Social media is everywhere, with those using platforms from school-aged children all the way up through your grandparent’s demographic. You would be at a loss to not use social media to your advantage, professionally speaking. Just as any other approach would however, there is a strategy involved with social media and it is in your best interest to explore ways to optimize your accounts before jumping in with both feet.

The most common goals for businesses who utilize social media is growth, increasing customer engagement, analyzing the competition, and developing a voice for their brand. Explore the advantage of hiring a social media manager to be dedicated exclusively to handling your business affairs within these platforms. Social media is relatively new and different platforms are popping up every day so adding someone to your staff that is not only knowledgeable on how to use each platform but can also work full time on learning how to optimize within them is a great way to stay current and avoid major missteps.

Finding the Right Platform

Not every platform is created equal, and it will be of great benefit to you and your business to dedicate some time towards learning what makes each one unique and then deciding which one, or ones, best suit the needs and goals of your specific business. The world of blogging is a great example of this, if you are an existing, or aspiring blogger and are looking to increase your outreach and brand awareness, you will want to consider a publishing platform before any others. WordPress and Tumblr are great examples of well-known platforms for beginners.

They are easy to use and access and there are tons of tips and tricks available to help coach you. If you are a blogger with a heavy focus on SEO however, considering an option better suited to your niche, like Ghost is a good idea. You should know that not every option is created equal, and you can review a guide on if Ghost is a good content management system designed for bloggers who aim for high levels of SEO.

How Algorithms Work

Social media algorithms are a way of organizing posts in a user’s feed based on relevancy and their habits within the platform, as opposed to being published over time. Basically, what this means is that the platform will track and analyze each users’ habits and show them ads and other accounts that are in accordance with things the platform assumes the user will like based on the evidence. What you need to know as a business owner is how to use them to your advantage.

First and foremost, understand that algorithms are constantly changing, and similar to how you need to find the right platform for your business, you also need to understand that algorithms vary across the board. Instagram has become wildly popular for those who wish to increase user engagement by posting to both a stream-based feed as well as a story feed at whatever frequency they desire. Users can share their own content or use their accounts to promote products they sell through ads. Before haphazardly posting, research what you should know about the Instagram algorithm specifically and let that guide your habits as well as the content you create to achieve maximum optimization.

The Growth Benefits

Adopting social media as a main part of your business growth strategy can yield impressive results. Before you just assume that whatever you decide to do will work simply because it is inclusive of social media, focus your attention on specific goals and start there. For example, if you are looking to increase traffic to your business website then you will want to tie that website into everything you are posting on your social accounts. Giving users and customers someplace to circle back to when they desire more information with the ease of a click helps to ensure that they are not leaving your Facebook page and visiting the main website of your competitor.

Lead generation is a huge benefit and obvious way to grow business. Since many social media platforms are full of opportunities for real-time engagement with potential customers it is likely that if you engage in the right ways, people who just happened upon your account can quickly become customers and clients. Since these platforms are typically free this is a low commitment way to expand your outreach and generate new leads with respect to both your time and your budget. Social media is the virtual equivalent to word-of-mouth promotion and once you gain the allegiance of your followers their praise will serve as evidence to their network of why they should use your product or business when they are in need of a similar service or good.

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