8 Basics To Make You A Social Media Pro

Back in the day, when Orkut reigned over the social media world, the only trace of businesses on social media was the occasional profile.

Fast forward to the present, with the addition of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the others to the social media scene, the number of platforms and subsequently the number of business using these platforms skyrocketed at an immense pace, and continue the upward streak even today.

With the sheer volume of options now available when it comes to creating a social presence for your business online, wrapping your brain around the modern social media is bound to leave you feeling overwhelmed.

Luckily, there is a surefire way to take the intimidation level down a notch. In order to have a firm grasp of anything, we first need to have a solid understanding of its foundation; its base.

That’s right….we're going Back to the Basics!

Whether you are starting from scratch in the social media scene or feeling a bit lost at sea with your current social media presence, these 8 Social Media Basics will help you find your social media groove in no time.

1) Choose the right platform
First things first - you must choose your platforms. Having a presence on the relevant social media platforms is the first thing to keep in mind. The best way to solidify your social media presence is to use multiple different platforms. But which ones? Here's a quick overview to help make things easier:

•Twitter - Twitter is probably the simplest social media platform to master. Simple to use, minimal set up and highly engaging, it is usually the first social media destination for many businesses. Twitter is the best place to have direct contact with your customers and followers, which explains why Twitter is the go to social media for customer service. Also, if you are looking for a way to master your tagging, hashtag and captioning skills, Twitter is where to it.
•Facebook - Facebook, the biggest name in social media is the best place to run paid ad campaigns. Facebook is also popular for many brick and mortar businesses who are looking to reach out to their local customers and to grow a good following, with provisions for check ins and online reviews.
•Instagram - Instagram is the bag daddy for visual content. The current social media star, Instagram is where brick & mortar businesses, online ecommerce stores and social media influencers can let loose their creativity with eye catching pictures and witty captions.
•LinkedIn - If you are looking for a business and networking oriented social media platform, LinkedIn is just that. LinkedIn is the ideal place for you to grow your business network, by connecting with your peers, your mentors and your idols, and is positively a goldmine for all things business.
•Pinterest - Relatively new in the business social media scene, Pinterest is the best place for social selling and the ideal way to reach your target groups, particularly if a majority of them are millennials. Similar to Instagram, Pinterest is a platform where you can set your creativity free and create wonderful visually appealing content centered around your business.
•YouTube - While not traditionally a social media platform, Youtube is a great way to connect with the community and the ideal place to promote your video content, which happens to be the most popular form of content across nearly all social media.

2) Create an excellent profile:
Another social media basic to remember is to have a complete and updated profile. Your profile is the first glimpse of your business that the customers (and the algorithms) get. By having a complete social media profile with your business name, locations and essential information clearly mentioned, you will make it easier for your business to be found in search results. While each platform's profile section may vary, the main sections you need to concentrate on in your profiles are
- Business names and URLS - Make sure you're making consistent use of relevant URLs while signing up on multiple social media platforms.
- Brand images and creatives - Your business profile should have images that perfectly represent your business identity and are optimally sized for the particular social media platforms.
- "About" and "Bio" sections - These sections are the way you describe yourself to your potential customers and followers. Ensure that these sections are as detailed and helpful as possible. Make sure to keep this section well updated at all times.

3) Keep an eye on the 'competition'
Be sure to follow other businesses, fellow brands and
your prospects on social media platforms to show that you are an active participant on social media, rather than just churning out brand related content on your pages. By following fellow businesses and competitors, you can see how they work on social media and be up to date with all social media trends.

4) Monitor your mentions
New follows, customer concerns, praises; no matter what kind of mention, they deserve a reply. A timely response from businesses is a huge trust builder between your company and your customers. Make sure you have a dedicated system to monitor your notifications and mentions on a regular basis.

5) Maintain a fool proof content strategy and calendar
So now that the profiles are up, we come to the main part - content. You need to have a fantastic content strategy that will attract and engage your followers as well as educate them and make them aware about your brand. One great way of marketing your brand on social media is to have a dedicated hashtags, especially as an engagement tactic. Once the content strategy is decided, you also need to have a detailed content calendar. A calendar is a wonderful way to organize your social media content, saves time, and avoids repetitive postings. A content calendar is also a great way to have your post images, captions and posting dates & times in one convenient place. By creating a dedicated calendar, you save yourself the hassle of floundering daily about what to post next.

6) Engage
Being a loner on social media isn't really the best way to gain more followers. Being an active participant on social media, be it reposting or sharing relevant content or commenting on interesting topics, is a good way to present your brand personality to your followers and build strong social relationships with followers, fans and customers.

7) Talk about your channels
Now that your profiles are set up, your content is ready to go, it is time to get promoting! You want people to be able to find you after all. Rather than confining your social media presence to just social media, mention your pages and profiles in other collaterals as well, including but not limited to newsletters, website headers & footers, cross promotions on other social media and on business cards, email signatures and others.

8) Keep track of your progress
Simply starting your social media journey isn’t enough though, it is vital to closely monitor your growth on your social media platforms regularly, to ensure that you are visible to as many customers as possible at all times. Having an efficient analytical and reporting system to monitor your growth and progress is an important part of maintaining a strong presence on social media, to help you keep up to date on various aspects of your social media presence including popular content, level of audience engagement and more.

With this social media basics checklist you can kick your anxiety to the curb and keep your business social media game track. Just go back to the list any time you feel swept under the current in the ocean of modern social media and you will find your feet in no time.

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