Social Media, Posts and Stuff: What the Heck Does Social Media mean?
Social Media, Posts and Stuff: What the Heck Does Social Media mean?
Ever have trouble sleeping? Ask a true Social Media geek “So, how does that whole social media thing work, anyway?” and pull up a pillow as he lulls you to sleep with data nerd jargon, statistics and long words that talk about things linking to things and doing stuff. I might have heard that question myself and try my best not to be a tranquilizer dart to the neck when I explain. Therefore, let’s dive deeper into what “that posting to social media thing” does for your business. (Now is your chance to refill your coffee and make it a double…)
Posting to Social Media is a FREE way to advertise your business, message, items and offerings to target markets, DAILY!
Imagine having the ability to get a new product in and have a marketing firm or advertising rep at your beckoning call that can come in, take a great photo to feature and print an advertising to will reach prospective buyers, minutes after the product arrives? Now, imagine taking a photo yourself, managing your content and posting it as an advertisement for everyone to see… Hello Instagram & Facebook. Being able to offer enticing photos, followed with a well written description and possibly tossing in a #hashtag or two, you are in essence advertising for free. Is it that easy? Yes. Yes, it is.
What happens after the post is made? If you do it correctly, magic.
I’ve written a handful of previous blogs here about how to best approach social media advertising in terms of photos, posting content and best practices of both. Therefore, you’re going to have to check those blogs out for the true nitty gritty on how to create a healthy post. None the less, once you hit “post”, it’s time to watch how that post reacts with the masses (or those who follow you, find your #hashtag or stumble across your outstanding photo.) If worded correctly, you have introduced some keywords, included your business name, added a few select #hashtags, marked the location via Google and lastly, created a great image that will resonate, you’re post could be magical. You’ve stacked organic content, linked it to your account, webpage and other social media platforms and tricked a couple Google Search Engine algorithms that strengthens your positioning in a returned search. Each new post is another log stacked on the Google SEO fire. Again, this is for free so… yeah.
After the dust settles on your post, take a look at the analytics to get some insight for the next post.
Here’s where we usually lose people when trying to explain how the analytics works. Both the Instagram and Facebook platforms offer a back-end analytics program that captures valuable information about a variety of different things known on the apps as “Insights.” Here’s the important things to look for:
- Interactions – This is the total amount of times people “interact” (like, share, comment, tag) your posts or profile within a certain timeframe. Profile visits, daily tallies, direction link clicks and phone call clicks are also captured here.
- Discovery – This relates to how many unique users found your post. Your “Reach” is how many people saw your combination of posts within the set timeframe. The goal is to expand your reach on each post by honing in what works with your content vs. what doesn’t. Also captured in Discovery is your “Impressions”. This calculates how many times your images have been loaded across all users.
- Audience – Your Audience is your golden information and considered priceless as a direction for what gets posted and how. Vital information about your potential customers show their age ranges, gender, demographics of user and time of discovery. This lets you cater your posts to your targeted customers and deliver your message directly to them via the content you know works best to find them.
The million-dollar question is always, “How do I know if it’s actually working?”
One of the best ways to see if your social media post is actually working for you is to conduct what I like to call a “litmus test”. It sounds fancy but, really, it’s taking a special or unique item that you don’t advertise and promoting it on social media to see if it has a traction towards sales. For example, if you feature an odd one-of-a-kind product that doesn’t sell because nobody knows about it, try to take a unique photo and feature that item. Chances are, there will be a couple leaded discoveries that will land you a sale on that item. I’ve seen it happen in multiple business sectors and is a good indicator as to how powerful the marketing aspect of a social media post can be. There is nothing more rewarding than someone walking into a business and asking for whatever it is you featured on a post, directly by name. Proof you are doing the right thing.
So, what have we learned here?
In essence, social media in a great way to use a free platform to advertise, market your business and promote your products, services and odd trinkets to a vast consumer base who are actively aware. It may seem overwhelming at first to establish a pattern of habits that encompass all of the aspects above when you make a post but, once you’ve seen the potential it holds, you will quickly realize it is advantageous to pursue and worth while to participate. Not only does it keep your content fresh, building Google presence in the SEO and loading your gallery with amazing photos of your products and shop, it’s FREE! All it takes is your time and a little dedication… #getcracking
