3 social media tricks to build your business

By Cara D’Angelo, CertainTeed.

Build your business with social media by developing a strong following, visual content and knowing when your audience is online.

If you’re not on social media or not paying attention to it, you should be. Social media is another way to find customers, share information and best practices with other professionals, and expand your circle of influence. It is just as important today to engage on social media as it is to have a website.

Still not sure? Let’s look at the business opportunities you are missing.

1. Your customers are on social media

Despite increased grumblings around content, security, and privacy, social media’s active users aren’t going anywhere. A third of the world’s population is on Facebook and we don’t foresee that number going down significantly any time soon.

• Facebook has 07 billion monthly active users to be exact. See https://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-statistics/
• Twitter has 330 million monthly active users, about a four percent increase over last year. See https://blog.hootsuite.com/twitter-statistics/

2. More importantly, your customers want to see you on social media

Social media is a great way to “get to know” your customers and build trust – and that trust is rewarded in terms of increased loyalty and sales.

• Ninety-three percent of people who follow small- and medium-sized businesses on Twitter plan to purchase from the SMBs they follow, and 69 percent have already purchased from an SMB because of something they saw on the network, according to a report from Twitter and Research Now. See also https://blog.hootsuite.com/twitter-statistics/

Ok, now that we’ve reviewed the why, let’s look at the how.

While the large reach of social media can definitely be good for businesses, it can also make it harder to stand out in a crowded field—and that was before Facebook introduced its new algorithm changes.

In early 2018, Facebook began prioritizing posts that “create meaningful conversations” in users’ timelines. Basically, the platform favors posts that are likely to start conversations.

All this is to say, posting alone is not enough. Businesses need to get smarter about how and when they engage with their audience on social media. Which is really not that hard once you know how.

Best Practices You Should Follow:

• Create a strong following. If you’re just getting started, see who is following the other local businesses or groups in your community or industry. There is a good chance that these people will be interested in your products or services, too. “Follow” and engage with them. Followers love when brands engage with them.
• Be online when your audience is online. In the wake of Facebook algorithm changes (see above), you may see your organic reach drop. By posting at the peak time your audience is online, you’ll have a better chance of reaching your target audience. Chart 1 will give you an idea of the best time to post per platform. User activity level by time of day across various social platforms.

While this is a good starting point, you will want to tailor your schedule to your specific audience. For example, we know our audience on Facebook is most active between late-afternoon and dinner time, so we focus most of our activity around this time. See chart 2.

User activity level by day of week across various social platforms.

• Make your content visual. Facebook users watch 100 million hours of video every day. See also https://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-statistics/ . If you have a highly visual product, why not take advantage of video? Tools like Animoto make it easy to create professional videos. Not too sure about your video skills? Graphics and glamour shots are important, too. Websites like Canva can help you create clean, branded graphics for social media.

Social media should be another tool in your toolbox. If you are ready to get started, I encourage you to visit Hootsuite’s blog to learn more.

Learn more about CertainTeed, LLC in their Coffee Shop Directory or visit www.certainteed.com.