7 tips to improve your social media performance

Social media is an important ingredient in any business' digital marketing strategy.

Most businesses these days are active on at least one social media platform. In many ways, most businesses have to be active on social media, simply because it’s so essential as part of operating a modern, successful business.  

But why does it matter so much? And how can you improve your stats as a small business owner?  

Why your social media performance matters  

There’s a smorgasbord of reasons why maintaining a social presence of social media is so important to your brand’s success.  

Firstly, it’s where your customers are. The vast majority of Canadians use social media, which makes these platforms a great place to connect with them. Other ways of reaching your potential audiences will cost you (such as traditional advertising), whereas social media can put your brand on their screens as they check their feeds.  

Of course, these platforms are also a great way to get your message across. Whether you’re promoting a product or building your branding, social media makes it easy to broadcast everything you’re about.  

Don’t forget, social media goes both ways. By being available online, it’s also a great place for your customers to contact you. Whether that’s a quick message in the chat, or letting you know what products they’d like to see in an informal poll, smart businesses will use social networking to listen to their customers.  

Improving your social media performance: 7 tips  

1. Don’t just share your products & services  

Social media should be fun and engaging, and it’s few businesses that have products or services fun enough to generate huge interest every time. Of course, you should still promote your products and services, but don’t be afraid to switch it up with photos of your team, reels of your office dog, or funny memes related to your business.  

These posts will keep your feed diverse, and drive engagement with your page even if your usual posts aren’t quite as exciting.  

2. Interact with other pages  

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make on social media is to treat it like a one-way street.  

Spend time following other pages, both people and brands. Like their posts, leave comments, share interesting announcements, and engage wherever possible. These activities will also put your brand in front of people, and you’ll become known for being involved in the local community.  

3. Plan out your content  

Once a month, take the time to plan out what you’ll post. While you can still incorporate ad hoc posts as they come up, making a plan will help to ensure that you’re sharing a mix of product or service posts, interesting news, funny photos and videos, and other content.  

This way, you’ll avoid getting too repetitive, and you won’t accidentally miss important days or announcements.  

4. Share user-generated content  

User-generated content (UGC) is anything created by other users. 

Sharing UGC can help to add variety to what you share, and make your customers feel seen and heard. Perhaps they shared a photo of your business or services, or left a shining review – it all makes for great content to share.  

5. Take part in trends  

There’s always some new trend going around social media.  

It could be a trending song, a ‘challenge’, a format, or just about anything else. Keep an eye on your social media feeds to see what’s new, and see if you can find ways to incorporate your business for a fun way to get involved and stay relevant. 

6. Sign up for free social media webinars  

Did you know that Community Futures British Columbia runs regular webinars for business owners, including the occasional one on social media management? Better yet, they’re free for pretty much all business owners.  

One such upcoming workshop is ‘Social Media Strategy: Engaging Your Audience’, which will be held on Thursday, May 29. This session will cover the basics of creating engaging posts, analyzing and optimizing their performance, and building connections with your audiences.  

Be sure to check out the other upcoming webinars, and remember that even if you can’t watch the live webinar at the time, you can still access the recording simply by registering. Sign up for a free Community Futures account to get started.  

7. Use free scheduling tools  

Make life easier for yourself by making the most of free scheduling tools. These tools make it simple to lock in your social posts for the next month, and they also tell you which times are best for posting, based on when your followers are most active.  

This can ensure that you’re keeping up with regular posting – and therefore getting more engagement – and ensure you’re posting at times that are best suited for your clients, even if you’re busy doing other work.  

Meta makes it easy to schedule across Facebook and Instagram, but there are plenty of tools out there (as well as paid ones with additional features).  

Social media, marketing advice, and so much more  

Community Futures Howe Sound is full of good advice for your business, from marketing tips to financial advice, operational efficiency ideas and HR. Whatever it is you need help with, we’re on hand to act as a mentor and sounding board, whenever you need it, and all free of charge.  

Book in a free business advice session with one of our team today.