The right way to use social media for your business

It’s widely known that businesses need to be represented on social media. It’s expected. Your sales team can benefit from having their own social media presence, separate from their personal accounts. This is a great place to build a following and loyal customers. However, there’s a way to do social media right and a way to do it wrong.

Social media is a place to create conversations. You want to show what you can provide potential customers, instead of pushing sales. For example, you might say something like “Are you tired of painting your nails to just have them chip off after a few hand washes? Say goodbye to traditional nail polish and try our new nail strips.” This is a way you can sell your product without being too salesy. You’re showing how your products can benefit the customer. Regardless of how you word direct business posts, you don’t want all of your social media content to be about what you have to offer.

You need to have other content in the mix. You could share relevant articles or blogs, inspirational quotes, and helpful tips. Don’t always be pushing your products or talking about your offerings or you may end up turning people off. Customers want to follow a brand that benefits them, someone who comes off as authentic.

One of the ways to build a good rapport with your followers is to engage with them. That means responding to comments and messages. Potential customers will be less likely to comment or message in the future (or even do business with you) if they feel ignored. So, make sure to respond to your audience.

Always be careful about the sources you share. Make sure that any articles or blogs come from trusted websites and are either helpful or interesting to your target audience. Don’t forget to cite sources as you’re creating content. You need to be sure that you give credit to those who deserve it.

When creating content, don’t forget imagery. Posts with images perform much better than those without. If you want to take it up a notch, use videos in your social media strategy.

Be careful with the amount of text you use in each of your posts as well. Too much text could encourage people to ignore posts. Sprout Social offers some great tips on character counts that you can check out to help you get started.

There are a lot of ways your business can use social media to help drive sales. But it’s important you use it wisely and follow best practices. You should build your brand in an authentic way, aim to be seen as a thought leader and focus more on what you can do for the customer and less on pushing sales. These practices will help you gain more traction with a social media audience.