I’d be lying if I said social media marketing alone can grow your business. I wish that were the case, but it’s not. While social media marketing is important – especially in today’s world – it should only be part of your marketing strategy, not the entire shabang. 

So if you truly desire to see substantial results, you’ll want to pair social media marketing with these other marketing strategies proven to make your business “sparkle”.

Keep reading to find out what these are.

Paid advertising

As the words suggest, paid advertising is any advertisement you have to pay for. Most people understand this as Pay Per Click (PPC). Think Facebook ads, Instagram ads, Google Adwords, etc. 

Paid advertising allows you to reach even more people than organic advertising (advertising that isn’t boosted, promoted, etc. like an unpaid social media post, for example). 

Paid advertising isn’t something we offer at the moment, but it is a service we are planning to offer in the near future.  

Email marketing

Are you one of those people who check your email first thing in the morning? 

You’re not the only one… And marketers have taken advantage of this by investing in email marketing strategies. You’ve likely subscribed to an email list, whether you realize it or not. Those company emails you get on the regular are emails you’ve opted into. 

One of my personal favorite email newsletters is from LALToday. Their content is golden and an inspiration for my very own email newsletter for Like It Marketing (which you can subscribe to on my website at the bottom of “The Library” page). 

Use email marketing to keep your target audience informed of company updates, announcements, specials, etc. Consider adding exclusive offers for your subscribers only to show them the benefits of being on your email list! 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Marketing comes with its own set of vocabulary words. Search engine optimization isn’t the easiest one to remember, but it is one to take note of if you want your business to grow. 

SEO is the process of increasing your website visitors by making sure the site appears high on the search engine list (like Google). 

SEO requires optimizing your content so that you’ll beat out your competition and be seen first by potential customers. Neil Patel does a great job of explaining this in his article here. 

Blog Marketing

People used to just blog about their lives, but now business owners use blogs to attract people to their websites. 

If you share valuable content on your blog, you’ll more likely get more views and clicks to your website (which could lead to more sales). Share content that is educational and resourceful. Blogging can help position you as an industry expert, if done correctly. 

If you’re reading this blog, you’re seeing firsthand how blog marketing works! Check out the rest of my posts here. 

Event marketing

Hosting regular events can be a great way to bring exposure to your business. I like to suggest that you promote your events at least one month in advance on social media, so that you reach the most amount of people possible before the big day. 

Here’s some considerations: 

• Have brand merchandise available for purchase (such as T-shirts, hats, bags, etc.). 
• Set up a photo backdrop with your logo on it to encourage people to take pictures at your event. Bonus points if they tag your business in their social media posts.  
• Raffles, raffles and more raffles. Have people purchase raffle tickets to win prizes (maybe donated from local businesses). 
• Don’t just post about the event on your social media pages, but actually use Facebook’s event page to create an event; That way you can see how many people plan to attend, plus use Facebook’s extra event features.

I could probably write an entire blog on event marketing (which I might do later), seeing as I worked in event planning for almost a year. Stay tuned! 

Final thoughts

As you can see, there are many ways to market your business. These are just to name a few, but feel free to get creative and find out what works best for you. 

If you liked this blog, please consider sharing it on your social media pages!  

As always, thanks for reading, y’all! 💙

 

If you’re looking to truly connect with your clients on a deeper level, social media is a great way to do that. 

It allows your business to seem more relatable, and ultimately more “human”…aka it “humanizes” your brand. 

Sure, you have a website, but does your website really come off as personable or is it a bit more robotic? Most likely it’s the latter (and if it it’s not, kudos to you).  

So if you want your clients to see your brand as a human and not some faceless logo, keep reading.

Tip #1: Show the faces of your company.

Okay, don’t stop reading now. I know for some of you, the idea of showing your face on your company’s social media page terrifies you – but it shouldn’t! People want to see you. They love seeing the face responsible for building the company. 

In fact, I read somewhere that social media posts with faces get way more engagement than posts that don’t have faces in them…Which is all the more reason you should show your face more often online. 

If you’re not comfortable being the center of attention all of the time, you don’t have to be. Show off your staff every opportunity you get, whether they have a work anniversary in the office or you all are eating lunch together…Whatever the case may be, always be ready to snag an office photo. 

Tip #2: Choose the tone of voice you want to portray.

Adding a tone of voice to your brand makes it seem more human-like. There are plenty of voices you can choose from. Here’s some examples: 

• Witty
• Feminine 
• Professional 
• Humorous
• Sassy (take Wendy’s brand voice as an example) 

Select one tone of voice and stick with it. Use it in your post captions, in your photos, your website, and wherever else you can think of. 

People will start to associate you with this voice. It’s sort of like creating an avatar in a video game. You have to create an avatar for your brand, if you want it to connect with others. Does that make sense? 

Tip #3: Show vulnerability.

Our final tip is for you to be vulnerable and publicly show that vulnerability. This is probably the hardest one to do but possibly the most important. 

One way to show vulnerability is to own up to any mistakes the company has made. You always want to be the first to relay critical company information, so that your followers hear it from you first and not another source.

You can also show vulnerability by sharing something personal about your story. Storytelling is the most effective way to reach people online. And people connect most with stories that share something deep. 

If you need an example, take a look at this post I created in August about transformation. It shares some of my biggest insecurities and how I’ve changed over the years. It took a lot of courage to post about this, but I wanted to open up to my followers so they could see that I am only human. 

Final thoughts

If you use social media strategically for your company, it will flourish. Make people fall in love with your brand by simply being you. 

At Like It Marketing, I want people to remember our brand as feminine and humorous. Check out our social media pages and other blogs to see how I execute this strategy. Our handle is @likeitmarketingllc. 

As always, thanks for reading! 💙

 

Wake up, cook breakfast, get kids ready for school, get dressed for work, drive kids to school, go to work… should I continue?

Our everyday to-do list is a mile long and it’s EXHAUSTING! 😩

Add in social media management to the mix, and BAM – there goes your sanity (or all of your free time, at least). We believe that you should spend less time working and more time with family.

So we’ve come up with 5 time-saving tips to help you get your company’s social media under control in the least amount of time possible.

Check them out below. ✨

Tip #1: Come up with themes for the month

Coming up with a social media theme for the month will save you time because it’ll allow you to focus on a particular topic, instead of bouncing all over the place.

For example, if you own a hair salon, you may consider the theme: Self-care.

When creating social media posts, you’ll think about how each post can relate back to self-care. One of your posts could talk about taking care of your hair, while the other may talk about exercising and eating right (something that is probably important to a hair salon’s target audience).

Using this method is much easier than coming up with new topics every single day.

Be careful not to use themes that are irrelevant to your industry or else you run the risk of losing the interest of your followers.

Tip #2: Create content for one month at a time

This idea bounces off of the first one. When you create content, make sure you plan out the next month in advance. We like to create one month of posts at one time. If this isn’t possible for you, try creating two weeks worth of posts at one time.

Here’s things you should consider:

• Theme of the month
• Upcoming events
• Birthdays and work anniversaries
• Announcements

To help you stay organized, we recommend creating a social media content calendar that shows all of your upcoming posts. We create a content calendar for each one of our clients.

Tip #3: Repurpose content to save time

We’ve talked about this in a previous blog, but repurposing content is basically using content you’ve created in the past in a new way.

Some ways you can repurpose content:

• Turn a blog post into a social media post (or several social media posts).
• Take out quotes from your videos and use them as quote graphics for social media.
• Take information from your website and turn it into social media posts.

Read our last blog for more ideas!

Tip #4: Schedule posts in advance instead of posting manually

If you’re still posting social media posts manually, you’re doing it wrong! There are a ton of tools out there to help you schedule social media posts in advance. 😃

A free tool you can use to schedule Facebook and Instagram posts is Facebook’s Creator Studio.

Take advantage of this technology! It’ll save you a TON of time!

Once you schedule all of your posts for the month, you won’t have to worry about missing a day of posting. This takes a lot of the stress off of having to create a post every single day.

Tip #5: Set up a timer when engaging with others’ posts

I don’t know about you, but when we get on social media to engage with other accounts, we find ourselves scrolling for a long time!

We realized we were spending way too much time reading, liking and commenting on others’ posts so we decided to set a time limit for this. ⏰

Give yourself 20 minutes per day to engage and then cut yourself off. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself scrolling for hours.

Final thoughts

Social media should be a priority for your business, but it shouldn’t consume your nights and weekends. We started Like It Marketing to help busy business owners like you get their life back. If you need someone to help manage your social media accounts and save you time, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Visit www.likeitmarketing.com/contact/

Thanks for reading! 💙

Are you creating social media posts for your business? If so, it’s not enough to just throw something together in two minutes with hopes that it’ll work out in your favor. Creating a social media post for your business takes time and strategy.

Some social media managers spend 40 minutes to an hour on one post. If you’re spending significantly less time than that, you may be sacrificing quality. And you know what they say, “Quality is better than quantity.”

As a social media manager, I’d rather you put out less posts with higher quality than put out several posts with low quality.

I’m gonna help you out. Below you’ll find the “recipe” for an effective social media post. If you use the “ingredients” and steps I recommend, you’ll find that your posts will reach more people (who could become paying customers). 

Ingredients for a social media post:

• Social media post caption
• Emojis
• Call-to-action
• Visual (graphic, photo, video)
• Hashtags

Step 1: Write the social media post caption

The post caption is the text you see paired with the post graphic. It keeps your viewers on your post longer, if done right. When writing the caption, make sure you include up to three emojis and a single call-to-action (CTA).

A call-to-action is you telling your followers what you want them to do, whether that’s to visit your website or set up a consultation with you. Don’t assume they know what to do just by seeing your post. You have to tell them what you want, so make sure you try to include a CTA in every post.

Step 2: Research hashtags and use them!

Next, you should research the best-performing hashtags in your industry and location. You’ll also want to look up high-performing hashtags that you think your target audience will be searching for. 

Once you’ve done your research, include some of these hashtags in each one of your posts. As for the number of hashtags you use, that’s up to you. I’ve done a lot of research and have never found the same answer. I’d recommend testing out different amounts of hashtags per post to see what works for you.

Step 3: Pair your post with a visual

Never ever just rely on a post caption to attract your current and potential social media followers. Always pair your post with a visual, whether it’s a graphic you create, a photo you take, or a video you record. 

I recommend using Canva if you’re new to creating graphics. They have a ton of templates to help you get started. 

If you plan to use a photo, consider hiring a photographer to take professional photos that you can use in your social media posts. This will elevate your page and make it stand out much more than a cell phone photo.

(P.S. We have a photographer just for this reason!)

Final thoughts

There ya have it, folks! These are the key ingredients and steps to creating an engaging social media post. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this! Do you have any tips you’d recommend? Let me know by emailing me at Tonya@LikeItMarketing.com 

Thank you for reading and make sure you follow Like It Marketing on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn for more social media tips!

One thing people bring up to me often is content creation for social media: 

“What should I post about?” 

“I’m not creative enough to create graphics.” 

“I’m not sure if what I’m doing is working or not.” 

 

If this is you, keep reading. I’ll give you some tips and tricks on sparking the interest of your target audience by creating booming content for your company’s social media pages. 

Tip #1: Use visuals

We are overloaded with information every single day. So when we see a bunch of text on the screen, a lot of times we’ll overlook it, instinctually. Think about it: When you’re scrolling on social media what is the first thing that catches your eye? Most likely it’s a video, photo, or graphic. 

 

This is why pairing your post caption with a visual is vital to the success of your posts. If you don’t post a visual with your post caption, be prepared for it to be looked right over. Some things that catch people’s eyes are bright colors, pictures with faces in them (use real photos, not stock photos, if possible), and animated graphics (think sparkles and things that move).

 

Canva is a great tool to use to help you take your videos, photos and graphics to the next level. I’m not associated with Canva but you’d think I was with how much I promote it. I’ve been using it for years and I absolutely LOVE it. 

Tip #2: Get on video as much as possible. 

If you are blessed with the skills it takes to get in front of the camera, USE THOSE SKILLS! Video content is by far the most engaging content out there. People can’t resist a good video.

 

Even if you’re not a superstar in front of the camera, you should still be recording videos. People are embracing authenticity more than ever and there is a craving for people who show up as their “real” selves. I’m talking messy hair, no makeup, and real talk with your followers about your real life (struggles and all). 

 

Here’s some video ideas:

• Brand videos – The story of your brand, your team, your vision, your mission, etc. 
• Explainer videos – How and why to use your product/service plus other helpful tips that are relevant to your audience
• Events – Any company events you host or sponsor.
• Testimonials – Getting your customer to talk about you on video is one of the most powerful ways to promote your business.
• Case studies – Show the results of using your product/service using an example from a past/current client.
• And the best one yet: Live videos – Go live regularly! People LOVE this and they get notified that you’re live.

Tip #3: User-generated content

First, let me define what user-generated content is, per Termly. 

 

“User-generated content is any written, visual, or audio content that’s uploaded to a website or app by users, rather than by the website or app administrators. User-generated content includes messages, reviews, testimonials, comments, images, audio files, videos, and artwork.”

 

There are so many benefits of user-generated content. First being that you don’t have to create the content yourself! It’s already created! Talk about a huge time saver. Plus, your followers will feel flattered that you shared their content, and as a result they will be more loyal to your brand. (Hint: It’s a good idea to ask for permission to share the user’s post and credit them in the post caption).

 

To get user-generated content, you can:

• Ask people to use a branded hashtag you create in their posts. Ex: #likeitmarketing
• Implement social listening and look for mentions of your company online (Twitter is great for this). 
• Simply share your target audience’s post that’s relevant to your brand or industry. 

Final thoughts

There are a ton of other ways to create booming content for your business, but that blog post would be a mile long and nobody has time for that lol. We hope you found this article helpful and that you’ll share it with your business friends. Thanks for reading and make sure you subscribe to our newsletter for more social media tips!