Social media is one of the most powerful tools business owners can use. How you leverage your accounts can make all the difference in terms of your overall success and business growth.
As 2021 moves forward, it’s important for entrepreneurs to know how to maximize their social media use to achieve success throughout the year. To help, 15 members of the Young Entrepreneur Council use their firsthand experience to share some of their best social media tips for today’s business owners.
1. Embrace Stories
There’s a bit of a joke in marketing that every platform is coming out with a stories feature, but there’s still a ton of value there! First, stories are easy to make — it takes 30 seconds or less to grab your phone and film a snippet. Second, you’re able to provide great information in a one-to-one manner for an array of audiences across platforms. Create quick stories and forge lasting connections. —Shay Berman, Digital Resource
2. Use It for Customer Support
Business owners need to look at social media as another platform for carrying out customer support activities. People find messaging a brand on social media convenient since they can simply send a chat message through apps on their phones. Start making scripts and responding to users right away. You’ll also help your users by allowing them to leverage a free platform too. —Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
3. Be Consistent
Consistency is key. Consistently create and post content even on tough days, but be sensitive enough to adjust your post according to everyone’s current mood. Create relatable content that will engage more people and make them happy, and they’ll want to stay customers because they feel “at home” with your business. —Daisy Jing, Banish
4. Present Offers to Audience Segments
Social media marketers need to think about how they present offers to potential customers. There are some pretty advanced tools out there, like Facebook Dynamic Ads, that give marketers freedom and flexibility to market to different audience segments at the same time. If you want to grow your business through social media, you need to connect to the segments within your audience. —John Turner, SeedProd LLC
5. Engage With Your Audience
Social media isn’t just about creating content. Most users know how to create content on social media by now, but they forget the most important part: the social side! Respond to your comments and messages. Find your ideal customers or clients and reach out to them. If you don’t have the time yourself, delegate this part to your team to handle. —Diego Orjuela, Cables & Sensors
6. Host More Contests and Giveaways
In 2021, more business owners should focus on running contests and giveaways to boost their conversions. Contests are an easy way for your brand to gain traction on social media by increasing your following, generating leads and driving traffic to your content. Our contests and giveaways helped our brand grow even before its official launch. —Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
7. Give Your Brand a Purpose
Audiences today are keenly aware of the social and ethical causes espoused by brands they associate with. Expressing what matters to your company on a personal level can build the emotional trust that audiences are looking for. Clarifying our unwavering support for racial equity and social programs has helped us identify with not only our customers, but also our employees. —Jacob Tanur, Click Play Films
8. Set Clear, Measurable Goals
When planning social media campaigns in 2021, be sure to set clear and measurable goals for their purpose. What should they accomplish? What results do you want to see? If I don’t set goals and objectives for myself, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds and lose sight of what social media is: a tool to grow your business. Keeping a goal in mind will help you stay focused. —Jordan Conrad, Writing Explained
9. Be Authentic, Vulnerable and Honest
Authenticity, vulnerability and honesty have never been more timely or more necessary. Social media has become noisy with the filters and “perfect” posts. What resonates now with online audiences is focusing on our ability to express vulnerability in our leadership. This is challenging but necessary. —Leanne Lopez Mosley, GROW Coaching Solutions
10. Use It to Bolster Your Content Strategy
Business leaders across all industries need to use branded social media accounts to bolster their content strategy. You can make some pretty creative decisions that will lead to more people following your account and browsing your website. For instance, adding your social media page to your website will encourage more people to check out your profile, exponentially growing your channel. —John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC
11. Focus on Channel Quality, Not Quantity
I recommend specializing over diversifying when it comes to social media. Unless you have the resources to outsource social media management to a third party, you should concentrate your efforts on two channels. I prefer LinkedIn and Twitter. If I try to keep up regular content on Facebook or Pinterest, for example, I lose steam and the quality of the output suffers. —Tyler Gallagher, Regal Assets
12. Ask for User-Generated Content
Business owners need to understand the power of user-generated content (UGC). Consumers want to see how others are using your product. Ask people to leave video reviews or show off their favorite way to use your offerings. You can dramatically grow your social presence, email list and sales by adding UGC to your social media marketing strategy. —Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights
13. Look to the Younger Generation for Inspiration
Businesses need to start learning from the younger generation. The young audience of today will soon become the buyers of the future. So, look at how people create content on social media as a model for your own posts. Short videos, informative tips and humor are some of the elements of popular social media posts today. Look for inspiration from younger people, and you should get more engagement. —Blair Williams, MemberPress
14. Remember to Actually Promote Your Content
To most people, promoting your content may seem obvious, but some of us pour our time and energy into creating material and then we trust that its quality will organically bring us a bigger audience. Your content can only be taken to the next level with the right promotional strategy through some paid advertising, however. —Maria Thimothy, OneIMS
15. Tell a Compelling Story
Use the art of storytelling to connect with your audience. People can connect better with your story than they can with your product or service. Stories also inspire ideas and encourage interactions. —Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
