Social media has exploded in popularity since the early 2000s.
People share everything about themselves and connect with others worldwide in seconds. Social media has truly revolutionized the way people connect—both with one another and with brands and businesses.
If your company isn’t using social media to its full potential, you’re missing out on a massive opportunity to gain a more significant and loyal customer base.
The main goal of posting on social media is to get your business noticed and get customers engaged with your posts.
But using social media is different from using “traditional” marketing techniques such as email marketing and advertising. Social media is another animal and requires different rules to find success.
In this article, I’ll give you my seven best social media tips for business that you can use to get ahead. I am also including high-quality examples to show exactly what each tip looks like in action.
Ready? Let’s dive in!
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1. Research Before Posting
Proper research is the foundation of any good marketing project, and excellent writing on social media is no different.
To craft an engaging and effective social media post, you’ll need to research the following:
- Your Target Audience: Social media is a massive space, and different platforms have different types of users. Narrow down who you want to see your posts or ads. Research general demographics, interests, likes, optimal posting times, relevant hashtags, images that work, etc.
- Their Pain Points: Some platforms allow only short social media posts, so for those especially, you need to know exactly what you want to say and how to say it to get your point across in as few words as possible.
- Which Platform to Use: You don’t have to post on all platforms, but research which one or two would suit your business best. Different platforms require different writing styles. For example, a long-winded post on LinkedIn or Medium might perform well—but if you posted the same long-form content on TikTok or Instagram, it would most likely strike out.
The more relevant your posts are, the more success you’ll have. To be relevant in the eyes of the different social media platforms’ algorithms, you simply need to get your audience engaged.
Do your research to capture your target audience’s attention by pressing on their pain points. Then, decide if you are:
- A more image-oriented company: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, Flickr
- Or a more wordy and informative-type company: Facebook, LinkedIn, Quora
People will engage with what they know on their chosen platform.
Here’s a Facebook post from Ziploc that hit on a pain point that emerged at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020:
2. Know What Voice to Use
On different platforms, there will be different demographics of users.
For example, younger people tend to use platforms like TikTok and Snapchat. If you want to post on those platforms, a casual and (most of all) entertaining message would resonate with viewers. Get it wrong and you will be ridiculed in the post’s comments. Not good.
Chipotle is an example of a brand that is killing it on TikTok. To take just one example, here is a post designed to promote the perks of working for the company. It’s a platform-friendly way to brag about Chipotle’s food, the company’s tuition assistance program, and the fact that all employees“get this absolutely fire hat.” 🔥
Pinning down the tone and style to use when communicating your message should be part of your research process. Knowing your target audience will help you craft your message in a way that will resonate with the most people.
- For example, if your target audience is high-level executives with deep knowledge of supply chain economics, you’ll want to use an informative and knowledgeable voice on a platform like LinkedIn.
- However, if your target audience is stay-at-home moms who buy groceries for their households, a more conversational, friendly, and helpful tone on Facebook would be ideal.
3. Develop Your Brand
After you have gotten the hang of posting on social media, you will want to develop a personality for your company that exists within your writing on social media.
Make sure this brand personality is consistent across all of your posts on social media.
Having a personality will build trust and familiarity between your company and its customers and help you connect emotionally.
Merriam-Webster, for example, has developed a playful and witty brand personality on Twitter.
Wendy’s, the fast food chain, is a legendary presence on Twitter and has perfected its sassy and irreverent brand personality on the social media platform.
How many fingers am I holding up? Just one… for the $1 hot & buttery Breakfast Biscuit.
— Wendy’s (@Wendys) November 4, 2021
4. Always Use Multimedia
There’s no way around this one: You need to include videos, images, or other multimedia with your writing on social media.
Pictures say a thousand words, right? It’s much easier to insert an image than write a thousand well-crafted words. Visual content is more engaging and effective than words alone.
Yes, this is a post on how to write on social media, but if you don’t include a visual aspect, your customers won’t even make it to the words you’ve written. Marketing firm MDG found that articles with relevant images received 94% more views than articles without images.
Let me say that one more time … but in image form.
Here are a few examples of visual content that works well for businesses on social media:
- Photos: Especially candid photos of your staff or customers. No cheesy stock photos.
- Videos: Short explainers and how-to videos.
- Infographics: Great for sharing bite-sized takeaways.
- Quotes: Grab more attention by choosing quotes from famous people.
- Testimonials: Share a screenshot of an online review, for example.
- Memes: Show off your brand humor. See the Bernie Sanders example in this article.
5. Use the KISS Principle
When in doubt when writing on social media, use the KISS principle (keep it short and simple). Even when you are not in doubt, the KISS principle is an excellent tactic for social media.
People’s attention spans are shorter than ever. Statistics say you have only about eight seconds to capture someone’s attention.
On social media, our attention spans are even shorter—about two seconds—so your posts have to be on point and get their message across as quickly as possible.
When writing social media posts using the KISS principle, keep in mind:
- Write at about an eighth-grade level so they are easy to read by most.
- Be as concise as possible, keeping paragraphs short (two or three sentences).
- Break up your content with headings, bullet points, and lists.
The best way to write on social media is to keep it short and straightforward. This principle will help you reach the maximum number of readers.
McDonald’s used just six words in this 2021 Instagram post teasing an upcoming partnership with BTS, the mega-popular K-pop group. The text was accompanied by an image that formed McDonald’s french fries into the BTS logo.
Brafton, a content marketing agency, pointed out that the McDonald’s BTS Meal social media campaign also “introduced a positive and much-needed celebration of Asian artists” at a time when anti-Asian hate crimes were continuing to surge across the world.
“Social media can’t end systemic racism, but it can reach out to marginalized communities and shine a light on positive representation,” Brafton noted.
Speaking of which, I also really like this “Nike condemns racism” Instagram post, which uses a simple, solemn white-text-on-black-background video along with a heartfelt message of support and solidarity:
6. Stay Positive
Avoid criticizing the competition or other institutions. Your business’s social media should not be used as a platform for hate or taking jabs at people.
Keep your social media posts positive, and your customer base will reward you by coming back again and again.
Staying positive on social media doesn’t necessarily mean posting happy messages all the time. The difference between positive and happy posts is excitement and engagement. Posts can be inspirational but not happy. You can take a stand or opinion about something but stop short of criticizing.
Social media is very public, and publicly criticizing other businesses is unprofessional and costly. Your customers could take offense to your negativity and leave you.
The best principle for writing on social media is to keep it positive, inspirational, and engaging.
Check out this LinkedIn post highlighting a collaboration between two former competitors:
7. Finish With a CTA
Finally, you need a call to action (CTA) at the end of everything you write on social media.
You don’t necessarily need to be selling something with every post, but if people like what you have created, you want to allow them to engage further.
Standard CTAs include:
- Having them connect with you on other social media platforms
- Making a purchase
- Directing them to a landing page
- Adding an item to their shopping cart
- Leading readers to related educational content for marketing on your website
- Asking them to like, share, or comment on your post
Here is a strong CTA example (“Read the article below to learn more!”) from Lform Design, a digital agency:
The whole point of posting on social media is to engage with your audience.
So put a unique CTA button or option at the end of your post to maximize your readers’ engagement with your business.
Don’t forget! Download “7 Social Media Tips for Business: How to Write on Social Media to Grow Your Business” to keep it handy and take action on it. Click here to download it now.
Final Thoughts: Social Media Tips for Business
All businesses need to be on social media and benefit from its billions of potential customers. Use these social media tips for business when crafting your next post, and you will have better engagement with your audience.
Remember: Engagement is the name of the game.
The more people who interact with your posts, the more people will engage with your business. Then the algorithms controlling the major social media platforms will keep putting your future posts in front of customers.
If all this seems like a lot to remember each time you post on social media, that’s because it is! Why not let Super Copy Editors help you navigate the complex waters of social media?
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