Over the past year or two, many small business owners have quickly learned the value and overall importance of social media in this day and age. For this reason, it might be wise for entrepreneurs to spend a little more time and effort in the new year trying to better understand what they can do to improve engagement and potentially boost sales through these channels.
One of the most important things that owners and employees in charge of social media for a small business should try to keep in mind when posting new messages is that they should make what they post meaningful and engaging, according to a report from the Asbury Park Press. One method that may be beneficial when it comes to weighing whether a message is good for a company is for the person posting asking themselves, “Would I share this with my followers or friends?” If the answer isn’t an emphatic yes, it might be wise to take an idea back to the drawing board.
A particularly good method for determining whether a message will be more shareable, though, is seeing whether an image can be included with it, the report said. While many social media sites can just present users with what is basically a wall of text, any image of a decent size is going to grab a user’s attention and potentially get them to click through to whatever’s being offered. Of course, these images should be well-crafted and free of any typographical errors or similar mistakes, but that’s usually a pretty good jumping-off point.
Staying concise
Meanwhile, it’s also important to make sure that messages are being delivered efficiently on these sites, the report said. Many people may not be particularly interested in clicking “Read more” on Facebook, or hitting a link on Twitter, and as such the fewer characters that can be used to convey the message behind the posting, the better off companies are likely to be in terms of grabbing would-be customers’ or clients’ attentions.
Owners might also want to consider the value of paid advertising on social media, but should try to think of ways to free up some cash to pursue this kind of thing in earnest. For instance, if they can find more affordable small business insurance coverage, such as plans for liability insurance, they may be able to save themselves thousands of dollars annually.
