If your business does not have a social media presence then where do you start? You need a plan.

Choose your social media

You do not need to have a presence on every social media platform to promote your business. Facebook and Twitter are a must for most businesses, and if you sell business to business then LinkedIn should be given a high priority. The question to ask yourself is what social media platforms do your potential customers use? Try asking your existing customers. If your business produces videos and images then YouTube and Instagram are the best sites to share your visual content.

Your profile

Once you have selected your social media platforms, you need to create a profile for each one. This should emphasise what you or your business has done, as well as simply answer the question of who you are. Your profile should anticipate the things that your potential customers will be looking for. Avoid jargon in your profile and encourage followers to see you as a person, rather than a faceless business.

Find your voice

Content is there is promote your brand. In order to create the style of content, ask the following questions:

If your brand is a person, what type of personality would it have?

What personality is not your brand?

What is the style of your competitors?

How do you want your followers to describe your company?

You need to find your unique tone and voice. Your followers should relate positively to your style and spread the word about your business.

Timing

Decide on the timing of your posts. How frequently do you want to post? What is the best day and time to post? Social media is a great way to promote your business, but it requires careful planning to be effective. Thankfully, there are many analytics tools that you can make use of.

John Murray

John is every inch the wordsmith and loves a game of Scrabble above all else. With experience writing for newspapers, John’s time at university was spent studying Creative Writing – something which comes across in his love of the pun.