5 Tips for Building a Social Media Strategy for Your Business

Being a presence on social media can be daunting for any business, even though it is recommended by most experts as a top marketing strategy (for example, it's in an article on marketing for insurance professionals here). How much should we post? What should we post? Who should we follow? We’ve developed a list of five quick tips to help you answer these questions and create a social media strategy for your organization.

1. Follow the one-in-seven rule

No one likes a business that oversells on social media. To keep your followers engaged, a good rule to follow is to only overtly promote your business in one out of every seven posts. The other six should be shares of valuable content, including posts from others that you follow. It may be helpful to create a calendar to plan out your posts, so you can keep track of how often you are plugging your business.

2. Share your expertise

Every business has unique information they can share with their followers. You can look to your own customers to pull out trends to share. An insurance agency, for example, would be able to write an article about what age demographic is most likely to buy pet insurance; or answer what kind of vehicle was most often stolen in your state. You could even start a trivia campaign and quiz your followers on interesting facts offering a special offer to those who answer correctly.

3. Use location-based marketing

If you are a location-based business, you will want to concentrate your efforts on getting followers in your area. Social media ads allow you to tailor your location, so your ads only serve to people in the community you set. You will also want to share content that is relevant to the people who live in your area. You may also want to consider offering a discount to anyone who checks in to your business while they are there. This is a very cost-effective way to leverage the reach of your local customer base organically.

Be sure to join location-based groups on social media that are relevant to your business. LinkedIn, in particular, is full of these types of groups. By participating in the conversations, you can network and gain more exposure for your business.

4. Be interactive

This may sound like a no brainer, but it requires a surprising amount of due diligence. Being interactive in the social media community means continually sharing content that attracts and engages followers. It also means thanking your followers and commenting on and/or sharing their content as well. By showing appreciation for your followers, engaging with them, and ensuring you answer their comments on your social media accounts, you will make a lasting impression on your customers.

5. Stay current

Set up alerts to your phone or email when anyone engages with your social media sites, to ensure that you respond quickly to their posts. It is also a good idea to follow the social media accounts of trusted organizations and thought leaders relevant to your industry in order to stay up-to-date on current events related to your business. You may want to write a point-of-view article on behalf of your business or simply share articles from other sources. This will help establish your business as a reliable source for happenings in your industry.

Additional Resources:

The Social Advisor by Amy Mcilwain

Using Social Media to Promote Your Business by Shannon Belew and Joel Elad

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