Think Before You Post: A Social Media Marketing Guide

In 2005, the Pew Research Center began tracking information associated with social media usage among the U.S. population. At that time, their research found that only 5% of adults used at least one social media platform. By 2011, that number increased to 50% of all Americans. This past spring, the research revealed that 72% of the population uses social media.

With almost ¾ of the population using social media on a daily basis, it’s no surprise that social media marketing has become one of the most popular and effective tools in the digital marketing world.

Although many business owners may be familiar with using their personal social media pages to communicate with their family and friends, they’re less knowledgeable when it comes to promoting their business via social media platforms. Most types of posts and delivery methods that are used for personal pages are often not the best approach for social media marketing purposes.

If you’re managing, creating and scheduling social media posts for your business (and you’re using techniques and content that are similar to your personal accounts), you may be missing the mark on your marketing.

To help you get a better understanding of the type of posts you should be making, the team at brandRUSSO has created this simple step-by-step social media marketing guide that will put your business on the right track.

Does The Post Have Value?

You just thought of a good idea for your next social media post. It’s fun, lighthearted and will surely put a smile on your followers’ faces. However, this post might not be what your audience wants from your business.

Before you post, take a step back and look at the post from the audience’s point of view. Does the post demonstrate how your product or service can add value to a customer’s life? Will it clearly show how your business can solve their pain points or specific needs? Is it informative as well as engaging? Ultimately, will this post encourage them to click on a link, subscribe to your email list, visit your website or make a purchase?

If a post doesn’t have any value besides being fun, then it’s not going to have any significance on your marketing. Fun and creative posts are great, but they need to offer the customer a value proposition.

Does The Post Fit The Mission?

Mission statements are a must-have for any business. Large, mid-size or small, a business needs a mission statement to define its purpose and goals. The same goes for your social media accounts.

Each of your social media accounts needs its own mission statement to be effective. These statements will outline the specific role each page will play in the businesses’ marketing strategy and set achievable goals. For example, your mission statement for your business Facebook page is to inform your audience of the latest products and promotions to increase revenue. At the same time, the mission statement for your LinkedIn page is to promote your business achievements in order to network with potential partners or investors.

If your posts are not aligned with the mission statement for that respective social media page, then you should choose a page that’s more appropriate for this message. If none of the current mission statements fit the post, then it’s best to move on to a different approach.

Is This The Best Format For The Post?

One of the biggest challenges of social media marketing is to determine which platform is best suited to deliver a particular message. Posting the same content on all of your social media accounts is not very effective. It’s a method that is too broad and undefined. Why? Not every audience member is on the same page – literally.

Certain demographics enjoy the community approach that’s the foundation of Facebook. Others prefer the image-driven content found on Instagram. And still others prefer the brevity of Twitter.

If a certain post is better fit for a particular page’s content style, then it’s best to post it solely on that respective page. You’ll give your audience exactly what they want to engage with and you’ll add more variety to your social media marketing.

Is This The Best Time To Post?

You created a post that has value, fits the network mission and was delivered via the preferred social media platform for that respective content. So why didn’t it perform better?

The answer may be that it was posted at the wrong time.

Posting content at random times may be ok for personal pages, but it’s not a recommended practice for business pages. You want to deliver your content to the right people at the right time. Using analytics tools like Facebook and Instagram Insights is an excellent way to discover which days and times your audience is most active on social media. With that information in hand, you can schedule your posts to deliver on the appropriate platform on the days and times when your audience is most likely to view it.