The ever-changing world of social media

Wednesday, 18th December 2019 08:54

Social media is an effective way to keep in touch with people who are interested in your business. In the last ten years, social media usage has become much more widespread, making it an obvious choice when it comes to communication for many people.

You might be thinking it is merely for personal use, but how many businesses are there on social media? Finance brands, food brands, make-up brands and more have all taken to social media to narrate their story and promote their products or services. For the first time, brands are able to engage directly with their audience.

Each social network works differently in various industries, so it’s best to perform a bit of research into how others are using the platforms. For example, you might own a coffee shop, and you might notice another coffee brand retains a more professional way of speaking on LinkedIn and Twitter, whilst on Instagram and Facebook, you can use a lighter, less formal tone of voice. 

But as always, it takes lots of trial and error, what works for someone else’s brand may not work for yours and vice versa. A good guide is that LinkedIn is more professional, Instagram more visual, punchy and Facebook a good all-rounder.

But what can you share?

You might not have much of your own content, and that’s okay, there are news articles and blogs all over the internet that you can share – make sure you credit where applicable. All curated content (that’s any content that you share) should be relevant to your brand to keep the content engaging and your followers on your page. Ask a question, ask for their opinion, do something to generate a conversation – Remember, it’s called ‘social’ media for a reason!

Obviously, sales posts selling your products or services, but you don’t want to do TOO many of these. People don’t want to be sold to too much, however, it is a great place to sell as people are on social media a lot. The general feeling is that a balance of 80/20 is good, with 80 being engaging content and 20 is sales posts.

Business updates, moving office? Share it. Introducing a new makeup brush? Share it. Changes to your industry or sector? Share it. Won an award? Share it. Anything appropriate to your business and customers is worth talking about.

Personal posts can work as well, as social media can be relatively relaxed and people can react more to personal posts. Of course, they won’t want to know about your flu jab, but maybe you hold an office cake bake, or you’ve decorated your shop, maybe even an ‘about the staff’ weekly post.

It doesn’t have to be serious; make sure you create a bit of fun that suits your brand, humans are designed to have fun.

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