Did you fail to attain some of your social media goals in 2014? Perhaps you lacked in terms of engagement, or only gained a handful of followers/friends throughout the year. Maybe you gave up on social media all together, convinced that the time you spent on Facebook and Twitter wasn’t doing anything to help your business after all?
Whatever your goals were, 2015 means you have a new year to reassess your approach and begin making the necessary adjustments to improve your social media presence. If you can buckle down and focus on posting and engaging for the first couple of months, the hard work will be done; from there on out, it’s simply staying active and sharing posts, that’s the most important aspect.
Take a look at these five social media tips to help you start 2015 off on the right foot:
Review Your Accounts and Remove the Dead
This is the perfect opportunity to review your current social media accounts to see which ones are working and which ones aren’t so effective. Have you invested tons of effort into an account that isn’t showing any signs of worth? Have you been neglecting certain accounts the last couple of months? These are the questions to ask yourself; let go of accounts that aren’t performing well for you, and if you’re not ready to do that then consider what improvements need to be made to improve results. Bottom line is that if you’ve don’t have the time or dedication to update your social media page, it’s best to delete it entirely. An inactive social media account will hurt your SEO and will send a poor message to your followers or potential customers, directing them to your competitor’s page instead most likely.
Establish Social Media Goals
Part of not letting your social accounts fall by the wayside means setting more attainable goals. Several businesses don’t have any plans in mind, and simply post when there is an occasion or an interesting article/idea that’s worth sharing. In other cases goals may be too unrealistic for the network in question. Perhaps you’re interested in dipping into Instagram this year? A reasonable goal may be to create a branded hashtag, and gain at least 10 user-generated photos per week using that specific hashtag. This goal can be accomplished, and it can contribute to broader goals, like increasing engagement around your brand or increasing the flow of user-generated content. In planning better and more realistic goals this year, you’ll likely find success rates will be higher.
Update Your Page(s)
How many times have you updated your social media page? Once? Twice? When I say updates, I mean more than your cover photo or profile picture. Are your business hours accurate, address, contact information, and promotions all current? Be sure to review this regularly to ensure the information and imagery you’re sharing is in fact honest and correct. Nothing is worse than coming across a profile or page that is outdated; it will only frustrate your visitors and turn away any potential business.
Set aside time and make the necessary updates. You might be surprised at all the fields that are out-of-date or just blank.
Commit to social media education
You’re managing social media for a business and you’ve already attracted a decent following. You’re posting regularly to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, you’re engaging with users and you’re directing them back to your website. That’s encouraging, and a great start but there are so many other opportunities out there through social media. Sure, social media is constantly changing so it can be difficult to know everything. A lot of the time, we miss these changes because we are self-taught; it’s crucial to seek ongoing education when it comes to social media trends and techniques to stay on top. Social media education is more important than ever. If you work in social media, it can mean the difference between getting some views to your blog and driving substantial revenue to your business.
Be sure you’re executing strategic social media strategies for a successful 2015!