Using social media to market your printables is one way to get exposure for you business. Using social media can be the key to being successful or not. However, you do not have to be an expert on all social media platforms to gain some of the benefits. You can pick one platform to get started.
Here are some tips to getting started.
Pick One Social Media Platform
If you are new to social media, then you need to pick one platform where you are most comfortable. . If your audience favors one platform over another, then that is where you should focus your efforts. There is no point spending time on marketing in a place where few people who might buy your product will go.
For example, Twitter is often referred to a place to find business niche followers. 85% of all Pinterest users are women who often buy as a result of Pins; this makes Pinterest a viable resource where women shoppers are the target audience.
In contrast, to be successful on Instagram, understand your audience and use their needs to drive your content marketing. It will take some in-depth research and testing to find those platforms for your target audience and niche, but it is well worth your while.
And another point to consider is that Twitter and Instagram are in the moment type of content, where Pinterest Pins are there just about forever. Pins that I posted 2 years ago are still driving traffic to my shop.
Participate in Social Media Platforms
Businesses with a physical presence are available on the phone and in person for their customers; online businesses are no different. If you don’t have a store or phone number for customers to contact you on, you must be available on social media. This means answering tweets, and comments that you receive.
Respond to all, react to comments and be nice.
Track Your Social Media Sites
Ensure you have some kind of way to track the number of visitors, comments, retweets etc. on your sites. This is the only way you will know which aspects of your marketing strategy are working. If no one is commenting on certain types of posts, it may be time to rethink these, as they are clearly not as effective as others are.
Learn the Features of Each Platform
Certain sites have features that can be automated, such as following people when they start to follow you. Invest time in understanding these features, as they can be crucial to saving you time later. However, technology is no replacement for a human so make sure you check that it is working correctly from time to time.
In Instagram, you cannot post links in comments. You can post a non-clickable link which someone will have to copy, or write down to use. However, if you use social media schedulers, many of them have an option where you can add links to your profile. In Tailwind, this is called Smart Bio, and users are able to post links and direct followers to those links.
Be Different But Be You
There is enough content on the internet that requires people to simply read. You need to make your website stand out from the others and interactive features are one way to do this. This could be simply having a weekly or monthly poll, small competitions or asking people to send reviews of your products. As people engage with your site, it will spread across social media sites thereby increasing exposure to your business.
Use Easy Call To Actions
A call to action is whatever you want your audience to do. For example, buy your eBook, buy products from your ecommerce site, signup to your email-marketing list, or buy an affiliate promotion.
Whatever your call to action, the whole point in any marketing strategy is to increase their conversions, so make this as easy as possible.
Have links in your posts to your site and minimize the amount of steps people have to take to complete the Call To Action. Be clear in what you want them to do, have large buy buttons on your sales page and prominent opt-in forms that are not buried among other content.
You could also offer discounts and vouchers that are only available on your social media sites to encourage interaction, such as ‘10% off for those who share the post’. Not only does this give you an extra sale, but also it ensures the customer is also promoting your business to all their social media contacts.
Be Consistent on Social Media
It takes time to develop a following on different platforms. I have been using Pinterest for many years, and despite it’s everchanging algorithms, it still is responsible for 85% of the traffic for my educational materials.
So you need to be consistent about posting, have a regular schedule for all new content to post to various platforms. Instagram, not so much. And if I am honest, I much prefer Pinterest to Instagram and so more of my efforts go there.
And to save some energy, use a scheduler to post to whatever platforms you use. I use Tailwind to post to Pinterest and Instagram. I also use Missinglettr to post my blog posts to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Using a scheduler means you can set up your posts once a week or month, and content is scheduled out at certain times.
To learn more about Tailwind or other tools that I use, see these previous blog posts: USING TAILWIND and 3 Favorite Tools. Do you use other tools? I would love to hear if you are using a scheduler for social media that is different or have another strategy. Drop a comment below or email me at hello@creativeplr.com.