Social media marketing is one of the most efficient ways to improve your business’ online presence, sales, and branding. Many entrepreneurs in various industries have already invested in social media and they can already see the positive effect of it towards their businesses. The abundance of small businesses and start-ups shared articles online can testify how popular and cost-effective this strategy is.

For marketers, the potential to grow their business with the help of these social networks is endless. However, the problem is some people, most often the budding entrepreneurs, struggle and get confused on how to handle different social media platforms. Instead of gaining more followers and attracting new customers, the opposite happens.

Managing social media for your business may seem difficult to do but it doesn’t have to be that way. It can become really simple if you learn how to put your customers in the center of your business’ campaign. You do not have to invest too much time on your social networking sites, while getting better profit. Want to know how? Check out these easy-to-learn social media tips that even newbies can follow:

Follow verified accounts to get a follow back.

Managing a social media account is like walking into a party. You can’t connect with people easily if you don’t initiate conversation first. In social media, you reach out to people and engage with them.

To increase your popularity on any social platform, here are the steps that you must do:

• Recognize the relevant verified accounts.
• Follow people who have verified accounts to build your network.
• Try to follow other relevant users, even if you do not know them.
• Share their content, mention them on your status updates and interact with them.

After doing all these, be patient and wait for them to follow you back. Eventually, you will be able to build a connection with not all but some. Nonetheless, don’t go on a following spree and be reminded of the follow-to-follower ratio that you have to keep, particularly in Twitter, or else you could get suspended.

Optimize images to get attention.

According to a new research, images could be the “holy grail” of social media engagement because it is easier to consume than text. Optimize the image you post on your profiles to get more followers and attention. You can use catchy or interesting images that can entice your audience’s curiosity.

Make sure that you check the size of your featured photo or status update photos. Basically, you’ll reproduce the photo in different sizes. To make your life easier, lay out your subjects in the center of the image. Leave 40-50 pixels at the side of your photo, and 10-20 pixels at the bottom. With this, your images will be properly presented as if it is specifically made for the page.

Know the best time to post to boost audience reach.

Analyze your audience and find out which is the best time to post updates. Analyzing is a bit challenging because you have to determine your follower’s attitude. Once you figure it out, your business’ social media accounts will get better engagement, traffic, and share rate. Remember user habits vary on every social media platform. Typically, the best time to post on Facebook is during 2PM -6PM when users are about to leave their workplace. Meanwhile, Twitter gets a better reach during 1PM-3PM.

Moreover, check what day users typically go online. Facebook peaks during Wednesday while Twitter has a lot of users during Monday- Thursday. During Friday, LinkedIn users don’t often log in and use their accounts. In Pinterest, users often log in during Friday afternoon and the weekend.

If you are not available to post during these specific time, you can schedule it via social media management tools like Buffer and Hootsuite.

Image Source: SurePayroll

Ask questions to encourage engagement.

Words are powerful and it can drive people to action. In blogs, most marketers apply call-to-action statements in the form of questions, encouraging people to leave a comment or share their thoughts. This is also true when it comes to social media. Asking questions moves people to share their answers or opinions thus stretching your engagement rate. Questions also help foster better communication between you and your followers.

Try an emoji to make status standout.

Many companies haven’t tried incorporating emojis or special icons on their social updates. They think that it lessens the ‘professional look’ of their accounts. But your choice of keeping it too rigid makes you miss a huge opportunity to boost your likability. Emojis act as a visual hook, just like an image, but with a subtle effect. Still, it makes a post standout among the pile of feeds. Also, these icons can make your company less intimidating, and more friendly towards people.

Add hashtags to manage posts properly.

Hashtags were first used in Twitter. But because of its effectiveness in managing tweets and improving searchability, it was then adapted by Facebook, Google+ and other social networks.  When properly used, it can increase your followers, improve reputation and find information. Hashtags do not only make social media management painless, it also helps marketing your product or services more effective.

Post informative content to improve shareability.

The core of a great social media is not the number of followers, nor the rate of user engagement. It is all about the content you share. If you have great content, people will start to follow you. Remember to mix up the types of content you post. It can be news, blogs, photos, quotes, videos and more. Be sure that it is something informative so that people will share it among friends.

Note that 50% of your social media content should not be about your site, share content from other sources as well. It is not just about you, it is about what your followers will find interesting and helpful.

These tips are easy to follow, not to mention effective when properly used. Don’t get intimidated with the buttons, and features of the social sites interface. Just put your followers and fans in the center of your marketing strategies, and all will lay perfectly to your advantage.

About the Author:

Maddy Bertelsen writes for different newsletters. She is currently working for Superiorpapers while also taking her graduate studies. She dreams of becoming a famous novelist  someday.