None of us like wasting time and effort for little return. Bad social posts won’t engage your audience and the only ROI they give is fatigue. Here are some rules for social engagement that will dramatically improve results. Try applying these 4 social media tips to get better ROI!
1. QUALITY OF YOUR POSTS: WHAT MAKES A SOCIAL MEDIA POST “GOOD”?
To be successful in getting social media to work for you, it is important to produce content of good quality. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need professional video or images, but rather posting what people enjoy and engage with. That is what is most important.
I have seen practices and businesses hire a company to post every day for them, and yet this actually hurts their social game plan.
Here is why; Facebook (and Instagram and other platforms) will reward engaging content and pages and pretty much nullify pages and content that don’t get good engagement.
You create a page, and let’s say you get a few followers. At first, Facebook will show your posts to the user that has selected to follow your page. However, if that user doesn’t engage with your posts, Facebook stops showing your posts to that user.
So, you can end up with a page with 10,000 followers, but your posts only reach 50 people. And that will go down even further if those 50 people don’t engage with your content.
I see businesses posting regularly – daily or more, and because they’re content is boring or not appealing, no one pays attention to it.
You can have a page that has 5 followers getting better reach (meaning more people seeing content from the page such as their posts) than pages with hundreds of followers.
Let’s say you share a super funny video or meme or image or something very beautiful or inspiring and 3 of your 5 followers share that. Now you have your business name showing up in front of those 3 people’s family and friends (or followers).
Facebook also pays attention to engagement, and will suggest your engaging content to more/new users.
2. USE REAL PICTURES FROM YOUR OFFICE OR TOWN
Time and time again when we do a review of the social media performance for our clients, posts with pictures of the staff or doctor always do best.
Vets are great at these! Puppy comes in for first visit and they snap a pic of the tech holding the puppy and post that. Tons of engagement.
Dentists, Orthodontists, Chiropractors and PTs and other human doctors can often have a harder time at this, but when they do post images with themselves or their team or the doctor with a happy patient (or send these sort of images over to us to post) they start getting more engagement.
3. ENGAGE/INTERACT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE
Another very important social media tip, is that you need to make sure you engage on Facebook. What I mean is that if someone leaves a comment, make sure you respond to that comment. I guess another word for it would be “interact.” Interaction with your social connections is important. If someone sends a message, respond in a timely matter. Spend 10 minutes over your lunch break or mid-day break or whenever possible, to check out what your friends, family and audience are up to. This will also give you a sense of what people are engaging with so you can do more of that.
4. USE PROPER HASHTAGS
Use hashtags, but also make sure you use them appropriately.
Some people will just have fun making up hashtags. But that doesn’t really help your page get any exposure or help you gain presence on social media.
Keep in mind that people follow hashtags. Or even search for things using hashtags.
In 2021, when I wanted to find a salon/hair stylist that was open, I went to Instagram and searched #folsomhairstylist and similar tags. That way I could see who was actually open and delivering their service, and at the same time see if I liked their work.
People often follow hashtags of things they are interested in. Such as their local city #stpete or maybe local restaurants so they can see what is happening #stpeterestaurant.
When you include your #city in your post, your post is more likely to be seen by whoever is following that hashtag or searching it.
However, not many people are going to actively search something like #stpeterootcanal. Using something like #stpetedentist or just #stpete will more likely get your brand in front of people.
If you want to decide what #’s to use, you can open up Instagram and search for items that may be related to your industry – such as your city and it’s variations (such as #stpete and #stpetersburg and #stpetersburgflorida). When Instagram starts pulling up results, you can see how many posts are using that hashtag and get a sense what people are interested in and possibly following.
There are also websites like this one, where you can search for hashtag ideas for your industry.
These are just a few tips to get your social media working better for you. I hope you find them useful!
If you want to talk to someone here at Walker Kreative about your marketing or social media, give us a call or fill out the form on our contact page. We will respond rapidly and set up a time to chat.
Best,
Christine Leacox
Director of Marketing Operations
