Small Business Guidelines for Posting on Social Media

Posting on social media is often a lot like fishing. In order to get good results, you need to know what you are going after, use the right bait, fish in the right place, and recognize that allocating the right amount of time to preparation and execution is going to be just as important as having the proper strategy.

Posting on social media as a small business can be stressful and feel futile, and it is hard for some to reconcile those feelings of futility with the world screaming that social media is pivotal to a business’ success in the modern world. If this is something that you have struggled with in your company, FirstPage Marketing is here to help. We know that, while social media can be leveraged for most business’ success, posts need to be done right to have any value.

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The Small Business’ Guide for Posting on Social Media

When posting on social media, there are a few tips that can help you to ensure that your posts will have the best impact possible. Some things to keep in mind as you prepare your social media posts include:

1. Post with Purpose

Every piece of content that gets posted by a company on social media should serve a purpose. The posts that people tend to skip past are the ones that are just sort of “there.” In order to ensure that content is purposeful, goals should be established, and posts should always be in service of those goals. A helpful guide to keep posting purposefully is to choose a social media compass. A social media compass is usually a simple question, such as “Why choose ABC Contracting?” Every piece of content created for social media can then be targeted at answering that simple question. If it doesn’t answer the question, it shouldn’t be posted.

Should you use social media for your business?

2. Post Platform-Appropriate Content

Making sure that the content you post suits the social media platform is one of the first things you should consider when coming up with content. If your audience is only responsive on Facebook and Instagram, then these should be the only channels to which you pay attention. Different platforms have different standards for posting, and posts should be tailored to these standards. For example, if you are posting on Instagram, the post should be visually focused, without excessive text to accompany it.

3. Be Consistent

Posts in a company’s social media account should try to strike a consistent tone and message so that followers know what to expect (in a good way). Using posting themes to determine what content to publish can be extremely helpful to ensure that social media stays on-purpose and consistent.

4. Plan Ahead

Posts that are planned out in advance are consistently better than those that are done on the spot or as a reaction to an event. Planning out a month’s posts ahead of time can ensure that important dates are covered well and allows a business to examine past posts to see what performed well. It also makes it easier to collaborate with team members, inspect social media goals, and ensures that the proper number of posts will be scheduled.

Learn how to create the ideal social media strategy for your business needs.

5. Quality Over Quantity

Putting out good content is way more important than simply putting out content. If a company has the option between putting out 8 high-quality posts in a month or 16 medium-quality posts, it should almost always go with fewer posts of higher quality. In many cases, more posts only serve to desensitize your audience to the message you are trying to get across, so it’s best to set an appropriate limit to how many posts get published in a month.

Any videos and images posted should be taken as professionally as possible. While it may not be possible to hire a professional photographer for every shot, it is important to follow some basic photography guides. Written content should be free from grammatical errors and typos. The content you post represents your business, and blurry, low-quality content will convey an undesirable, sloppy appearance.

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6. Post for Your Audience

In many cases, social media posts done by businesses are too technical or don’t take the interests of the audience into account. Whenever content is published, it is important to post for the audience, not for yourself. While you may be an expert in your field with an appreciation for hard-hitting technical content about your industry, it is likely that your audience will be interested in a more topical perspective on your work.

If you would like to learn more about how to post well on social media and start leveraging your digital presence for success, the team at FirstPage Marketing would love to help. Give us a call and we would be happy to answer your questions and get you started.

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