social media

How often do you hear people say they didn’t have time to post a photo online or they didn’t think of it because they were so busy? In today’s business world, that will put you behind your competition. Social media is such a crucial part of business strategy that it has become a full-time job. If your team is not on top of online social trends, you are missing out on additional avenues to reach new customers and to keep in touch with your existing clientele.

Show the Faces of your Company

Social media is an excellent way to introduce consumers to your team and showcase the people who make the magic happen. There’s a variety of ways to do this including posting employee spotlights to introduce various members of your team. Whether through videos or static posts, it adds personality to your business. Recognizing employee birthdays, promotions and new hires are also engaging ways to showcase the backbone of your company. Employees can also share the posts to their personal social media channels, creating even more exposure for your company.

Does your company have numerous reviews on Yelp, Google and other platforms? Sharing those reviews offers the online world a look into your company and employees from the perspective of an existing customer. It’s one thing to read a company’s website and see what they offer, but reviews offer a more authentic look at a company’s employees and services which holds value for prospective customers. Getting your customers to help promote your product and/or service is truly the “secret sauce” because it can grow your advertising departments’ size exponentially.

Show your Company Culture

People like to connect with companies they do business with on a personal, human-like level. One way to connect with your clientele is by sharing behind the scenes photos and videos. Do you celebrate birthdays or holidays in your office? Host company-wide volunteer days? Share it on your social media channels!

Chances are your company supports one or more causes in the community and believes in giving back to those in need. Whether it is supporting a local charity, raising money or donating your time, it’s great to share your work with the online world. Not only does it show what’s important to your company, it helps to spread awareness for the cause or organization you support which could lead to greater support.

Have Fun with it

Social media is meant to be fun, interactive and engaging! I tell my clients they should make more videos to use to use online. People love photos and videos and with today’s smartphones, it’s easy to record a quick video and upload it online with a fun caption. Show behind the scene efforts, company outings, product and/or service demos and company news. Another fun aspect of social media is being able to host contests and giveaways. Contests and giveaways are not only a great way to give back to your followers and clientele, but it also increases engagement and followers.

Encourage your employees send in posts (to be approved) for the company’s social media channel and ask them to take pictures and videos. Thousands of photos and videos are waiting to be taken and the impact on social and SEO would be staggering, exponential in fact.

Research Demographic Targeting for Facebook Ads

Another element of social media and online trends is Facebook ads. If you haven’t before, it’s beneficial to experiment with small Facebook ad budget and measure what works for your business. Before launching an ad campaign, it’s important to do your research.

Facebook allows you to apply demographic targeting to reach a certain audience based on age, gender, education, workplace, relationship, language, location and more. By researching and determining the demographics you would like to target, it defines who your audience is. Facebook also allows you to retarget potential clients who have visited your website which is an advantage because it often takes multiple impressions to convert to a sale.

With online social trends constantly changing and social media continuously evolving, it is important to have a person or team dedicated solely to a company’s social media. Social media and your online presence can make or break a business and it should not be overlooked or pushed to the side. Once you begin building your social media channels, you will be surprised to see how fast it grows and how easily you can reach both your existing clientele and new customers.

Kellen Kautzman is the founder and operator of Send It Rising Internet Marketing, a Las Vegas-based internet marketing agency. Kautzman is a well-regarded expert on growing small business with digital marketing and SEO, a public speaker, and published author of the book, “Everybody’s Doing It – Advertising Redefined by SEO Expert Kellen Kautzman”, which initially launched as the #1 New Release on Amazon.com in the SEO category.

Social media stock photo by Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock