Are you looking to take your business to the next level in 2023?
Well, you’ve come to the right place. Social media has become an essential part of any marketing strategy, and if you’re not using it effectively, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to build brand awareness and grow your bottom line.
That’s why we’ve compiled these five valuable tips to help you leverage social media to take your business to new heights this year. TikTok. Instagram. LinkedIn. Where do you start?
Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. So are you ready to learn the secret to success behind the behemoth of social media?
Without further ado, let’s dive in and explore how you can use social media to grow your business in 2023.
How to amplify social media growth for your business
Here are five simple tips for building a strong online presence:
Tip #1: Combine SEO efforts with your social media strategy
Did you know that 68% of online instances start with a search engine? That means consumers aren’t going directly to Instagram or LinkedIn when looking for something online.
So ranking highly on Google with SEO should be a top priority for any business that wants to be found online. Combine that with the reach of social media, and you have yourself a dynamic duo.
Just make sure to match the buyer’s intent with the content you create. Let’s look at a specific niche to drive this point home.
Real estate websites (pun intended), for instance, often publish high-quality content in the form of blog posts, property descriptions, and neighborhood guides.
The key here is to find your top-performing content and repurpose it into other formats that perform well on each social media channel. For example, you can create infographics from your existing blog posts with current market trends and share them on Instagram. Or turn a Nashville neighborhood guide into a short-form video to post as a YouTube Short.
This way, you’re saving time and money by repurposing the content you already have and using it to expand your reach on social media. The goal? Drive potential leads to your website and convert them with a compelling call-to-action (CTA).
Consistent and strategic use of keywords is also relevant for finding the right hashtags to increase your posts’ visibility and invite the right people to engage with your brand.
But before you hit publish, make sure to add relevant hashtags to each post. Each channel requires a unique set of hashtags.
Based on research from Hootsuite, here’s the optimal amount of hashtags per channel:
- Instagram: 3–5 hashtags
- Facebook: 2–3 hashtags
- LinkedIn: 1–5 hashtags
- Twitter: 1–2 hashtags
Besides the hashtag strategy for social posts, you must also optimize your social media profiles for better visibility. For this, you need to:
- Write a compelling bio that contains relevant industry keywords
- Include a banner image for better visualization
- Add a profile picture (it could be your business logo)
- Share your website URL
Image source: https://www.instagram.com/theoppenheimgroup/
By combining social media and real estate SEO efforts, you can effectively drive engagement from both channels and improve the online presence of your real estate website.
Tip #2: Showcase customer testimonials
Have you ever encountered a dilemma when you wanted to buy a product but started to second-guess yourself if you should dish out your hard-earned money for it?
After all, what if you don’t like it? Or the product lacks the quality that you were hoping for.
But then you see tons of positive reviews, and your doubt quickly fades.
One customer testimonial can curb your confusion. So imagine what it can do when you share these testimonials on a grand stage (read: social media).
Customer testimonials are a form of social proof and help showcase your brand’s credibility. They also help your audience understand the impact your product and services could have on them.
There are two ways to use customer testimonials on your social pages:
- Sourcing customer testimonials and then posting them on your channels
- Encouraging your customers to share their positive experiences on their social channels
Typically the second approach to customer testimonials on social media works best. Why? It helps your audience understand that it’s not just the brand sharing the testimonial for the sake of it. But rather, a “real customer” is sharing the brand’s impact on them.
Look at how Social Studio uses a customer testimonial on their Instagram Story:
Image source: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18061203610291595/
Why it works: Social Studio uses Instagram stories and customer testimonials to share success stories and inspire new leads.
Also, the story shows how Social Studio incorporated a clap slider sticker. People are much more comfortable reacting to an Instagram story than commenting on the post. It’s a more private way for a brand to view engagement.
So this added touch has the potential to boost customer engagement tenfold.
How to implement: Go through your Instagram direct messages and comments. Try to find positive comments and interactions. Take a screenshot of what they’ve said and share it on your Instagram story. Remember to ask for permission before sharing.
Add stickers and other interactive elements to boost the engagement rate on the post.
Don’t forget to ask for a testimonial from satisfied audience members. But then you see tons of positive reviews, and your doubt quickly fades.
Tip #3: Use social media as your customer support channel
As the saying goes, the customer’s always right.
Because let’s face it. Without customers, you won’t have a profitable business. So your goal should always be to provide the best customer service to keep your customers happy — whether it is via social media, emails, chatbots, or phone calls.
But keep in mind that 64% of Twitter customers say they’d rather message a dedicated support handle than call into a business for customer service inquiries.
By merging customer support with Twitter, your business can enjoy several benefits, such as:
- Increased accessibility for both businesses and customers
- Publicly visible interactions that can enhance your brand’s reputation
- Faster response times, allowing for more efficient communication and issue resolution
For example, a Twitter user tweeted a question about their challenge with GoDaddy’s webmail and asked for suggestions.
Image source: https://twitter.com/nidhiikala/status/1638414483860373504
Hostinger quickly jumped into the conversation, shared a detailed guide on the solution, and encouraged them to drop a message for more clarification. By doing this, they:
- Indicated how active the brand is on Twitter
- Gave confidence to the user to interact with them
Image source: https://twitter.com/nidhiikala/status/1638414483860373504
So, the user messaged the brand and asked their questions, to which Hostinger responded.
Image source: https://twitter.com/nidhiikala/status/1638414483860373504
Why this works: Since Hostinger responded to their query, it boosts the buyer’s confidence in the brand and increases the potential to turn a one-time buyer into a loyal customer.
How to implement: Create a Twitter account for your business and closely monitor brand mentions. Here’s how to do it:
- Enable notifications: Go to notification settings and enable notifications. Now, you’ll get notified every time someone tags your brand. Note that you won’t get notified of untagged brand mentions.
- Use Twitter advanced search: Get a basic idea of who’s tweeting what about your brand with a quick search. You can also create special search filters based on certain terms, people, dates, and places.
- Use social listening tools: Agility Social Listening provides a dashboard to see all the tagged and untagged brand mentions and interact with these people.
Tip #4: Collaborate with influencers
Influencer marketing has become a powerful tool for any business looking to increase their reach and engagement on social media. Why?
By partnering with influencers with a large and engaged following, you can tap into their audience and gain exposure to potential customers who might not have heard of your brand.
Here’s an example of how Jenna, a lifestyle blogger, shares skincare products on her Instagram page.
Image source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CqVRcR0jXDg/
Why this works: Jenna shares a video of her using the product and a caption talking about the product in detail. At the end of the post, she shares a discount code and encourages people to click on your product link.
It’s a call to action for her followers, who are now interested in buying the product after watching her video review.
How to implement: Decide on a budget for influencer marketing and what products you want them to promote.
For example, if you run a cafe, you can try collaborating with food bloggers. Or, if you own a SaaS product, consider working with small business owners.
Once you have selected the kind of influencer you need, look for the quality of their content and engagement rates rather than their follower count. Then, email them with the project requirements:
- Do you want them to create a video using your product?
- Do you want them to post images using your product?
- Do you want them to share a review of your product on their social channels?
Sidenote: Always sign contracts when working with influencers to stay on the same page. You can also provide them with assets like a link to your products, discount codes, and specific guidelines or requirements to ensure a consistent brand message.
Tips #5: Run contests and giveaways
Are you launching a brand-new product? Do you want to sell out of your existing products? Do you want people to know more about your brand?
Running giveaways and contests is an excellent way to attract people and increase brand awareness on social media. After all, who doesn’t want the opportunity to win free stuff?
Let’s take a look at an example in action.
Imagine you own a business that sells engagement ring insurance. You could use Instagram to post giveaways where the prizes are jewelry, like diamond earrings, necklaces, and rings.
Image source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CaGXdjdJYPc/
To enter these giveaways, your followers must like your post, tag friends in the comments (more tags = more entries), and follow your account. This strategy can help you reach new potential customers, grow your community and convert more leads.
Why this works: When you have a 3-step giveaway rule, i.e., like the post, tag your friends, and share on Instagram stories, people following your brand will likely participate in the giveaway.
And when they tag their friends in the comments or share the giveaway post in their Instagram stories, their engaged audience will likely see your post and participate. This strategy works well to increase brand awareness and acquire new followers.
How to implement: Decide what kind of prize you’ll give away to the winner and what method you’ll use to choose the winner. Some of these methods include:
- Discretion-level winners
- Random number generator
- Organizing competitions
So pick your preferred winner approach and set the 3-rule system for people to follow.
Ideally, this encourages people to:
- Like and save the post
- Comment and tag three of their friends
- Share the post on stories and tag the brand
The more engagement your post gets, the better it performs on the Instagram algorithm.
Wrapping up
And there you have it. Social media is a powerful tool for businesses looking to grow and expand their reach in 2023.
By implementing the tips we’ve discussed, including repurposing your content strategy by combining SEO efforts with social media, providing excellent customer service, and collaborating with influencers, you can create a winning social media strategy that drives results.
But what does this mean for the PR industry? Social media has fundamentally changed how brands communicate with their audiences, and PR professionals need to adapt to this new reality. Instead of relying solely on traditional media outlets, you must embrace social media as a critical channel for reaching your target audience.
By staying informed and adapting to the changing social media landscape, you can continue to provide value to your clients and drive business growth in 2023 and beyond.
Happy posting!
