When was the last time you got a lead from Facebook? Social media is a powerful tool that should not be overlooked when you’re looking to boost business. Whether you want to pick up seasonal customers or simply capture new leads, the vast network of social media websites has made it easy to share your services with the world.
The social media industry has become an online beast, and can become difficult and sometimes intimidating to manage. But don’t fret, here are a few ways you can tame the media machine and get the best return on investment for your social campaigns.
Show, Don’t Tell
Visual social platforms have consistently ballooned in popularity over the last half a decade. In 2012, the photo sharing application Instagram reported 10 times more engagement than any other platform. Not surprisingly, Facebook bought the image app for $1 billion that same year.
Pinterest, which uses images to direct users to web pages, engages over 70 million users and a photo on Facebook is 53 percent more likely to get “likes” than a wordy post.
And then there is Houzz. Houzz is an extremely visual social media website that connects homeowners and home improvement contractors. Yes, a Facebook for the home improvement world.
Since social media is designed to be consumed quickly, work on showing your work on these websites, rather than ta
lking about it. Share the quality of your work and excite potential customers about your current project through watermarked images blasted across popular image sharing sites.
Keep your smartphone with you and regularly post project updates to Instagram and Twitter.
And share polished photos on Facebook and Pinterest that represent your best or specialty work. Image editing programs like PicMonkey.com let you edit your image for free and offer simple, user-friendly tools to make small changes like color enhancing, cropping and watermarking to help you boost the quality and sharing of your images.
Trim the Social Media Fat
Not all social media sites are created equal. The popularity of many social platforms shifts daily and you don’t need to be on all of them to see a return on social media marketing efforts. Truthfully, there are two sites you need to take note of: Facebook and Pinterest.
Facebook continues to dominate, with almost a quarter of all social referrals to websites coming from Facebook.
You should also consider using Pinterest regularly. Pinterest has consistently snagged the No. 2 spot in social referrals over the last few years. Many of Pinterest’s 70 million daily users are American women, most likely the exact clientele that’s going to call your number for some home remodeling.
Another bonus to using Facebook is their deep well of audience data. You can find out important demographic information from Facebook users that follow your business page, such as their gender, age, most active times online, and even their other interests. This can help you target your social media posts for when your audience is online and create the type of content they’re most willing to share.
Reuse and Recycle
Get the most “
bang for your buck” by re-sharing popular posts. Re-sharing content at different times during the day can help you reach multiple audiences and get your useful content read by more viewers.
Fast paced media, such as Twitter posts, can be shared multiple times and more regularly.
Posts on Facebook or Google+ should be given at least a week before re-sharing, and then a month after that. You don’t want to bombard your customers with too many posts, so use a calendar to spread out the posts over two months, sharing a single post three times instead of one and hopefully garnering a bigger audience of potential customers.
For the most success when re-sharing posts, marketing blog giant Buffer.com recommends reframing your content each time you share it by changing the headline, updating the picture, or digging up new stats that will catch a potential customer’s eye.
These simple steps can help you master your social media presence with ease. Online efforts account for the most referrals to your website, which means that, although the social media industry can be intimidating, it’s worth taking the time to understand.
Find your future customers online and boost your business with these social media strategies.
Sources:
http://sociallysorted.com.au/shift-to-visual-social-media-6-tips-for-business-infographic/
https://blog.shareaholic.com/social-media-traffic-trends-10-2014/
