By Naomi Atwater
Social media is a constantly changing environment that feels daunting and hard to keep current. But in 2023, social media is also a tool that is invaluable to leverage for whatever you are promoting: personal services, your small business, or products.
And it is not as daunting as it may seem! Learn some basics on how to reach your customers in five minutes.
The Most Valuable Resource
The most valuable resource that is also the hardest to come by for social media is content. Through content, you are building a personal relationship with your audience. Potential customers are drawn to your page when you have good content and will start following along for the information you offer them for free. And when they have a need you can fill, they will trust your expertise and consider purchasing or signing up for what you are promoting.
Through your content, your brand will need to either educate, entertain, or inspire your audience. Educating might mean providing tips on using your product, correcting common misconceptions, or talking about something related to your services your brand should know a lot about. Entertaining could look like humorous behind-the-scenes clips, skits, jokes, or anything related to your customer. Inspiring could look like showing the end results of an ideal when someone uses your brand.
But here is the catch: the internet is saturated with content right now. That is why you will need to find your exact niche and focus on talking to the audience in that niche. For example, if you are selling makeup, you don’t want your audience to be in the general category of “women.” Narrow it way down and instead say something like, “busy moms ages 25-40 who don’t have time to have a whole makeup routine.” That changes the focus of your content from “Tutorial on Best Party Look“ to “Five-minute Makeup Routine.”
The Best Content Format
The leaders of Instagram, Facebook (Meta), and YouTube have all said that vertical video will increasingly be given priority on their platforms. The best thing is that these catchy, short videos can be reused across multiple platforms (unlike graphics which often need to be resized or reworked for different platforms). They also organically reach far beyond your following and help show your content to people unaware of your brand!
If you still think of Instagram reels as dancing videos and your first reaction is “No way,” you are not alone. Thankfully for most of us, that phase is long over, and the type of videos that are performing well now are tutorials, behind-the-scenes reveals, or just humorous interactions. That will depend on your audience and your expertise, but content ideas are endless for vertical videos (and don’t have to involve any dances!).
Research more on trending audio or reel trends.
The Biggest Social Mistake
When it comes to finally making the ask to buy the product, sign up for your service, or subscribe, you will not be successful if you do not think through your customer’s journey. You cannot take someone new to your brand to purchase a lifetime subscription to products. Keep your “asks” realistic. Think through how someone will get comfortable with you and gradually make small steps towards more and more buy-in.
For example, if you are a wedding photographer, maybe you’ll offer holiday mini-sessions for families or couples for an affordable price. Then after someone does that with you, you will offer engagement sessions that are a bit bigger. Then you will invite them to book you for a wedding which is your biggest sell. You do not want someone completely new to be expected to make a big commitment. But you will be there to guide them down a journey to their next big thing.
Here is your launching pad for boosting your social media presence in 2023 – but it constantly changes, and many more layers exist. If you want to stay up to date on the latest social trends and use what works for you, keep researching here.
