Begin with the Basics for Social Media Campaigns
According to Statista, 81% of the U.S. population had a social media profile in 2017. Which is why it comes as no surprise that many businesses are utilizing social media for audience engagement, customer retention, and overall company growth.
While these businesses—whether B2C retail or B2B manufacturing companies—are investing a substantial amount of time and effort into creating social media strategies, they overlook the improvements that can be made on their actual profile. Here are a few ways to improve your social media profile that will only take you minutes to complete.
6 Ways to Optimize and Improve Your Social Media Profile
1) Ensure your images adhere to the image sizing requirements that are set for each network.
First impressions matter, and your profile and cover photos are the first thing social media users see when they land on your page. In fact, images are clicked on more frequently, so it is important to grab people’s attention—and make a great first impression. While most profile images on social media are set in the form of a square, it is possible that your images are clear on Facebook but pixelated on Twitter. Optimizing your profile image only takes a few minutes to do to ensure your photos come out perfect and your profile page looks professional. Simply make sure the size of your images fall within the recommended dimensions set for each social media platform. We recommend checking out this social media image size cheat sheet published by HubSpot; be sure to bookmark it for future reference!
2) Make your social media handles are consistent across all networks.
When it comes to searchability on social media, it is vital to ensure your social media handles are the same across all of your profiles. Imagine the frustration when you want to mention a company on Twitter only to discover the Twitter handle is a cocktail of letters and numbers instead of the company’s name. Avoid this scenario by creating a simple handle that reflects your business’ name. This is a surefire way to increase the chances of you being mentioned and makes it easier for your customers and prospects to find your page and follow you.
3) SEO: Find your keywords and link ‘em!
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website. Kill two birds with one stone by increasing organic traffic to your website and optimizing your social media profile. Including industry-relevant keywords to your profile can give your search engine rankings the boost it needs.
Here is how to do this:
Identify your keywords. It is important to identify the terms people are using when they search for professionals within your industry, for example: “Professional carpet cleaners in Boston.” You can check out what Moz or SEMrush have to offer for help with your company’s keywords and overall SEO analytics.
Add the relevant keywords into your social media profiles. Your keywords should be featured on your “About” section, in photo captions, status updates, job description/title, etc.
4) Link your profile to your other social media profiles.
Often, there is a field on your social media profiles that say “website.” Most of the time, when businesses are setting up their profiles, they simply drop in their website URL and move on to the next field. Take this opportunity to do a little bit of cross-promotion by adding the handles to your other social media pages.
LinkedIn and Facebook allow you to include multiple website links. You can also include your other social media handles in your Twitter bios. Doing this will give people, who normally engage with your brand on one network, the opportunity to engage with your brand on other social media networks.
5) Make sure your links work!
This may seem obvious, but it has become common that businesses publish posts with broken links. Having links on your social media that lead your followers nowhere is not only confusing for users who are trying to get to know your brand, but it looks sloppy. It is a good idea to periodically go through your social media page and ensure every link is working properly. This includes: CTAs, posts that contain links to your website or other websites, and any links you may have included in the “About” or “Website” fields of your business page.
6) Ask your loyal customers for reviews.
How many times have you checked reviews of a new restaurant or shopping mall? It’s no secret that people trust reviews from other people more than advertisements. Asking your loyal customers to leave a review of your business’ services or products on your pages is a great way to instill trust among prospects and new customers.
Here is how this can be done:
Facebook: Facebook allows customers to rate their experiences with the companies they do business with. Simply send out an email blast to your loyal customers encouraging them to leave an honest review of your company.
Twitter: While you cannot leave reviews on Twitter, you can pin positive tweets about your company to ensure they show up on the top of your stream. Pinned tweets will be the first thing users will see when visiting your Twitter profile.
Like, Follow, and Share!
At Grant Marketing, we understand you are eager to jump on social media and use it to gather as many prospects and customers as possible, but it is equally important to take a step back and make sure your profile is fully optimized. Be sure to “like” and “follow” our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ pages for news, trends, and tips on B2B industrial marketing.
We specialize in growing business for industrial manufacturing companies and are happy to talk with you about improving your business social media profiles. Contact us and we’ll share what we know!
