Facebook

Facebook is the largest social network, so it makes sense that over 50 million businesses have signed up. Most brands made the initial step of setting up an account, but with shrinking organic reach and a tricky algorithm, many are fighting to stand out and make Facebook work for them.

Due to Facebook's algorithm, it's difficult to get a lot of organic engagement from simply posting to your timeline. To expand your reach, you need to get other people to share your post with their friends as well.

To do this, the posts you share on Facebook should be "viral" in nature. For instance, list posts, DIY tips and how-to articles tend to perform well. These types of posts usually entice people to share because it's entertaining and engaging. When you're coming up with content ideas for your blog, think of topics you would share on your personal Facebook page and incorporate them into your schedule.

Tag People & Brands

This is a quick tactic most brands completely overlook because it's not as common as Twitter's mention feature. However, you can tag people and pages on Facebook. They'll receive a notification and may come and engage on your post. Choose a week to share blog posts from 5-10 sites in your niche industry with a Facebook presence. Tag their Facebook page in your status update by typing @ and the page's username on Facebook. You can also tag Facebook Groups or individuals.

Resource
9 Facebook Hacks to Grow Your Audience

Comment on Other Pages

Who says you can only post to your own page? Facebook allows brands to comment and reply on other posts, which is an awesome way to engage and spread awareness for your company. Find pages in your industry that post regularly and comment on at least one post every day. Instead of leaving generic comments like "cool," take a couple of minutes to write a genuine comment that adds to the conversation.

Resource
Your Go-To-Guide for Facebook Marketing

Target Organic Posts

Most marketers are aware of Facebook's great ad targeting, but did you know you can also target your organic posts as well? Sprout Social lets you target who your posts are displayed to based on:

• Interests
• gender
• Relationship status
• Educational status
• Age
• Location
• Language
• Resources

Narrowing your audience allows you to share content that's filtered down to your target demographic.

Resource
Your Guide to Social Media Targeting Via Sprout

Use Your CTA Button

In 2014 Facebook unveiled a new call-to-action button for businesses. The button appears on your timeline and you can choose from seven different messages such as "Contact Us" or "Sign Up." Unfortunately there are several businesses that haven't taken advantage of this feature yet. If you're one of them, add a Facebook CTA button to your page.

Resource
Call to Action Phrases That Convert

Facebook has the most robust advertising platform of any social network. It offers advanced targeting, retargeting, custom audience building and much more. The affordable prices make it perfect for companies of any size from small businesses to agencies or enterprise. Improve your chances of success with these tips for Facebook Ads.

• Split test: Facebook Ads makes it easy to create duplicates of your existing ad creatives and edit the headline, copy or image. You can group similar ads together and compare the stats for each variation.
• Choose your image carefully: The image you use in your ad is arguably the most important part. It needs to catch the eye of people browsing Facebook who can sometimes be blind to ads and banners. Avoid using colors like blue, grey and black because they can blend in with Facebook's brand colors.
• Retarget: If you want to dramatically increase the click-through rate of your ads, start retargeting. Retargeting uses a tracking pixel to allow you to display ads to people that have visited your website in the past. Since these visitors are more familiar with your brand, they are 70% more likely to convert with you.
• Analyze: In addition to analyzing which ads perform better, dig deeper and look into which device types convert the best and which demographics have the most success. Use the data to adjust the target audience for your current and future campaigns. Having a more targeted audience will improve your CTR and ultimately drive down your costs.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is known as the social network for business. If you're in the B2B space, LinkedIn is a must. However, even B2C companies can get value from LinkedIn depending on your target audience. Since LinkedIn's audience and purpose is fairly different from most social networks, the way businesses approach it needs to be different as well.

Since the audience on LinkedIn sways toward professionals, the content you share should match. Generally people are on LinkedIn like to see industry related articles, job opportunities or content related to their own groups. The content you share will depend on your goals and how you plan to use LinkedIn. The more industry-specific you can get, the better.

Here are some examples of the type of content you should post on LinkedIn depending on your goals:

• Sales: If your goal is to get leads and sales, your content will primarily be industry articles. Curate quality content to share on your feed.
• PR & recruitment: PR and recruitment content is often related. They both have to do with highlighting your company's culture and achievements. This content should should consist of company news, behind the scenes peeks of your company and other content that shows your brand in a positive light.
• Groups: The content you post in your groups should be specific to that audience, not necessarily your industry. For instance if you're a payroll software company in a group for human resource professionals, the content you share should relate to HR topics beyond payroll software.
• Pulse: If you're posting on LinkedIn Pulse, it's typically to build thought leadership and showcase your industry expertise. This is where you can publish more opinion-based content such as tips and thoughts on where your industry is going.

Ask Employees to Get Active

Your first step should be to ask employees involved with sales or marketing to open an account if they don't already have one. Have them setup profiles and send an invite to prospects, leads and clients to connect with them.

Resource
Does Your LinkedIn Marketing Deliver Results?

Publish an Article a Week to LinkedIn Pulse

Commit to publishing one long-form article a week to LinkedIn Pulse for at least two months. This will give you time to start building authority and get an idea of how often you should publish long term. If you're getting great results from posting once a week, then you might want to keep it up. If not, you can tone it down and publish once or twice a month. Just make sure whatever you publish is high quality.

Resource
The Ultimate LinkedIn Lead Generation Guide

Create a LinkedIn Group

Joining existing groups is a great way to start making connections to get the ball rolling for your LinkedIn marketing strategy. To take things to the next level, you should create your own group for your brand. This will be a community for your customers, leads and prospects. You can use it to share valuable content and keep members up to date on any important company news. One of the benefits of having your own group is the ability to send group announcements once per week. Group members will receive a notification on LinkedIn as well as an email. It's like having a mini email list in LinkedIn.

Resource
3 Simple & Quick LinkedIn Tips to Get More Reach

LinkedIn is the perfect network for social media advertising in the B2B arena. One of the key advantages is targeting people by job title. This improves your chances of bypassing gatekeepers and getting in front of decision makers. You can even target employees of a specific company, which is great if you already have a new client in mind you want to work with. Take advantage of everything LinkedIn Ads have to offer.

• Sponsored content: LinkedIn gives you the option of running sidebar ads or sponsored content. If your natural inclination is to run the sidebar ads, you may want to reconsider. One of the downsides of sidebar ads is they're easy to miss. With sponsored content your post will appear right in a user's feed which is difficult to ignore. Just make sure the content you promote is targeted to your ad's audience.
• Focus on leads, not sales: Since you've narrowed down your audience to your ideal buyers, you might be tempted to direct your ads to a pricing page to get them to sign up for your product or service. You could see a few new customers with that approach. However, if you direct your ads to a lead generation form with a free offer–like a downloadable guide–you'll be able to capture more leads. It's much easier to get people to give you their email address than their money.
• Sponsored InMail: If you really want to make sure your message gets seen, give Sponsored InMail a try. With sponsored InMail, you can send messages directly to your prospect's inbox on LinkedIn. You should only consider this option for qualified leads because the pricing can vary. You also want to be able to personalize each message rather than sending the same generic InMail to dozens or hundreds of people.

Instagram

Instagram has quickly turned into a top choice for companies looking to establish their brands on social media. Although it's missing some features such as clickable links in posts, it has the highest engagement of any social media platform. If Instagram isn't a part of your social media marketing strategy, you could be missing out on a huge opportunity.

Instagram is the perfect network for content that showcases your brand identity. When someone looks at your Instagram profile, they should get an idea of your company culture and your brand stance. Post pictures of company outings, work being done and other "behind the curtain" content that help customers feel a connection to your brand.

Find Your Industry's Top Hashtags

Hashtags are one of the quickest ways to get more exposure for your Instagram posts. But you have to use the right ones. Stringing random hashtags together in your Instagram captions isn't going to be as effective as taking a more strategic approach. Think of keywords related to your business, and see how many times the hashtag for it is mentioned by searching Instagram. You can also look at the hashtags your competitors are using to find more ideas. Put the top hashtags in a file you can access on your phone or computer. When you have a relevant post, you can quickly copy the hashtags over into your caption.

Resource:
How to Grow Your Audience With Hashtags for Instagram

Write a Compelling Bio

A lot of brands treat their Instagram bio as an afterthought. They'll type up a quick sentence, link to their website's home page and move on. However, your bio is the first impression people will have of your brand on Instagram, so spend more than two minutes on it. Your bio should accurately explain who you are and what you do, personify your brand and target your ideal followers.

Resource:
How to Write Instagram Bios for Businesses

Regram & Tag Influencers

Get on the radar of established brands and influencers on Instagram by sharing (regramming) their content and tagging them. When you tag other brands in your captions or comments, they'll receive a notification showing them they were mentioned and who mentioned them. Sometimes they may be tempted to to visit your account, especially if you're consistently tagging them in your posts. Make a list of influencers in your industry and come up with post ideas that will allow you to mention them. A popular option is to make a quote image of something they said and credit them in your caption.

Resource:
10 Instagram Hacks That Actually Work

Instagram's advertising platform (Ads on Instagram) works through Facebook Ads. That means you have access to many of the same amazing features you have with Facebook such as advanced targeting and analytics. However, keep in mind Ads on Instagram is still fairly new so users are still getting acclimated to seeing sponsored posts in their feed. Still, the native look and feel of Instagram ads makes them far less intrusive and disruptive than traditional ads.

• The picture is everything: Instagram is all about visuals. The more captivating your image is, the more likely a user is to ignore the "Sponsored" message and focus on your content. To make your images more eye-catching, use vibrant colors that stand out instead of flat colors that blend in with the app.
• Pick a hashtag: Ads are great for pushing a branded hashtag when you have a relatively small following. The people that see your ad but aren't already familiar with your brands might start to pick up on your branded hashtag and use it. Instead of doing #yourcompanyname, make your hashtag a tagline that can launch a movement like Nike's #justdoit.
• Capture leads: Ads on Instagram is about more than just getting new followers. You can actually use ads to generate new leads. Unlike regular Instagram posts, sponsored messages give you the ability to add a clickable call-to-action in your posts. Use this to push traffic to a landing page where you can capture their email address. Just make sure your landing page is mobile friendly because people will be viewing it on their phone or tablet.

Pinterest

Before Instagram and Snapchat dominated the visual social network space, Pinterest was the go-to platform for sharing images. Although it slowed down a little after the explosion of Instagram, Pinterest is still a highly-used platform with plenty to offer for social media marketing.

Similar to Instagram, Pinterest is all about your images. You can add text description to your pins, but your main focus should be on your visuals. That means creating custom graphics using tools like Canva and Landscape. If you take a look at Pinterest, you'll notice a few popular trends such as overlaying text on images and using high-quality photographs.

If you sell physical goods, pin pictures of them being used instead of just a generic product shot. Your images will be competing with dozens of others that are displayed on a user's feed or search results.

Create Featured Pins for Blog Posts

Pinterest is an ideal platform to promote your content. If you have a blog post you think will resonate well with Pinterest users, create a custom image to promote it. Write out a brief description, engaging headline and pin it.

Resource:
Always Up-To-Date Social Media Image Sizes

Host a Pinterest Contest

Pinterest contests allow you to quickly grow your following. There are several ways to host a contest, but one of the most common approaches is to push people to make UGC. You can ask participants to create a board and pin images with your contest hashtag. Or you can create a group board with pins from all the participants.

Resource:
Everything You Need to Know About Hashtags and Pinterest Contests

Use Keywords

Pinterest's search feature is more robust than most social networks. Treat your pins like you would treat a blog post you want to rank for in Google. Come up with a keyword you want to target and include it in the description and title of your pin.

Resource:
Why Pinterest Guided Search Makes Your Pin Description More Important

Pinterest ads don't get the same attention and notoriety of other social media advertising platforms, but it's definitely a powerful resource to have at your disposal. With plenty of case studies to back its effectiveness, any brand on Pinterest can use Promoted pins to accelerate their progress.

• Choose the right keywords: Since Pinterest users rely heavily on the search feature, you're can target your Promoted Pins based on keywords. You have the option of adding over 100 keywords to your campaign so you'll need to be careful about not overdoing it. Pick keywords that describe your pin, not necessarily just keywords you want to rank. This will keep your ads relevant and improve conversions.
• Promote evergreen pins: You don't have to limit your promoted pins to one-off promotions. Instead, use evergreen pins with no expiration date. Just like normal pins, your promoted ones can be repinned and shared. Use promoted pins to boost some of your best performing blog posts so the pin will live on even after you stop the ad campaign.
• Add a CTA: If you take a look at pins being used to promote a blog post, you'll notice a majority don't have any call to action. They generally have a nice looking image, the blog post title in the description a a link to the article. There's nothing to compel people to take action outside of linking to your post. For your promoted posts, take the extra steps to include a CTA like "Click here to learn more."

Snapchat

Snapchat is the newest player in the social media app world. Marketers are still figuring out the best use for the video sharing network, but there's more than enough reason to make it a priority in your social media marketing strategy.

One of the challenges of Snapchat is the temporary nature of the content. After a day, your Snapchat stories are removed from the app unless you save them elsewhere. It forces brands to get creative and come up with new ideas each day.

There are plenty of options for what content to share on Snapchat. Some brands like to give a behind the scenes look at life at the company. Others share coupons and flash sales to take advantage of the temporary nature of the app.

Snapchat is for entertainment. Mentioning products or promotions is fine, but you have to do it in a way that's not a blatant advertisement. Otherwise people won't stay engaged.

Enable Story Replies

Story replies allow users to directly reply to one of your brand's stories by swiping up on their screen. Story replies allow you to better engage with your audience and try creative techniques like Q&A sessions, contests and giveaways.

Resource:
Increase Engagement on Snapchat With Custom Content & Story Replies

Work With Influencers

Unlike many social networks, the top Snapchat accounts aren't businesses and celebrities. The most followed accounts are often social media stars and everyday people that create entertaining stories. Top brands and agencies realize this and are using it to their advantage. You can do the same by linking up with influencers with a large following and letting them take over your Snapchat account for a day. Their followers will rush to your account to see what's being snapped, which can quickly grow your audience.

Resource:
How to Creatively Use Snapchat for Business

Launch Exclusives

Since Snapchat content has an expiration date, it's the perfect channel to offer limited time offers and deals. Occasionally, make a snap offering an exclusive discount for your Snapchat followers. The key is to only promote it on Snapchat so it entices customers to follow you there.

Snapchat's advertising platform is still in its infancy stage. It was only available to a few companies during the initial launch. More companies have joined, but it's still not an open platform. If you want to test out Snap Ads, you'll have to apply online. Every ad is manually reviewed by Snapchat. This makes the costs are significantly higher than other social media advertising platforms, which creates a larger barrier to entry.

However, initial tests for Snap Ads look very promising. According to Snapchat, the swipe-up rate for Snap Ads is 5 times higher than the average click-through rate for comparable platforms. For brands looking to reach a younger demographic, Snap Ads could be a viable option. The app is used by 41% of 18-34 year olds in the US.

Google+

The question of Google+ still being worthwhile for marketers is asked all the time. After some initial momentum during its launch, the buzz has kind of fizzled when compared to newer networks like Instagram or Snapchat. But that doesn't mean it's time to call it quits.

The most common type of content shared on Google+ is curated articles. Make Google+ a step in your publishing checklist. After your article goes live, create a Google+ post with a brief description and a link to the article. Google+ will pull in the meta data and an image to make your post visually appealing.

Host Hangouts

Hangouts were one of the most anticipated features with Google+. In fact, after Google+ removed several features, Hangouts continued to improve. Use Google+ Hangouts to host live chats, webinars and other video events for your audience. Come up with a compelling topic, invite as many people as possible and launch your event on Hangouts.

Resource:
Google+ Hangout: Habits of Successful Community Managers

Format Your Posts

A big advantage to Google+ over other social networks is the ability to format text. You can add bold, italics, or strikethroughs in your post by using these simple commands:

• *Text* = Bold
• _Text_ = Italics
• -Text- = Strikethrough

Resource:
Upgrade Your Strategy With These Little-Known Google+ Features

Join Communities

Communities are where you'll find the most active Google+ users. Search for keywords related to your industry to find relevant communities for your brand to join. Check the dates of the latest posts to see how active the community is on Google+. If people are posting regularly, join and start contributing.

Resource:
Why You Should Should Stop Asking Is Google Plus Dead

Google+ no longer has its own advertising platform. During its early stages, there was a feature called Google +Post Ads, but that has since been retired. If you want to advertise on Google, explore AdWords, which will allow you to advertise on Google's search and display networks.