Social media marketing isn’t what you’d call a point-and-click enterprise. If you’re having trouble reaching customers on Facebook and other platforms, you’re not alone, and a social media scheduler could help.
Leads are the lifeblood of small agencies, and social media is set up to deliver them to your virtual door. According to a 2019 study, 72 percent of consumers used social media to find items to purchase.
According to Forbes.com, businesses need to develop social media strategies to take advantage of this growing opportunity:
- Focus your social media advertising to meet shoppers where they already are.
- Understand the types of content social media shoppers want.
- Create content that is easy to share, so shoppers can “talk” about your product.
It sounds great in theory. It’s also great in practice, but you need to know what you’re doing. A social media audit could help.
That leads to a natural question, “What is a social media audit?”
It’s a process for assessing your social media presence. If you’re on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or others, the audit gauges the effectiveness of your efforts and suggests ways to improve.
According to the Harvard Business Review, an investigation can also protect your brand. More than 25 percent of content about brands is generated by consumers. How is your business impacted by “electronic word-of-mouth?”
In addition, information collected during an audit can include
- demographics
- locations
- engagements
That brings up another natural question, “How do I conduct one of these audits myself?”
We’re glad you asked because we have a few ideas that center around:
- mechanics
- activity
- relevance
- look and feel
Mechanics of a Social Media Audit
When it comes to social media, certain norms are expected to be followed. Look at your social media pages to make sure you’re metaphorically clicking the right boxes. Check out other people’s pages to see what you might be missing.
For instance, if you have a LinkedIn page, it needs to have a header and a description. You also want to make sure to fill out your LinkedIn profile in ways that help you connect with other users.
A Facebook business page is a good way to reach people on the granddaddy of all social media platforms. A Facebook business page allows you to
- update customers
- publish and promote content
- connect people about your products
- deliver customer service
But does your Facebook page have a header that attracts attention and tells people what your page is about?
In order to get the most out of Twitter and Instagram, hashtags are the name of the game. If you use the right hashtags, people who don’t actively follow you can still find your content and make connections. However, if you use the wrong hashtag, it’s the same as using no hashtag.
Social media is about sending messages, so a social media audit is about digging deep and finding out exactly what those messages should be.
Activity
Let’s say you’ve figured out what you want to say, you put it out there, and then put your feet on your desk to wait for the business to roll in.
That’s a no-no.
Social media is a numbers game. No one runs a commercial on TV once unless it’s a multi-billion-dollar Super Bowl ad. TV and radio commercials run repeatedly to poke through the media clutter. Your social media needs to be active to engage the attention of users.
Commit to getting a variety of messages into the ether of the internet. Your activity level is crucial to your success, and every post is an investment in your business. A good rule of thumb is to post three times a week and keep it going.
Relevance
We’re calling this next bit the “social media pie.” It’s a way of thinking about the types of posts you want potential clients to see:
- Goodwill posts are about supporting your community and investing in causes. They build your brand’s reputation.
- Behind-the-Scenes posts give users personal glimpses of you and your business. That includes sharing stories about the people you work with and encounter throughout the day. It puts a face on your brand.
- Painkiller posts have strong Calls to Action (CTAs) to help potential clients solve their problems. It’s like saying, “You have important questions; I have answers. Let’s talk.”
- Vitamin posts are educational and informative. They promise a lasting positive effect and long-term benefits that customers will associate with you and your agency.
Look and Feel
You’ll notice that the social media pie doesn’t include posts of Garfield the cat saying, “I hate Mondays.” If such posts pop up during your social media audit, you might want to consider changes going forward.
Hey, it’s okay for your personal accounts, but business accounts should focus on presenting you as a friendly expert on what your clients need in their lives.
Instagram, in particular, runs on images. In order to reach its users, you want content that’s visually interesting and true to your brand:
- If your dog comes to work with you, a photo of Spot counts as a Behind-the-Scenes piece of the pie.
- If you cover the cost of sports jerseys for a Little League team, a photo would count as Goodwill.
- If you post a picture of storm damage at the beginning of tornado season, you’re offering a Painkiller.
- If you publish a photo of a classic Chevy from back in the day and mention the value of classic car insurance, you’re providing followers with a Vitamin.
You always want to keep your core business in mind, so you’re delivering a clear, consistent message with every post.
A Social Media Audit Solution
So what if all of that feels kind of doable but also kind of overwhelming? That could put you in the market for a social media scheduler.
Social Jazz is a social media marketing company that specializes in serving the needs of small agencies. Our business is strictly for insurance agents, real estate agents, HVAC contractors, and eye care professionals.
We understand the mechanics of social media because it’s how we make our living. We provide data-driven hashtags that are proven to put your posts in front of people’s scrolling faces. We also offer snappy captions that cut through the clutter and snag attention.
As far as activity is concerned, it takes less than three minutes to sign up for our service, and then we take it from there. Frequent posts go out during high-traffic hours and can be scheduled for an entire year.
We work with subject matter experts who understand their industries and make sure every post we put out is relevant to aspects of your business.
That brings us to the look and feel, and we’ve got them covered too. We can add your colors and logo to just about every post we put out on your behalf. If we have a photo with a green hat, but your color is red, that hat will be red when the photo posts.
The best part is we handle it all for you. When you sign up with Social Jazz, your social media becomes fully automated. You just have to follow up on the leads that come your way.
If your social media audit says you need to make some changes, check with Social Jazz. We’re pretty sure we can help.