect to create quality content if you never create any quantity?  Because I'm going to be real honest here, and this is not to offend anyone . . . but those people that aren't being consistent that I was talking about before?  Their content is some of the worst I see.

The reason is they're not posting enough to figure out what works, what doesn't, what's resonating, what's working on the platform, and using all of this information to create a better quality product.  You can't just post once a week as a business and expect to run a business on social media.  I mean, if you had a store-front business, would you only be open once a week?  NO CHANCE!  You'd probably be open AT LEAST 5 days a week if not all 7.

Staying consistent is what separates the ones that do grow and the ones that don't . . . the ones that get results, and the ones that don't.  Make sure you're creating a plan that works for you and sticking to it!

Tip #5 - Always Be Evaluating Your Social Media Marketing Plan

You know, there's a reason why every single social media platform has an analytics system for you, right?  It's so you can see on an everyday basis whether the content you're creating is resonating with your audience and if it's bringing in a new community.  I can't tell you how many people say things like, "I'm not getting the reach and engagement I'm looking for in my business!"  So I'll ask them how often they check analytics, and if they do, have they tried creating other types of content or changing up their plan?

80% will say they rarely check their own analytics, and the other 20% will say they check them, but then they just keep posting the same type of content hoping things will change. "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results."  If something isn't working, STOP DOING IT!  You're literally wasting your time creating content that won't work rather than branching out and trying something new . . .

What's the worse that could happen?  You get no engagement like you were before?  At least if you try something different you're giving yourself a chance to see if that will work, and if not, then try something else.  Social media algorithms change so much that rarely will you be able to just keep posting the same content forever and get results . . . you have to adapt.  If you need help, follow people on the platform that are growing, or better yet, reach out for some personal help.  There are plenty of tools and resources out there that can help you get out of the funk, you just have to be willing to take the step.

I hope these tips have helped you gain some clarity about improving your social media marketing plan.  I know that these 5 tips I shared with you are the reason we've been able to scale on the top 5 social media platforms and turn that into a thriving business, so I hope they do the same for you as well!

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us on Instagram @michaelandjill and we'd be happy to answer any questions you have!  Or, if you'd like to book a FREE call with us for some help with your social media marketing, then click HERE