You’ll hear it over and over because it’s true: “Content is king.” Google continues to push a quality-over-quantity approach to drive search traffic to a website. It has now become a test of your efforts and relevance. Post content that your targeted audience will find engaging and “share-worthy.” If you’re just posting to go through the motions, hire a professional, because you are hurting your campaign and your company.
2. Thou Shalt Post About Controversial/Edgy Topics
If you want to generate engagement, pick buzz topics that are relevant to your company. Social media is the new medium for self expression. Users are constantly looking for outlets where they can be heard. Allowing for people to have this space will not only improve the overall engagement on your page, but will entice other users to follow you. However, this does not mean you should pick a side – think of yourself as an objective reporter. Present the controversy, and encourage your followers to share their view.
3. Thou Shalt Not Over-Post
As mentioned above, posting haphazardly will not serve your campaign. Here’s why. Facebook is rating your content. Every time you post, Facebook is analyzing what kind of engagement you are receiving. If people are not clicking through, sharing, liking, etc. then Facebook will not share your content to users’ news feeds. This makes it twice as difficult to establish a reach.
4. Thou Shalt Use Hashtags
Hashtags have made their way into most major social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube and more. So use them. As a marketer, you can’t ignore them. You need to know how to strategically implement these tagged topics. Hashtags can expand your content reach, amplify your brand, target your market, get your content found, improve your SEO, and more. In short, hashtags make you “searchable” within the social media platform itself. Whether is a branded hashtag, trending hashtag, or a content hashtag, all have the potential to improve your presence and even guide your content.
5. Thou Shalt Measure Social Media Performance
Whatever your goal, measure! Measuring and analyzing your efforts are key to having effective SEO tactics. When you track and analyze what’s working and what’s not, you can improve your campaign, thus making your investment more worth your time. Track your social media traffic via Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Google Plus Insights and Twitter Insights. At the end of each month, discuss your progress and shortcomings.
6. Thou Shalt Not Ignore Customers
You may find that customers are choosing to reach out with inquiries via social media. If a client reaches out publicly, say on your Facebook Wall, it is important that you answer them publicly and in a timely matter. Any time you neglect to do this, your followers will see that you are not committed to putting customers or clients first. Your answer should show eagerness and professionalism.
7. Thou Shalt Use Images and Videos
We live in the age of the “camera in everyone’s pocket” and with more than 2.5 billion camera phones in use we are entering a new dynamic era around image creation and content.Photos are becoming the “universal language”. The fastest growing social media networks are not surprisingly Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram. Statistically, adding images to posts and content drastically increases social engagement,
8. Thou Shalt Boost Posts
You’ve probably heard the news that Facebook has decreased the organic reach for pages. That means that to be seen in your community’s news feed, you need to spend some money on Facebook ads.You don’t need to pay for every post—just choose the best ones – and ones that send traffic back to your main website.
9. Thou Shalt Perform Spell Check
Integrity, accuracy and professionalism.
10. Thou Shalt Be Transparent
Should you run into an issue that causes a flurry of activity on social media, the worst thing you can do is try and hide from the issue. Never delete comments, try and respond the best you can, and don’t become defensive. Work to resolve the issue and let those that cared about it online know when it is solved.
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