A Beginner’s Guide To Social Media For Businesses

From small businesses to large corporations, social media is a necessity for interacting with current and prospective clients, customers, or consumers, providing necessary company updates, and strengthening brand awareness. However, before any business can begin posting on social media, it’s important that they understand a few key aspects such as which platforms to post on, what investments to make, and how to track a page’s success. Keep reading to learn how to get your business started on social media!

Decide which social media platforms to use

Just because your business can make an account on every platform doesn’t mean that it should. Instead, think of the content you want to share in terms of the goods or services your business provides and who you are trying to sell to to determine which platforms will be the most beneficial. 

For example, if your business relies on visuals to sell products, it would make sense to use platforms such as Pinterest, Youtube, Tik Tok, and Instagram because they are all primarily made for sharing images and videos. On the other hand, if your business frequently shares written content such as blogs, articles, or long case studies, it would make more sense to invest in platforms that easily allow links to be shared such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Next, you need to determine who your target audience is -- what platforms are they using and what are they using them for? Remember, sharing content means nothing if it is not being seen by the group it is being created for. Looking at each platform’s user demographics can help you get a better idea of which platform your audience is using and therefore which ones would make the most sense for your business to utilize.

Know that social media is not always free

Sure, signing up for most social media platforms is free, but for businesses, social media can and should be an investment. For example, LinkedIn’s premium service allows businesses to gain a more in-depth look into their audience’s behavior, competitor data, and more. Likewise, Twitter’s premium service (launching soon in the U.S.) gives users essential options such as editing tweets and the ability to easily compile threads.

Sponsored content on social media is another investment your business can make to get your brand noticed. While prices can vary depending on which platform your business is using, how many people you want to reach, and how long the sponsored content will be available, the more time, effort, and money your business puts into sponsored content, the better outcome it will have.

Lastly, before setting up your social media accounts, you also need to ask some important questions when it comes to the logistics of running the pages -- Who will be managing all of the different platforms? Will your business use an in-house marketing team? A full-service agency? Or even freelance and contract workers? Hiring individual content creators, graphic designers, and analysts can mean not only hiring new employees, but also investing in the tools that they need to do their jobs. For example, will you need to invest in design softwares such as Adobe Creative Cloud or premium subscriptions to sites like Canva or Crello? What about scheduling and community management tools such as Hootsuite or Sprout Social? Answering these questions prior to creating your online presence will help you get a better understanding of how much you should be budgeting for and who you will need to hire.

Have plans for crisis and reputation management

Word travels fast on the internet and once a post is made, it can only be a matter of time before a company receives backlash. From Burger King’s infamous “women belong in the kitchen” tweet to United Airlines’ poorly written apology tweet following an unfortunate incident on one of their flights, it’s clear that what brands share on social media matters. 

While prevention is the first step in crisis and reputation management, knowing how to handle a mistake is just as essential. Businesses should not only pay attention to what is being posted on their social media accounts and ensure that it will not be taken out of context, but also always be prepared in the event that something does go wrong. For example, posts regarding mistakes or mishaps should use specifics to acknowledge what went wrong, take accountability, and include how the brand will make amends going forward. 

Research your competitors

Stay up-to-date on current market trends by researching what your competitors are doing and taking note of what is (or isn’t!) working for them. Never copy another business’s entire social media strategy, of course, but ask yourself these questions to stay one step ahead: What content are they sharing that receives the most engagement and when are they sharing it? What feedback are they getting from followers? How can I create my own content based on what the competition is doing?

Be personal

Remember, social media should be a social experience. This means while social media is great for keeping customers up-to-date on important announcements such as new partnerships or new products and services, don't be afraid to get personal and interact with your audience. “Liking” or replying to follower comments or feedback and answering questions they have can all build a relationship with your followers. Even simply sharing updates on promotions, after-work events, or employee highlights can help your followers put a face to your organization, give them an inside look to your company’s culture, and view your business as more than just another company they’re following online.

Use analytics to track your success

Once your social media pages are set up, how will you track their success? You might look at a post’s analytics or insights and see it has 1,000 impressions and a 5% engagement rate, but what does that really mean?

Here’s a basic rundown of the most commonly used words across platforms and what they mean:

Impressions: the number of times a post is seen in users’ feeds. Different social media platforms may break this down by “overall impressions” and “unique impressions” meaning a combined total of the amount of times the content was seen versus the amount of times the post was seen by unique accounts.

Reach: the number of accounts your post reached in total. This differs from impressions because it is the number of accounts reached, not views. 

Click-through rate: the percent of accounts that clicked on your post in comparison to the number of times it was viewed. 

Engagement rate: the percent of total engagements (“likes” or other reactions, comments, shares, etc) in comparison to the amount of times it was viewed.
It’s important to note that all social media platforms might use different words to describe data for each post and offer different insights depending on the post type. For a more in-depth look at how each platform breaks down analytics, take a look at their individual websites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube, Tik Tok, Pinterest) to learn more.

Not sure where to begin when it comes to your company’s social media? Contact Nexus today to start hiring the marketing professionals you need to make your business’ online presence a success or sign up for a free Job Market Analysis to learn more about your competition, potential new hires, and more.