Now that you have your business website up and running, the work really begins! It’s time to start promoting your website on social media so the world can find it.
There are many ways to do this, but the cheapest and most effective method is to utilize social media. We know many of you will cringe when thinking about this, but the fact is, it’s truly the most affordable way to really reach potential clients.
Most people start a website to either sell or educate. No matter which category you fall into, a blog can help you achieve these goals. We’ve created some of our 5 steps for successful social media marketing on our blog, but this article is designed for those who need some guidance on getting started and learning how to create successful posts.
Reserve Your Social Media Real Estate
There are countless stories of large brands that didn’t reserve their company names early and are now forced to pay thousands to regain control of their social media. Be sure you reserve your company name on all of the major social media accounts, and then, even if you don’t regularly update, you will still have a presence and retain control over the page.
Choose a Design Theme
If you’re new to design, you’ll soon learn the importance of branding and having a brand kit. If you don’t already have a brand kit, it’s important to get one now. It will make your life a lot easier when creating content for social media. A Brand Kit will also help you choose a theme that represents your company on social media.
There are many resources for creating a theme, but we’ve found Canva to be incredibly useful for anyone who isn’t a design pro. You can keep things simple (for example) by using primarily black backgrounds on posts, which creates a beautiful aesthetic when a person views their Instagram account. There are beautiful templates that you can easily switch out using your small business colors, and you can also find more complex examples of branding across Instagram. Media pages like this one can be very appealing.
Save time by understanding Social Media formats
Facebook and Instagram are one company that allows you to easily share on both platforms. Pinterest needs a different layout. So does Twitter, Tumblr, Youtube, TikTok, and others. See what resonates on specific platforms and choose to update 2-3 regularly.
Find Your Topics
The most important thing to do is identify why you want to share your website. If you’re focused solely on obtaining new customers, you can definitely start with your inventory. For example, a jewelry maker might want to focus on materials, finished products, news, and new releases. A person wanting to educate someone on a topic and thereby make money via affiliate income you have a lot of writing to do.
Most websites do a combination of both. For example, a soapmaker may have soaps to sell and wants to focus on IG to achieve this goal. But you are also likely passionate about the process of soapmaking.
Tell a Story
Whether you’re a visual or audio person, telling a story is important in social media promotion. Give readers a reason to follow you. This is why storytelling is so important. Animal rescue accounts do this well, and it’s worth a look to see how they tell the story of specific animals and their dramatic rescues. Yours don’t have to be as dramatic. Talk about how you make or develop your products, show your time as a business owner, and share your struggles. Your followers will relate.
Ask questions and Identify Pain Points
Pain points are something the majority of your audience can relate to. For example, if you’re selling jewelry, ask someone why they have a difficult time finding custom jewelry that fits their personality and discuss. Another example is a person offering counseling services discussing what brings people to them most often.
Share a Testimonial
Share the comments you’ve received on your work from happy customers. This can be done in a video or image, or you can simply type up the quote, depending on the social media platform. Either way, show your excitement, remember to preserve your customer’s personal information, and do your best to obtain permission from your client.
Create a Beautiful Graphic
Ideally, we would all love to be natural photographers. But, if this is something you struggle with, a lightbox and a good camera phone is an excellent way to obtain some quality photos of your product.
Utilize a Trending Hashtag
Hashtags are ways of dividing information into groups or topics so that people who are interested can get all of the information from multiple sources instead of relying on one source. To find hashtags that are appropriate to your industry, do your research and target hashtags with both low and high competition. You can even create your own hashtags using your business name.
Find Your Holidays
Create a post highlighting a special day. There are thousands of official holidays for each industry that you may or may not have heard about! You can find your specialized holidays by googling your industry + Holidays. For example, “small business holidays” or “dog holidays.”
These are just a few of the important ways you can utilize social media to promote your business. Learn more at Moonlit Media’s blog.
