Taking advantage of social media can help your business
Follow these short steps to increase your brand value and reach more users
#1 Set up your business profiles
Because Facebook now owns Instagram it’s very easy to integrate the two, but only if you are using business pages. You will want to start by creating a business page on Facebook. You can easily switch your Instagram profile to business in the settings menu. Once you do this, Instagram will prompt you to connect to your Facebook business page. For step-by-step instructions on how to create a business page on Facebook check out this blog.
#2 Assess your ad options
Depending on your buyer persona, you may want different types of ads to reach your target market. Both Facebook and Instagram offer several types of advertising that can be used, they are all important and have different strengths.
Picture posts
Assign a stellar graphic that enhances the text content and simply share on both platforms. From here you can pay to “boost” the post adding specific targeting options allowing you to reach a specific people group. More on that later. According to Buzzumo, posts with images get 2.3x the attention of those with just text content.
Carousel posts
Pick a variety of photos and create a “carousel” style post. This option is great for product sales, photographers, food service, and really anyone who wants to showcase the variety of who they are as a business. This can also be boosted for optimization.
Video posts
Video posts have proven to be effective. With 45% of people watching over an hour of video on Facebook or YouTube per week, you can see why video ads are important to your marketing strategy (Hubspot, 2016). Videos can be used in a variety of ways for a variety of purposes. A fun video showing a behind the scenes look at your staff creates a personal connection which followers love, while a product demonstration video shows your followers an in-depth look at your product building trust.
Live streaming
If you really want to connect with your followers in real-time, go live! Facebook and Instagram users tune in and communicate directly with you this way. Going live is an excellent way to connect with your customers and followers. Both Facebook and Instagram offer this option. Keep in mind you will have to go live separately on each platform
Story posts
Facebook and Instagram added the “story” feature when they saw how Snapchat was rampantly growing. Stories are a way to share quick snaps of your business happenings and special events. It’s even a way to make mundane things like Monday morning coffee relatable and interesting. Tag people, add hashtags, add fun effects, and create short boomerang videos to making your story pop. Don’t underestimate the power of using the story feature!
#3 Boost it
Boosting your post simply means you are adding money to your post to expand your reach. When you select the “boost post” feature you will be given a huge selection of options to zero in on your buyer persona. You can select things like geographical location, socioeconomic status, areas of interest, and age, to name a few. This option is a qualitative approach helping you select the people you want to see your ad, maximizing your ROI.
#4 Hashtags
Hashtags started on Twitter as a way to connect thoughts and ideas, they have since morphed into a way for businesses to maximize their posts. A simple search on google will give you multiple lists of effective hashtags about any subject. Create a stock-pile of hashtags relevant to your business or the different types of content you will be releasing, then you just copy/paste it directly into the text of the post.
#5 Consistency
When putting together your Facebook and Instagram marketing strategy, one thing is very important to remember, say consistent. Your followers will enjoy knowing what to expect from you and will even look forward to your posts. Creating daily themes is a great way to this, for example, Motivational Monday, Fresh Friday, or What’s up Wednesday. Having themes and consistency is a great way to build followers and connect with your customers.
The easiest way to do this is to create a content calendar. Check out this free content calendar download by Hubspot! When developing your marketing strategy you will need to create a brand voice, this voice should stay consistent. You need to determine what vibe you want to give your target market, i.e. what appeals to them. Then be sure anyone writing content for your business keeps that specific tone of voice for all content posts.
Facebook and Instagram advertising can be intimidating, but after taking these steps, you should be well on your way to creating a killer Facebook and Instagram marketing strategy for your business.
