Are you a new business owner feeling a bit unsure of what to post on social media? Or perhaps you are a seasoned professional struggling to bring your business into the digital world? This blog will give you some great tips and ideas to help you make those first few social media posts.
Every Tuesday morning I attend a networking group called BNI (Business Networking International), although currently on Zoom, we are usually based within Netwon Mearns in Glasgow. Without this group, my business wouldn’t have taken off in the last year in the way it has, in fact… I probably wouldn’t have started my business! The team at BNI Vision are a lovely and supportive group of people and if you are trying to grow your business I’d highly recommend you visit our networking group. Just send me a quick email, and I’ll invite you along.
However, time to get to the point! The reason I am telling you all this is that a couple of weeks ago it was my turn to deliver a 10 minute presentation at the networking group. Right at the end, I decided to give my other networkers 14 ideas for the types of things they could post on social media (some will also work as a blog). It was very well received, so I thought I would convert into a blog for my website. These should work for just about any business, so hopefully it gives you some inspiration for yours!
1. A day in the life of… A typical Monday for… If you are a sole trader, you could run a series of these for every day of the week or for different times of the year, different events etc. For example , If you work in the wedding industry you could do posts on “First meeting with the bride and groom”; “What happens the day before the wedding”; “the morning of the wedding”. If you have multiple staff members, ask each staff member to write a ‘Day in the life of’ feature.
2. Top Tips. What are your industry secrets? Can you give snippets of great advice that help your social media followers? You could also give general business or networking advice alongside industry specific guidance.
3. How do you relax or switch off after a hard days work? This is a great way to talk about the fun things you do at the weekend on your business page, while still making it relevant. It also helps customers build a relationship with you; it shows the human side of your business and makes you more relatable.
4. Highlight a charity. Do you have a charity close to your heart? Then help raise awareness of that charity. This is an important element of your Corporate Social Responsibility. Wondering about the ethics of using a charity to help make your business look good? Don’t! Charities love when businesses help them spread the word (I know, I have worked for many!) just be mindful of how you do that. If you make a donation or volunteer then please tell the world. If you simply want to share their content, then contact the charity and ask them what posts they would most like you to share. They likely have an event or campaign they really want more people to know about. Still feel a bit odd about it? Then pop a fiver on their JustGiving or donation page every time you do a post.
5. Share content from industry leaders/related industries/in the news
6. Use a blog for multiple social posts. If you write blogs on your website (which I highly recommend you should!) don’t post the link on your social media once and then leave it to dwindle in the depths of your website. Share it every few months and highlight a different part of the blog with each post. This is an easy way to get lots of social media posts from one blog and it also drives traffic to your website. This is called making your blog ‘evergreen’.
7. Share 1 minute videos explaining your products or services.
8. “How to” guides. This can be similar to point 7 – how to use your products/services or how to get the most out of them. It can also provide more general information. For instance, a financial advisor might share a guide on ‘How to make sure you have enough savings for a rainy day’.
9. Throwbacks – Post this on a Thursday (#ThrowbackThursday) and share a photo of an event you spoke at, a great meeting you had, a course you attended, a milestone achieved…
10. Behind the scenes and product development. What goes on in the part of your business that customers never get to see?
11. Run a weekly or monthly highlight or feature – this is an easy way to ensure you are doing regular posts. As an example, every Monday you could give a motivational quote (#MondayMotivation). If you can do something more industry specific however, that will work better, for instance if you are a Scottish Tourism business you could run a monthly ‘Scottish Clan’ feature highlighting one of the great Scottish families.
12. Run a competition to increase your followers – this is great for Instagram but also works for other social media channels. Do you have a product you could give away? Then put up a post and ask people to follow you, like the post and most importantly share the post, to be in with a chance of winning. Run the competition for a couple of weeks and do several posts about it, including telling everyone who the winner is and tagging the winner. If you don’t have an obvious product to give as a prize, you could give an hour’s free consultation or a free service. Still can’t see what you would give as a prize? Give away something generic like wine or a food hamper – these are always a winner!
13. Team up with another business – collaborate to give advice together; show how your services can work well together; run a competition together or just tell us about the great business meeting you had with the other business owner.
14. Share milestones – life and business. Although most of your posts should be business focussed, adding the occasional personal milestone can be very powerful.
Now time for you to give it a try! Test out some of these ideas and see what works best for your business.
If you feel like you still need some support with your social media, check out my social media services page, I am always happy to have a no obligation chat about how I can help your business.
Katie Mullen Digital Marketing – putting the passion back in your business communications