Tips and tricks for new social media marketers

Thu, 04/02/2016 - 00:00

Since the dawn of social media, marketers have been trying to figure out how to use it to their advantage without bombarding the public with ad campaigns. There is a fine line between being social online as a brand and using brand power to promote the business.

Social media is being used to engage and inform followers; some marketers have been getting it right and others have not. As social trends are developing, there is a growing trend of marketers not quite getting it right. Here are some tips to help new social media marketers.

Aim for the right time

Early mornings or late at night are brilliant times to post or tweet to followers. Social media strategist Christian Brink found that the most popular times for marketers to tweet is on weekday afternoons around 12pm. But this is also the busiest time of day and a post can easily get lost due to online traffic. This then reduces the chances of a post receiving the necessarily interaction it needs. The reach may boost, but that doesn’t mean it will receive any interaction.

Depending on the demographic, posting times may vary from business to business. Have a test run and see which times posts get the most user engagement. Schedule posts in advance for alternate times such as evenings, early mornings and late nights.

Don’t let weekend posts become ghost posts

A social media strategist’s week may end on a Friday but that doesn’t mean social media does too. People don’t switch off from their devices on a weekend. They are more active on social media and stay connected for longer periods of time, unlike on an average business day. Weekend mornings between 8am and 11am have the highest engagement ratings compared to the same time frame during a business week. The same is true for the holiday season as more people are away from work and have time to engage on social media. Avoid promotional content on weekends; rather opt for light, generic posts that link to the brand in some way.

Repetition is not necessarily bad

Avoid posting the same content verbatim on multiple platforms. It can be changed in the manner in which it is composed by changing the title of the piece, pulling out different quotes or using another photo. Reusing content that has proven effective in the past is a great way to not only save time finding new content, but to get the most out of what has already been published. Due to the speed at which content gets swallowed online, it is possible for brands to post the same content multiple times. Take a look at the page’s insights to see what worked and what hasn’t. By doing this, the brand can be boosted by choosing to post the right content at the right time.

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