Few social media efforts are as successful as Studio 113’s Notes from the Bench (see p. 46). Those that generate new business often have experts behind the scenes who determine strategy, develop content, oversee implementation, and help companies avoid common pitfalls.
Ana Raynes, director of social media at Didit, an integrated marketing and communications agency, is one of these experts. A frequent speaker at business and technology conferences, she has led social media campaigns for such clients as HSN, Aer Lingus, and SkyMall.
Raynes believes that Facebook is the most important platform for marketers to earn, but finds that approximately 75 percent of companies are doing it all wrong. She provides a few tips on using Facebook and other popular social platforms more effectively:
Facebook
-Don’t worry about likes; engagement is much more important. Facebook hides brand posts with no engagement.
-Don’t use a third-party tool to post to Facebook. The algorithm notices this and will grant less visibility to your posts.
-Do use Facebook Live. Brands using Facebook Live have seen a 50 percent increase in engagement.
-Do create groups and events. Facebook is pushing these tools via its algorithm, and you may see a spike in engagement.
-Do use images of people smiling on your Facebook cover; brands have noticed a lift in likes when they do so.
-Don’t boost your posts—it is a waste of money. Instead, create ads through the Facebook business manager. You will receive a much higher return on investment.
-Don’t post more than twice a day on Facebook. This can be annoying to your fans and decrease your overall page engagement.
Twitter
-Do use tools such as Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule your tweets.
-Do create lists to organize your followers. This will help you with daily conversations.
-Don’t use Twitter just to repost what everyone else has already said. You will lose followers.
-Do use tools like Hashtracking to track your brand’s Twitter conversations.
Instagram
-Do post daily images—but, as with Facebook, don’t post more than twice a day.
-Do make use of your bio link by changing it when you want to push your audience to a particular landing page.
-Do use trending hashtags to increase your visibility.
-Do follow industry influencers to raise your brand awareness.
LinkedIn
-Don’t leave your profile page incomplete.
-Don’t add a cover to your profile that is not professional.
-Do use a professional headshot.
-Do write posts on LinkedIn Publisher—they are great for SEO.
-Do add presentations and PowerPoints to your profile page.
-Don’t skip the summary on your profile. This is the most important part of your profile optimization.
What else should users of social media know? Snapchat, says Raynes: “Everyone needs to learn how to use it because this is the future of social media—private messages with branded filters and custom mobile keyboards.”
Raynes also provides some general advice about social media. “Just use it,” she says. “It is so much fun that the more you use it, the more fun you have. That comes across to your audience, and they will engage.”
