10 Social Media Best Practice Tips for 2022
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Loading... - Benjamin Grant
- 29 May 2022
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Best practice on social media is far and away the most important thing marketers need to be all over. Things are constantly changing in the digital space, and social media is certainly no exception. From image specs to preferred media type, there is no shortage of habits to add to your best practice on social media handbook.
If you’ve read our Social Media – Team of One blog, you know that managing social media takes a lot of passion, planning, and coordination. We’re making it a little bit easier for you by boiling it down to the top 10 social media best practice tips for this year.
1. Plan It Out
You may think that your business is an exception to this rule. You need to post spontaneously; your industry demands it. Wrong! Now, of course, spontaneous posting can be a part of your strategy, but not the crux of it. If you typically post three times per week, plan and schedule two of those posts and leave an open spot for a spontaneous piece of content.
As the old saying goes, when you fail to plan, you plan to fail. It will be a much more effective strategy to ensure relevant posts are consistent than relying purely on capturing the right moment. If you’re struggling to prepare a plan, answer the below questions to get you started:
· Whom are you speaking to?
· What types of content do they want to engage with?
· Are there events or holidays relevant to your industry?
· Do you know your goals on social media? (Ex: increase following, engagement, and/or sales?)
Start by answering these questions, and your plan will form itself. Post more of the content your audience wants to see. Use calls to action that make sense for your business goals. Don’t forget to post about industry-relevant events, holidays, or days of recognition.
2. Be Flexible
Maybe you don’t resonate with the above too much. Perhaps you love to plan. If that’s the case, make sure that you leave room in your plan to be flexible. Things are changing all the time on social media. Just recently, LinkedIn changed their image requirements for their news feed. It’s crucial to stay on top of things like image size requirements to ensure your graphics are optimized. Also, Instagram recently announced that their chronological news feed is making a comeback. How does this affect your posting schedule? Are you aware of the best times to post for your business?
In our ever-evolving world, it’s so important to keep an ear to the ground on changes to platforms, requirements, advertising rules, targeting options, etc. Ensure that your social media strategy has wiggle room for when things change. Subscribe to social media newsletters. Set reminders to check platforms for any changes. Be proactive and stay ahead of your competition.
3. Perfect Your Profiles
One of the essential components of a successful social media strategy, the pages themselves, is often one of the most ignored. Users are on your pages daily. Are you as well? What do they look like to the user? Are they up to date?
If your pages have any out-of-date information, blurry logos, or dead links, you will detract potential customers. As part of your social media management, ensure you set a weekly reminder to check all platforms for any outdated information. If your display picture is your company logo, ensure it’s the appropriate version. Does it include your tagline that’s too small to read? Is it centered and clear? Is it in the most recognizable brand color/s?
The above is a simple box to tick but is so vital to the health of your social media strategy. Make sure you take the time to perfect your social media profiles regularly.
4. Tailor Your Content
It’s so easy to get stuck in the routine of content creation. Every month, you tick the boxes on types of content and wait for the next month. However, it’s vital to any social media strategy to ensure you’re consistently tailoring your content. This could be for your various audience segments or the platform itself.
If you are unsure where to begin, perform an audit on each platform you post. Your audience on LinkedIn may be entirely different from your audience on TikTok. Are you tailoring your content to suit the audience? Also, it’s essential to keep track of what kind of content works well on each platform. Long-form, article-based content will not perform well on Snapchat, but it would be perfect for LinkedIn.
While it’s far easier to ‘one-and-done’ a piece of content and post on every platform, it’s far more lucrative and time-worthy to tailor your strategy for every platform and audience segment.
5. Capitalize on Free Tools
You don’t have to subscribe to ten different social media tools to compete. There are plenty of free tools available that can make implementing your social media strategy a little bit easier.
· Canva is an excellent tool for designing content, and there is a free tier. There are thousands of social media templates that you can edit to suit any brand. You can create content by the platform as Canva has pre-made platform templates that fit the size requirements necessary. This tool is also handy if you want to level up your social media game and introduce videos or short animations. There are templates for that, too.
· Buffer is a fantastic tool for scheduling content. A free tier allows you to connect up to three social media pages. You can then plot out your content on their handy calendar view. Voila! You have successfully planned out your content.
· Unsplash is your one-stop-shop for any free stock photo needs. This platform is unique in that the images don’t often have a very ‘stock image’ feel. They’re more realistic and artsy. This ambiguity may mean you have to dig a bit harder to find what suits your needs, but hey, it’s free. All they ask is that you credit the photographer.
