SOCIALMEDIAMEDIA

GUIDE

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BEST PRACTICESBEST PRACTICESSOCIAL MEDIA

SOCIAL MEDIA IS ESSENTIAL FOR BRAND RECOGNITION

Algorithms vary for each platform, so it is important to understand how to measure success. This guide will give businesses and business professionals the information necessary to begin building a successful social media presence.

BEST PRACTICES ACROSS ALL PLATFORMS

It is important to have consistent branding across social media platforms in order to build brand recognition. When revamping your social media presence, you should first decide on a profile picture, bio, and handle to showcase on every platform.

Be strategic with who you follow, and who you want to follow you. All social platforms will use this information to determine your target market audience.

FACEBOOKFacebook is a social networking platform where businesses can connect with users, create a fanbase, host events, and sell items and services both casually and professionally. With over 2.4 billion users worldwide, it is crucial to have a Facebook page in order to ensure brand recognition.

WHAT TO POST:• When posting photos or graphics, use high-quality images with very little to no text. • Post content that keeps people on Facebook’s platform as much as possible. If you post

external links, Facebook will limit your potential audience. • Share articles that engage users and are relevant to your brand.

• We recommend posting three to six times per week. One out of every five posts should be non-promotional, meaning not directly talking about products or services, and not pushing people directly to a CTA (a post that prompts your users to take action). Consider posting fun facts about your team, congratulating your clients, and sharing inspirational quotes.• Know what time of day your target market is on Facebook, and consistently post at that

time.

WHEN TO POST:

• Use the Facebook pixel feature on your website to optimize your advertising campaigns. It will gauge how likely people are to engage with a post, and will present your post to the best-suited audience.

• Keep your posts consistent. If Facebook knows what to expect from you it will help build an audience based on who’s engaging with your posts.

• Keep up-to-date on trending topics. These can be seen in the upper right-hand corner of your feed.

• Integrate a chatbot to answer basic questions and monitor your inbox daily. Fast response rates are key for high ratings.

• Interact with other people and pages from your business account in order to show that you have an active online presence in your field.

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INSTAGRAMInstagram is a social networking platform based on sharing images and videos. It is owned by Facebook and many insights are shared between the two platforms. With over 1 billion users worldwide, having an Instagram account will help users identify with your business and increase brand recognition.

WHAT TO POST:• Use high-quality pictures with a consistent brand aesthetic. • Write captions underneath images. This can vary per brand, so stick with what gets more

likes and comments. Do not post links in descriptions as they are not clickable on Instagram. The only place you can post a clickable link is in your bio. • Always use hashtags to help people find your posts. We recommend using 11 per post: Two brand-specific hashtags should be used consistently in every post. Five of your hashtags should vary based on trending industry tags. Four of your hashtags should be specific to the image.

• We recommend posting once a day.• Timing is key. Utilize Instagram’s Insights tool to understand when your target market

is interacting with your posts, and consistently post at that time.

WHEN TO POST:

• There should be a consistent theme or vibe for all of your posts. • Write a concise and brand-specific description in your bio. Include your most relevant link. Make it short. If you don’t have any short links, use bitly.com. • Be strategic with you who follow. Follow people or brands who you want to follow you back. Prioritize prominent and relevant accounts.• When you first launch your account, cast your net wide by using general industry hashtags

in order to get brand recognition. Once you have narrowed down a target market audience, use more specific hashtags in order to create a brand aesthetic.

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TWITTERTwitter is a social networking platform where businesses can connect with users by posting “tweets” limited to 280 characters. This is a helpful platform for sharing short updates and re-sharing information.

WHAT TO POST:• Share concise and intentional posts. The ideal content will vary depending on your industry. • Use no more than three hashtags. Keep your hashtags current with what is “trending

now” according to Twitter.

• We recommend posting original content three to five times a day. This does not include retweeting.

• Retweet information relevant to your brand two to four times a day. If your posts are not getting likes or retweets, limit your retweets to no more than two per day.

WHEN TO POST:

• The Twitter algorithm pays close attention to who you follow and who your followers are. Strategically follow people and retweet accounts that you want to be associated with yours.

• Schedule your posts on Twitter Business.

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LINKEDINLinkedIn is a networking platform for businesses and business professionals primarily used for networking and job searches. With over 660 million users worldwide, having an active LinkedIn profile will build brand awareness and help establish yourself as a professional authority in your field. This is especially true for B2B companies.

WHAT TO POST:• What to Post:• Post blogs and articles about your business, brand, or field.• Share updates on what you are currently working on.• Share statistics relevant to your field.• Use LinkedIn Live for real-time updates and events. This is a highly recommended new feature and is already a huge trend in 2020. This is a great way to keep users engaged and informed on current events.

• We recommend posting at least once a week, and no more than five times a week. WHEN TO POST:

• Strategically post in order to show that you are up to date on current trends in your field.• LinkedIn doesn’t receive information from other social media platforms and therefore

won’t enhance your overall performance. However, it will talk with other websites including your own. This is highly beneficial for o!-page optimization. See our Ultimate Guide to Search Engine Optimization for more information.

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YOUTUBEYouTube is a social networking and video-sharing platform, as well as a prominent search engine. In 2019 it passed Facebook to become the most used social media platform in the United States with active users in over 73% of the adult population.

WHAT TO POST:• Informational videos about your brand, field, or specific campaigns for your company.• Instructional videos on topics relevant to your field. • Advertisements or commercials for your company.• Videos created by you or your company.

• We recommend posting two to four times per month, or whenever you have relevant content.

WHEN TO POST:

• Post videos that will show you are an authority in your field. Having relevant and helpful videos is instrumental in building your brand recognition.

• Post your videos on your website and social media platforms.• Position your videos to the Gen X audience (born 1965-1980), who is currently the majority of

the users on YouTube. • Edit your videos in order to keep viewers engaged for over 30% of the video. Pay attention to average view time instead of total views. The length of time that people stay engaged with your videos will dictate where you show up in search results. If even one video gets no view time, your overall rankings will drop. If you are new to YouTube, you can remedy this by simply deleting videos that have a low view time, unless it is not detrimental to your averages. • Become verified on Youtube by gaining 100,000 subscribers. This will show that you are an

authority in your field.• Enable Monetization and receive “ad cents” up to 28 cents per viewer. You will be given the option to monetize after you gain 1,000 subscribers and have over 4,000 hours of total watch time within 12 months. • Be strategic with who you follow, and who you want to subscribe to your channel. If you can get

people to subscribe who are considered an authority in your field, it will increase the trust of your channel.

• Recommend channels similar to yours in the “recommended channels” section of your profile. This helps the platform identify your target audience, and will recommend your videos accordingly.

• Customize your URL. This option will become available after you gain 100 subscribers.

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SNAPCHATSnapchat is a social networking platform where users share photos and videos in a time-restricted fashion, with posts disappearing after a select amount of time. This is a great platform to showcase activities in real-time, and to engage with users on a personal level.

WHAT TO POST:• Real-time videos and images that reflect what you or your business are currently up to.• Commentary on current events

• We recommend posting four to seven times per week. Be mindful that stories only last 24 hours.

WHEN TO POST:

• Make sure that your posts are short, visually-appealing, and engaging. You want the viewer to stay hooked and continue watching your stories.

• Showcase your personality to appear accessible to your viewers.• Advertise! This is an underutilized platform for ads and there is little competition.• Promote product launches before, during, and after. This is especially successful for lifestyle and beauty brands.

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PINTERESTPinterest is a social platform and search engine where users can save, catalog, and organize content. If your business has visually stimulating products or promotes creativity, this is a beneficial platform to utilize.

WHAT TO POST:• Visually stimulating images.• Inspirational posts or quotes.• This is especially successful for any brand focused on DIY, design, beauty, or fashion.

• We recommend posting five to ten times per day. This includes saving and pinning other users’ posts to your board.

WHEN TO POST:

• Create a Pinterest board based on your company’s interests and • Re-pin relevant posts to your board in order to create brand recognition, and to connect

to others in your field.• Post about your boards on other platforms in order to gain followers. Once your board

is noticed, it will start to appear more frequently in search results.• Stay trending! Your company must portray a lifestyle aesthetic that can easily be

categorized under popular search terms on Pinterest. The top 4 most popular search terms for 2019 were:

Life organization (up 78% from 2018) Sustainable lifestyle (up 108%) Organizational videos (up 230%) Budgeting finances (up 3,298%)• The Pinterest algorithm recommends boards based on what people search for most.

Find out what your target audience is using Pinterest for, and fit into as many related categories as possible.

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