Did you know that as of July 2022, there are 4.7 BILLION social media users, which is roughly 59% of the world’s population?! As a result, social media can be a great, free marketing tool when used correctly. We’d even go so far as to say that in today’s society, social media is key — not only for brand awareness but also for customer connection, customer service, and customer retention.

However, unless you have the budget to hire a social media manager, it probably seems daunting knowing how to take advantage of all that social media has to offer. What platforms should you focus on? What should you post? How often should you post? The list of questions goes on!

We’ve spent nearly the last decade helping businesses with their social media accounts, and know the challenges many small business owners face. We also know that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you’re trying to do everything yourself. That’s why, today, we’re breaking down exactly how to DIY your social media!

Identify your ideal client(s):

Ask yourself questions such as: What is their age? What is their gender? Where do they live? What are their interests? What problem(s) do they have, and how can you solve that problem for them?

Know which platform(s) to focus on based on your ideal client(s):

• Facebook: sends more website referral traffic; geared towards news and entertainment; 57% of users are male; good for building relationships and lead generation.
• Instagram: highly visual; 51% of users are female; constantly coming out with new features and updates; good for building relationships and lead generation.
• Pinterest: highly visual (images; graphics; videos); 80% of users are female; great for lead generation.
• YouTube: has the highest number of users (an estimated 74% of US adults use YouTube); 56% of users are male; great for boosting SEO and web traffic; ideal for “how-to” videos.
• Twitter: news and social platform; limited character count; good for sharing blog posts and promoting web content.
• LinkedIn: highly professional platform; used heavily to share industry-related content (blog posts, articles, etc.).
• TikTok: mobile-first video; 60% of users are female; 26% of users are between the ages of 25-44; ideal for “edutainment” content (content that is educational, entertaining, or a combination of both); good for organic reach.

Have brand guidelines in place.

It can be easy as a small business owner to feel like YOU are the brand — and oftentimes that very well might be the case. Having some guidelines in place will help you be able to create consistent content; it will also help your clients be able to easily recognize your posts and know what to expect from you, which increases follower retention and engagement. Some ways to do this include: using the same preset/filter on your photos; making sure your graphics are utilizing your brand’s colors and fonts (or sticking to the same 3-5 colors and 2-3 fonts on your posts if you don’t have any specific brand colors/fonts); write captions with the same tone of voice; etc.

Determine your content pillars.

A content pillar is a subset of topics or themes; they act as the foundation to your social media content. Having content pillars will force your content to be consistent and will allow your audience to know what to expect. (Any post that doesn’t fall within that category is best utilized as a story.)

What do you talk about the most? What are you an expert on that you can educate your audience about? What are pain points for your ideal client(s) that you can help them solve? What topics in your previous content have performed best?

Develop a social media strategy.

We’re BIG believers in having a solid strategy when it comes to your marketing. (If you’re new around here, strategy is kinda our thing). It’s your customized roadmap that will continually point you back to your “why” and guide you on your “how” — even when you feel like giving up.

What are your goals when it comes to social media? How about with your business in general? How are you marketing yourself elsewhere, and how can social media support those marketing efforts? How can you differentiate yourself from your competitors? How often can you (consistently) show up for your audience — whether that’s in your stories, reels, or posts? What content has performed well in the past? All of those questions are important to ask yourself, and just part of developing a strategy that will set your business up for success when it comes to utilizing social media.

Set up/optimize your accounts.

Now that you’ve laid the groundwork, it’s time to set up your accounts — and if you already have your accounts set up, it’s time to make sure they are optimized!

• Create a business profile rather than a personal profile (​​this will allow you to view insights and easily track your analytics).
• Make sure your accounts are linked to your website and email.
• Make sure your username matches your domain name and/or is consistent across all platforms.
• Use an easily recognizable photo as your profile picture (if you’re a larger brand or a brand that is product-based, use your logo).
• Optimize your bio/about section for SEO (search engine optimization) purposes, keeping in mind that you usually only have a few seconds to convert a visitor to a follower. A good template is: I am ______. I help ______ do ______ so they can ______.
• Include a call to action to easily drive traffic from your social media page to your website, email, phone, etc.

Curate your content.

Schedule that photo shoot. Spend a day creating reels. Batch supporting graphics (Canva is a great, user-friendly tool — and they have a free version!). Look ahead to see what kind of posts you might be posting to make sure you have the content you need!

Pro tip: Try to have at least a month’s worth of content at a time. If you’re scheduling a photo shoot, though, try to get enough images to last you an entire quarter!

Start scheduling.

There are some great scheduling tools, with both paid and free versions! I personally love using Later and/or Facebook Business Suite. If you’re focusing on Pinterest specifically, Tailwind offers a free version and has some helpful tools.

Don’t forget to engage with your audience.

Try to thoughtfully engage with your audience for 30 minutes per day. It might seem like a lot, but if you’re honest with yourself, you probably spend at least that amount of time mindlessly scrolling 😉 Ways to do this include:

• Promptly respond to every DM and comment (more than just an emoji; use people’s first names; etc.) Think of it as an extension of customer service: you wouldn’t not respond to an email or hang-up on a customer, the same applies to social media.
• Utilize trending hashtags/songs as well as your own hashtag sets to engage with your ideal audiences to increase brand awareness.
• Engage with the accounts that you follow by liking and/or thoughtfully commenting on their posts.

Still feeling overwhelmed with your social media? Tired of going the DIY route and really want to invest in your business to help you reach that next level? We’re here to help! Check out our services and contact us to set up a discovery call (it’s free) to see if we’d be a good fit!