We hear ya, social media isn’t easy! It takes a lot of work to keep your social game at peak performance. And for small businesses, that challenge is SO much harder. Big corporations have millions funnelled right into massive teams of experts crafting the most pristine social posts you’ve ever SEEN, so it’s daunting to open your social media knowing that’s what you’re up against.
Below are the main issues that just about EVERY small business struggles with when it comes to their socials. And while not all of them can be solved with Lately… most of them can (wink wink).
Most business professionals would just tell you to post more on Linkedin, but for small businesses, that advice is not helpful… sorry business professionals! Linkedin needs to be approached in a completely different way than a small business would approach Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
One example of this is on Linkedin, engagement is not as important as it is on other social platforms - but people who may not be aware of that focus WAAAAAY too much on it. Truth is, you should be focusing more on conversion metrics over engagement metrics. In fact, it’s suuuuuuuper common for brands with really low engagement to have high returns. So don’t focus on engagement at the expense of ROI and overall profits.
Connecting with followers is a huuuge way to keep people coming back to your page AND expand your reach to new prospective customers. Using things like hashtags and staying up to date with what's happening in your industry is crucial! Another tip is to see who is talking about your brand on socials like Twitter and Linkedin, and jump in on those conversations. Or say someone is asking their followers for something that does exactly what your brand does, hop into that conversation and throw your name in! No shame in that game.
Another strategy is to make sure everything you post is eye catching and attention grabbing! That split second where someone decides to see what your brand is all about is actually SO important. Small businesses can see what types of posts resonate with their audiences and attract new peeps. The more the merrier, right?
What's one way you can track engagement down to the WORD? It begins with an L and ends in Ately, baby! A lot of this is trial and error, sometimes you’ll post something that absolutely flops and that's ok! Using Lately you’ll be able to see which words and hashtags grab people's attention and push them to engage.
Asking questions is always an easy step in bettering your engagement. And creating a solid brand voice is another way to make your brand seem more approachable and human, making your audience feel more comfortable to post comments or share your posts. If you have a large Instagram following, make content that people want to post on their Stories. If you’re on Twitter, ask open ended questions and strike up some conversations! Whatever you gotta do to get the people talking helps.
Soooooo not to beat a not-so-alive horse. Using Lately you can bulke schedule things out sooooo far that you don’t even have to worry about this. It works like this, if you’re a Lately user you already know how easy it is to get a few DOZEN social posts for every blog or video… so using that insanely helpful generating feature you can use the millions of posts you’ve cranked out in a matter of seconds and schedule them wayyyyy far out in advance.
Using Lately you don’t have to stress daily about what and when you have to post, because it's automatic! Less time stressing, more time doing way more important stuff.
Like the other social media struggles already discussed, the problems span across every social channel. Creating content is unique in that basically every social platform has a different “sweet spot” in which your posts will do really well.
On Instagram, it’s where things like infographics KILL, or on Twitter where small,digestible bits of info are what brings people in. Even on Tik Tok, which is still very new to a lot of brands, small one minute videos that people can engage with are exactly what the platform wants to boost.
Of course Lately’s generator is what makes creating content such a breeze, but make sure you understand the platform and what kind of content does well before you invest tons of time and energy into it!
We know you may be feeling totally under the water with issues and bumps in the road you may be facing, just know we’re all in the same boat.
Team Lately is always here to help (hugs)
