Tips for Each Social Media Network

Andrew Berry

Andrew Berry

— 3 min read

So you have a killer webpage that you think deserves more attention. You could pay for traffic through a search engine, but there's a more powerful tool out there: social media.

The web is vast and social channels plentiful. Assuming your company has accounts on the biggies, are you utilizing those platforms to your advantage?

We've put together some core tips on the big players: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Instagram. Through our own trial and error & investigatory measures, we know these can help you garner more site traffic.

1. Social Media: General Rules of Thumb

  • The first, and probably most important, is to be brief. Thanks in part to the rise of social media, humans have a short attention span. Basically, don’t write in a paragraph what you could can say in a sentence. Additionally, consider using a link-shortening service, such as Bit.ly, to make links look cleaner.

  • The second rule is to have intention. Ask yourself if the purpose of the post is to inspire the user, inform the user, get the user to act, or a mixture of all three. Tailor copy accordingly.

  • The last rule is variety. If you're posting consistently, try to say things in different ways. This ties into the first rule, but can also keep your users coming back for more!

2. Facebook, aka "The Mothership"

  • With billions (with a b!) of monthly users, odds are fantastic that your target audience is among them.

  • Facebook uses ever-changing algorithms that control who sees what post and how often they see them. Those algorithms are why your reach on each post isn’t equivalent to your number of followers.

  • The broad reach and network of Facebook makes it essential to vary your post types. If you’re posting three times a day, post in three different ways (photo, blog build out, video, text-only, etc.) This helps to keep your audience engaged.

  • How often should you post? A study by Socialbakers found that the sweet spot for a company is 5 to 10 posts per week.

  • Important to note that hashtags on FB aren’t necessary. Sure, use them if they’re applicable to a campaign or really relevant to content, but don’t use more than 1 or 2. Don’t believe me? Data shows that posts with 1 or 2 hashtags averaged 593 interactions, while posts with 6 to 10 hashtags averaged 307 interactions.

3. Twitter, aka "The ADHD Playground"

  • There are 350,000 tweets sent out per minute. That is a lot to see and not a lot of time to see it. The more you tweet, the more opportunities you have to engage with fans.

  • What's more: Google now provides tweets in search engine rankings. This means that relevant keywords and content matter, so be mindful when you’re crafting your tweets.

  • Be sure to mention people using their handles (“@”) and include hashtags. Both are searchable. Hopefully you don’t need to know this tip, but Twitter limits you to 2,400 tweets (retweets count as tweets!) per day so remember that before you go all crazy.

4. Instagram, aka "The King of Social Engagement"

  • According to Izideo, Instagram posts generated a per-follower engagement rate of 4.21%, or 58 times more engagement per follower than Facebook, and 120 times more engagement per follower than Twitter!

  • Use hashtags often, but focus on those that are obviously related to what you’re posting. Be sure to also anticipate what other hashtags people might be searching for that could be applicable to your post. 11 hashtags is the magic number. Go figure!

  • Data shows Sundays are the most effective days to post as far as engagement. Not by much, but interesting anyway.

  • Cross-promote your Instagram posts with your Twitter and Facebook! When you publish a pic, it will be sent out as a tweet/post too. Great way to ensure each post is seen by various audiences.

5. LinkedIn, aka "The Businessman’s Mecca"

  • It’s the largest professional networking site in the world, and has 332 million professionals to prove it.

  • Engagement increases drastically when a post contains a question or a link.

  • Create targeted Showcase Pages. They branch off from your main company page and allows you to feature products and services.

  • If you have some extra capital, pay for sponsored updates. They promote your message to others outside your company page following. At the same time, you can target who sees that message, so your marketing efforts can be focused on the right people.

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