If you want to get noticed more on social media, there is a formula you can follow to do so. Here’s what has been working for me.
- Steady content
The meat and potatoes of social media must include maintaining a steady presence with good quality content. We do this by posting pre-written tips, facts, and news about our services at least three times a week.
These posts can include things like:
- Tips related to your services
- News about your services, including deadlines and requirements
- Facts about you, your staff, the location you serve, your office hours, your mission, and any other information related to your business
- Offers, including new services and promotions, which should be kept to about 25 percent or less of total posts.
- Curated content, such as sharing an article that was informative and related to your services or relevant to your clients’ interests
- Engagement
It’s essential to connect and interact with others on social media. This is a very personal part of social media that should not be automated. It can be delegated to someone that you trust and that knows your voice. Otherwise, it’s something you should do yourself.
I spend 15-30 minutes each day going through my social feeds so that I can comment, like, and share other people’s posts. Many of them ask questions I can answer. A lot of them are work-related, and I can show my expertise. Some questions may not have anything to do with work, and that’s not the point. You can show your personality when you answer those types of posts.
For anyone who responds to anything I post, I like their post and follow them. This is important. I also follow back anyone who follows me. The only exception is if their site is R-rated. I do unfollow people to keep my feed positive and clean.
In the beginning, to build my followers, I followed everyone who mentioned accounting or tax in their bio at a rate of about 50 a week. I don’t do this anymore.
I can also periodically post my own questions in hopes that people respond to me. Don’t overdo this; you will look like you are trying too hard.
If you’re worried about time, set a timer before you start, and stop when it goes off so you can get back to work on time.
- What to avoid
Be smart about your comments on topics where people are polarized, have strong feelings, or are private: politics, religion, sex are the classics.
Also, I don’t run ads. It’s better to keep it organic.
- Monitor metrics
Tweetsmap tells me how many followers and unfollowers I received each week. If in any one week, I have more unfollowers than followers, I go back to see what I did that might have created that result so I can learn from it.
Growth will be steady but very slow. I usually only get about 10-20 new followers a week, and your mileage will vary. You can boost this by following more people; it will happen when they follow you back.
That’s it. Steady is the key, along with valuable content and a small amount of engagement. A little goes a long way.
