Lovehoney B2B’s tips for using social media to promote your business
In recent years, and notably since COVID-19 has disrupted the world, social media usage has seen an astronomical boom. For instance in March this year, Facebook’s Daily Active Users and Monthly Active Users saw a 10% year-on-year increase respectively. This growth has meant that social media has become an absolute must for marketeers. It is the place where customers can interact with businesses, giving both parties the ability to ask questions, repost each other’s content and build on-going relationships.
Getting started with social media marketing is not always an easy task, so Lovehoneys Sales Executive Jade Bawa shares six tips on how to effectively promote your business through social media.
1) Choose the right platform – It is important to determine your goals when deciding on your social media marketing strategy, in order to choose the right social media platform. For instance, do you want to encourage communication with your customers? Or do you want to drive brand awareness? Once you have these set goals in mind, research the social media platforms available to you and their uses. It can also be beneficial to think about how you use social media as a consumer. For example, think about how you would go to Facebook as a way to connect with others, to Twitter to receive short, impactful pieces of information, or to Instagram for visual content.
2) Create a content calendar – It’s important to plan your posts far in advance, so you are producing the highest quality content. Failing to be organised and planning your content could mean you are creating repetitive posts or missing out on key dates. Creating a social media content calendar will help you create goals and strategies, and help you track your progress Keeping an eye on national holidays and important dates in the calendar that relate to your business is beneficial, so you can join in with discussions via hashtags. This will be a great way to introduce more people to your page who are using the same hashtag.
3) Encourage engagement – For brands with an online presence, a high engagement rate is often a strong indicator that you’re making an impact in the market. It’s not about appearing popular, it’s about making meaningful connections with your audience which will in-turn improve the chances of boosting your ROI. It will also help build a sense of community to your page as it becomes a place where people go to engage with each other and promote your content. Use your creativity when thinking of engagement boosting content. For instance, encourage conversation through asking questions or encouraging hashtag usage, likes and comments and running competitions or polls. It’s important to always track engagement levels, so you can learn what your audience responds well to, so you can repeat similar techniques.
4) Do not over promote – One trap that businesses often fall into is treating their social media content as an advertisement for their business and products. Some marketers follow the one in seven rule, which means that for every one promotional post, this is followed by six posts which are content-based. You could share articles, images or spark conversation through asking questions. It is fine to mention your brand in these posts, just be careful not to sell too hard.
5) Share images and video content – Visual content works extremely well on social media. As people scroll mindlessly through their busy social media feeds, images and video acts as a great way to grab attention. Lovehoney B2B understands this and has a host of eye-catching social media visual assets available for download to retailers on their trade website, free of charge. These are designed with the customer in mind and act as a way to make your content stand out amongst the crowd. For more information on this offering, emailtrade@lovehoney.co.uk or contact your account manager.
6) Provide value – The overall point you should consider when developing social media campaigns is that your content must provide value to your customers. Whether it teaches your followers new things, make them laugh, or act as food for thought, this valuable content will be the thing that makes your brand leave a lasting impression on their mind. Master this, and you’ll be a step closer to achieving a successful marketing campaign, as you will have attracted new followers, which in turn could grow your customer base significantly.
