Important Considerations for Improving Social Media Engagement and ROI for Small and Medium Businesses

Chances are, you understand the growing importance of social media for attracting current and potential customers to your website, as well as for announcing a special event or product promotion. And while there are many different forms of social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.), most users don’t know how to use them effectively to help improve the ROI of marketing communications. Just “having” social media accounts isn’t enough these days; you need to understand the best practices for using each and nurturing your accounts on an ongoing basis.

For example, if your social media accounts haven’t been updated in the last thirty days, your current and potential customers may question your reliability, reach, quality, and professionalism. Your social networks are a direct reflection of your brand and what follows are some simple guidelines to improve it.

Relevant social media content improves ROI

Content that is relevant to your current and potential customers is critical to building significant trust in your brand, both in the short and long term. In today’s world, trust is very important and a clear and basic method to improve customer purchase. Conversely, posting anything can be more harmful than simply not posting at all. What seems smart today may be detrimental tomorrow. Your content, both images and text, should be well thought out to meet the needs of your current and potential customers and therefore improve ROI. And it must be creatively presented to be received by an often skeptical audience.

With the recent news about fake accounts and posts, Facebook and Instagram are trying to improve their algorithms to remove accounts that post irrelevant content or use popular hashtags just to gain visibility. These tactics will now get ghost accounts blacklisted. This means that your account is visible only to those who search for it directly, but your content will not show up on anyone’s timeline.

How to implement hashtags for maximum engagement

Hashtags and social media are as important to each other as oil is to your engine. To perform better than just getting likes here and there, you need to research relevant hashtags. General hashtags can be used as long as they are relevant and not abused.

For example, when I create a post on Instagram (this same post will also be shared on Facebook), I always start it with #GoodMorning #GoodNight depending on the time. There are more than 91,500,000 posts on Instagram with the same hashtag. Hashtags are the equivalent of meta keywords on your website – they need to be relevant to your post and you shouldn’t overuse them.

Publishing consistency also improves ROI

Solid growth doesn’t happen intermittently, and the regularity with which you post is key. Work with your team and, based on your understanding of your audience, set a minimum number of posts and perhaps ideal times as well.

And in today’s increasingly suspicious environment, “Writing longer posts, spending more time writing them, and posting less frequently can go a long way to building trust in your brand. Posts went from 808 words in 2014 to 1,142 words in 2017.” – Means of orbit. And, of the organizations using social media today, only 3 percent post daily, 22 percent post weekly, and the majority post only several times or less in the past six months. Thus, your consistency in postings becomes even more meaningful to your clients and prospects, making profitable growth more achievable.

Remember, it’s all about the brand

Traditional media, digital media, and social media, in particular, must work together to improve brand and marketing ROI. When your audience shares your post, they are extending your brand to reach new audiences, and your existing audience is demonstrating their brand loyalty.

And don’t forget about your website. It’s the focal point of your brand, and while you may go much longer without updates, search engines specifically look for up-to-date content, and new, professionally-developed content can significantly increase your brand’s ranking.

Marketing Communications Consultants Can Help

In a recent CMO Digital Benchmark study, 97 percent of marketing leaders said social spending made only an “average” or “below average” contribution to their company’s performance. So if you have concerns about what you’re doing, you’re not alone.

Social media is growing rapidly, and as with any new process, there is a great need for professional help. Not understanding best practices and/or not having the time, energy, or skill to improve your social media efforts is like burying your head in the sand. As Will Rogers said: “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”