As with any marketing or promotional activity, the key place to start is with a plan.  You need to know how social media fits into your wider sales and marketing plan, and what you want to get from it.  You also need to know who you’re trying to target or network with and where they are (i.e. which social media platform they’re likely to be on).

And if you’re new to social media, it’s probably a good idea to pick one platform and start with that rather trying to do too much.

The key questions ask yourself when getting started with Social Media:

1. What do you want to get out of being on social media?
2. For example, do you want to increase brand awareness, increase traffic to your website, gain market intelligence, share information quickly and easily, promote a new product or service, generate more leads, encourage people to sign up for your newsletter?
3. How will that fit in with your current marketing activity?
   Will social media complement and add to that?  For example, how will social media help facilitate your brand awareness, sales, advertising, PR, email marketing or web presence?
4. Who do you want to target? Is it potential customers, is it influencers who may be able to review and promote your products or services, is it suppliers or distributors?
5. Who are those people? Can you create a profile for them? The more specific you can be, the more likely you are to be able to find them and target them effectively
6. And where are your competitors? Are they using social media? Is it working for them? How are they doing it?
7. What information and content do you have that you can share?
8. Are you already generating content via a blog or email that you can use?
9. Who is going to create the content and manage your account? How and when?
10. How do you want your company or brand represented?
11. Social media allows you to create a ‘personality’ for your business that people can connect and interact with – what do you want that to be?
12. How are you going to let people know that you’re on social media?
13. Again, this needs to be built into your current marketing activity and materials.
14. Do you have the capacity and skills to manage this yourself? Do you need some extra help or training?

And then, when you've answered these, you can move on the most important question: Which platform should I use?

Content kindly provided by www.yorkshirepowerhouse.com visit them for free business templates & much more.

Each social media platform is different, with a different feel and different users, and so whilst many companies are on lots of platforms, it’s a good idea to start by picking the one that suits you and your company most and managing your activity on that one really well.  More platforms are being developed and launched all the time, and they go in and out of fashion, but as a general rule, stick to the bigger and more established ones unless you have a genuine business reason for being on something new and funky.
If you’re starting from scratch, it’s probably best to look at the top 3 platforms first – Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.  Here’s our summary of the pros and cons:

Which Social Media Platform? 1. YouTube
YouTube is the world’s no.2 website, behind it’s owner Google.  It is a video sharing site with around 1 billion users, and around 400 hours of video is uploaded to it every minute.  Most of this content is created by users.  These videos can be up to 15 minutes long (or longer for the most popular YouTubers), and on average users watch an hour of video per day.

Advantages
Will help with your SEO as Google will rank YouTube videos highly.
Can be accessed on TVs and games consoles as well as computers and mobile devices.
Allows videos to be embedded on other websites and platforms.
Includes great analytics.
People can subscribe to your channel
Thinking about marketing your business?
Download our marketing plan template

Disadvantages
Only really about video (although YouTube has introduced Communities that allow for other content).
Relies on earning money from Google AdSense (which means that ads will be placed alongside your videos).
It’s so big, it may be difficult to stand out.
You have to have a Google+ page.
YouTube has been criticised for hosting and promoting inappropriate content.

Good for
Video and TV production companies and those that naturally create lots of visuals/video
Estate agents, venues, hotels
Games designers and games related companies
Companies that want to be found on Google

Which Social Media Platform? 2. Facebook
Facebook is the world’s 3rd most popular website, and half of marketers say that it is crucial to their business.  It is the biggest social media platform with over 2 billion users.  Over half of those use it every day and half are also on Messenger.  As well as Messenger, Facebook also owns and integrates with Instagram and WhatsApp.

Advantages
Is the biggest, most well-known and most used social media platform
Allows business profiles and includes great tools and functionality
Allows advertising, including split testing
The promotional tools are quick, easy and cheap
Users can subscribe to and prioritise your content
Allows you to create specialist groups and communities

Disadvantages
Isn’t generally used by younger people
Regularly changes its mysterious algorithm and how it does things
Has received a lot of bad press recently which has put some people off using it

Good for
Any business, particularly B2C
Smaller businesses who want a quick and easy web presence
Companies who want to target people by via specific demographics, such as age, interests or location
Businesses with a strong community feel and loyal following

Which Social Media Platform? 3. Twitter
Twitter started life as an online text messaging platform, but now allows for slightly longer messages, plus images and videos. In fact, 82% of users watch video on Twitter,and tweets with images get 150% more retweets.  It is the 10th most visited site, with around 300 million users, including 100 million active users who post up to half a million tweets per day.  It is more likely to be used by older people and women, and 80% access it on their mobiles.  On average, each user follows 5 businesses.

Advantages
It’s concise, to the point and instant.
It is inherently linked with news, events and current affairs
You can have a business profile and make use of Twitter ads, buy now options and polls

Disadvantages
It’s concise, to the point and instant
It’s easy for tweets to be lost amongst the constant noise
You have to be quick to respond

Good for
Businesses related to news and current affairs (media, PR, newspapers)
Fast moving industries
People with lots to say (authors, commentators, presenters)

The other main platforms to consider are Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.  Each has its own pros and cons, and advantages and disadvantages which you need to consider.  For example, do you you need to be found on Google (Google+), are you all about images (Instagram and Pinterest) or do you need to network with other businesses (LinkedIn).  Here’s a summary:

Other Social Platforms – 1. Google+
Google is the most used website in the world and therefore has a huge amount of power and influence on anything to do with the internet.  So, even though Google+ is one of the smaller, less used and less well-known social media platforms, it’s always worth considering to help with your online presence and SEO, and if you need people to be able to find you (both in real life and the virtual world).
This is why, of the 100 million plus active users on Google+, most aren’t active.  Similarly, because Google owns YouTube you may have to consider being on Google+ to be active on YouTube

Advantages
Integrates with other Google tools, functionality and platforms like YouTube.
Helps improve your SEO.

Disadvantages
Not as big or well-known as other platforms and not as well-used.
Not as easy to use as some of the more well-established platforms.
Thinking about marketing your business?
Download our marketing plan template

Good for
Businesses who need to be found on the internet
Businesses who need to use YouTube
Businesses who use other Google tools and functionality

Other Social Platforms – 2. Instagram
Instagram is a photo and short video sharing platform, and 55 million images are uploaded to it daily.  It is accessed and used via a mobile app (rather than a computer) and so, although it has 800 million users and is owned by Facebook, it is only the 17th most popular website.  90% of users are under 35 and they are more likely to be women.  They are 50% Android-lovers and 50% Apple devotees.

Advantages
It is used by over 1 million advertisers
It includes business profiles, and ads
Analytics gives you fantastic insights into your followers
It is owned by and links to Facebook
It includes tools that add great conversion and retention potential

Disadvantages
It is owned by and links to Facebook, but sharing between platforms only works one way (and some people may be only on one to access the other)
Most functionality is only available on mobile devices
It is very image focused and content must be high quality

Good for
Businesses that regularly create high quality images (designers, photographers, architects, authors, events and activity providers)
Businesses who want to target a younger audience
Businesses who want to target mobile device users

Other Social Platforms – 3. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is an online business network originally designed to allow employers, workers, recruiters and sales people to network and make connections.  It isn’t as popular and highly-ranked as the other social media platforms (probably because it’s a bit more specialist), but still has 500 million users in 200 countries (106 million of whom are active).  For most people, it acts like an online CV.  It is owned by Microsoft.

Advantages
Great for making business connections around the world
Great for recruiting, job hunting and networking
Great for creating a business profile and brand
Allows you to join and network in special interest groups
Allows advertising (and includes special status for ‘influencers’ and ‘top companies’)
Great for gaining industry insight and market research

Disadvantages
All about business
It’s a bit more formal than other platforms
Isn’t necessarily easy to use

Good for
Business to business activity, including finding suppliers, distributors and competitors
Recruiting and job hunting
Market insight and research
Business development and promoting yourself and skills and services
Corporates – it helps create a corporate identity by linking together employees, brands, departments, and subsidiaries
Business service providers such as marketers, salespeople, consultants, freelancers

Other Social Platforms – 4. Pinterest
Pinterest is a virtual pinboard where people can save ideas in the form of images, gifs and videos.  It is a smaller (250 million users), newer and specialist social media platform, but studies have shown that it’s more effective at driving sales than any other platform.  This is because it can act as a virtual storefront, guide people’s choices and can incorporate direct links to websites and online shops from images of the products, and can even have a buy button.  Users are more likely to be educated to graduate level.

Advantages
Allows for business profiles, advertising and direct buying
Allows businesses to showcase products, and new trends and fashions and help people make choices

Disadvantages
Smaller, specialist, less well-known
Image-focussed & need to be high-quality and interesting

Good for
Businesses who are reliant on images, styles, designs, fashions and trends and need to drive sales
Holidays, fashion, crafts, art, design, DIY – many use it to showcase a new season or collection with direct links to allow people to buy individual items
Targeting a more educated audience

Content kindly provided by www.yorkshirepowerhouse.com visit them for free business templates & much more.

Social media is by nature a visual medium and most platforms have been created on the basis of sharing images and video.  They’re packaged in handy mobile apps that we carry everywhere with us on our mobiles and tablets, and we can quickly and easily take a photo or record a video and upload it to our friends and followers.

Twitter (and LinkedIn because of its origins as a business network) is probably the exception to that as it started as an online text messaging platform, but now, like other social media platforms, it includes short video and image content too.  And in fact, photos on Twitter get 150% more retweets and 82% of users watch video on Twitter.  See our article: Which Social Media Platform? The Top Three.
As a rule of thumb a photo or video makes the best content.  This is purely because our brains can process visuals 60,000 times faster than words, and in a world where we’re always on the go and accessing social media on our mobile devices while we’re out and about, we’re instantly drawn to something we can understand in a glance.

An image is also more likely to catch people’s attention and evoke an emotional response (think of all those cute cat pics), and is more likely to be remembered.  So if you’re doing it right, it’s a great way to get your brand noticed and recognised.
Thinking about marketing your business?
Download our marketing plan template

Things to remember:

Be consistent
Always include your branding and try and create a look with colours and fonts that mean that people will recognise and remember.
Be interesting
Try and vary the type, style and length of the content you post.  Facebook for example includes lots of different publishing tools, so make use of them and try a poll, event or offer, or even a Facebook Live video.
Be relevant
Don’t just post for the sake of posting
Keep it simple
If you’re just starting out and are not used to writing, stick to a STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result) and try and tell a story (stories sell, facts tell).
Engage
Your aim is to get people to interact with you so include questions, quizzes, competitions, challenges, opportunities to share photos, info, opinions, and encourage user-generated content.   And remember that engagement goes both ways – you need to interact, like and share too!
Create a personality for your company
Are you fun, quirky, formal, professional?
But remember to keep personal and professional separate
It may be that you are your brand, in which case, there may be some blurring between personal and professional, but in general your company’s brand, personality and culture needs to be separate and professional.
Make sure you’re in the right place
You need to know who you’re targeting and why, and where you can find them.
Plan ahead
As with any business activity, you need to plan in time to create and post your content and it’s a good idea to think ahead about what you’ve got coming up that you could share
The good news is that all the major platforms have great data and analytics built in, so you can try things out and see what works and what doesn’t.

If you’ve done some research and created a plan, chosen your platform, and started posting some quality, engaging and consistent content, then you’re already on the right track.  Like anything, it takes time to start seeing some results, however there are things you can do to improve your chance of success.  The key is to keep monitoring, researching, learning, tweaking and improving, and avoid the common pitfalls.

The holy grail of social media marketing is user-generated content.  This means content that your customers have created about your products and services and this can be anything from a review or a check-in, to an image or video of them using your product.  40% of customers look for this sort of content before buying and will see this as proof that a company is trustworthy.

80% of all social media content is user-generated (i.e. created by ordinary people every day), and 25-54 year olds create the most content.  40% of people would love their favourite companies and brands to use their ideas, and the most successful companies on social media harness this and make it work for them – for example, the action camera company, GoPro, gets customers to post their own extreme sports videos to their social media and they choose the best ones to feature on their website, and use in their marketing.
And as well as working on encouraging user-generated content, here are our top tips for getting the most from your social media activity:

Go back and double-check that you’ve got all the basics right
Did you do your research and create a plan? [see Social Media Marketing: Getting Started]  Did you choose the right platform?  [See Which Social Media Platform? The Top Three and Which Social Media Platform? The Best of the Rest]  Are you posting the right content? [See Social Media Marketing: What Makes Good Content?]

Make sure you know your chosen platform inside out
Are you making use of all the built-in tools and functionality?  Are there some tips and tricks that would help?  Do you need some help or training?

Are you making use of the built-in insights and analytics?
These will tell you what’s working and what isn’t and you can use this information to quickly and easily improve your activity.  It may be that your posts aren’t reaching the right people, or you’re posting during the day, but your customers are on social media in the evening.

Are you making use of other tools?
There are lots of great apps and tools out there to help you improve what you’re doing and make life easier.  For example, Twitcher is an add-on for your internet browser that allows you to switch between multiple Twitter accounts.  It may be that you need a better camera or design package to create great images, or that you need a management tool to help you post to different platforms and plan ahead.

Are you part of the conversation?
The whole reason you’re on social media is to build relationships and engage with your target market, and 74% feel more positive about a company or brand after an interaction with them.  In which case they’re more likely to support, promote, and keep interacting with you, and buy from you.

Are you building a network?
Similarly, being on social media is about you building your network and making the right contacts – and that includes building relationships with influencers and brand ambassadors who can help spread the word and support what you do.  Ideally, these need to be people who have lots of followers in your area, sector or industry, and who people trust.

Are you trying to do too much?
If in doubt, it’s always best to keep things simple.  Look at step 1 again, go back to basics and make use of any relevant tools, and training – or bring in the professionals to help you get things right and manage things effectively and efficiently.

Are you making use of tags, hashtags, and links?
Hashtags and tags are an essential part of social media and an effective tool to make sure that your content is relevant, can be found and is shared.  Similarly, you need to include links and calls to action to get the interaction and response you require.

Are you telling people that you’re on social media?
And are you making it easy for them to find you?  It sounds obvious, but you need to make sure that your social media links are in a prominent place on your website, and that they’re included in your email signature, stationery (including business cards) and marketing materials.

Is your social media working with the rest of your marketing activity?
Ideally you need all your marketing activity, whether on social media, printed or online to be working together towards achieving the same goals, whether it’s brand awareness, generating more leads, or improving sales.  And to do this, your branding and messages need to be consistent.

What are the Pitfalls?
At the same time as making sure that you’re doing everything right, there are some common pitfalls that you need to avoid.  Here is our top ten things that people tend to get wrong:

Hashtags
Make sure that you know what a hashtag is and how to use it.  It’s simply a way of highlighting a keyword or search term in your post.  People can search for specific hashtags and find relevant posts. And you can even create a unique hashtag and encourage people to use it for a particular event or campaign.  This allows you to find and curate all those tweets/posts (for example, #WW100 is being used to denote the 100th anniversary of the end of WW1).  Hashtags started on Twitter, but are now common in most social media platforms

Tags
Similarly a tag is a way of mentioning or including another person or organisation in a post.  They will see your post and can generally choose to react to it and share it.  This means that your post will reach more people.

Mixing business and pleasure
It’s really easy to confuse your business personality with your own, particularly if you use social media personally, but generally, your customers won’t want to know about your political views or see pictures of you on holiday.

Branding
Promoting your brand is a key reason for being on social media, so make sure that you use it on your profile and in your content and are consistent.

Are you spreading yourself too thinly?
It’s really tempting to try and be on every platform, but be realistic about what you can manage and what’s going to be of most benefit for your business.  It’s better to be focused, targeted and using of one platform really well.

Broadcasting
The key difference between social media marketing and other forms of marketing is that it’s about conversations and building relationships – and that only works if it’s a two-way thing.  Lots of companies get themselves a scheduling tool like Tweetdeck or HootSuite, create lots of great posts and schedule them regularly, but don’t actually go on the actual platform to see what’s happening, respond to comments and questions and share, like and comment on other relevant content.

Aggressive selling
Similarly social media isn’t about selling, and that shouldn’t generally be your main aim for being on social media.  It can generate leads, can encourage people to visit your website or sign up for your email newsletter and ultimately lead to sales, but people need to feel that they know you, can trust you, are getting some value and have a choice beforehand.

Right post, right platform
The other problem that can arise from using scheduling and management tools is that a great post on one platform doesn’t work at all on another.  For example, many people post to Facebook and automatically send the same post to Twitter, but because of the difference in size and format, it doesn’t necessarily work.

Spamming
And similarly broadcasting, aggressive selling, and automatic posting can lead to accusations of spamming and generally, social media companies look on this as seriously as hosting companies and they will block and close down your account.

Lack of planning
As with any sales of marketing activity, if you don’t know what you’re doing and why, don’t plan the activity and the time to do it, then you’re likely to fail.

For this guide, we will be talking about pages rather than personal profiles. Just in case you aren’t sure what these are, the main differences are that a personal profile represents a person on Facebook and can send, receive and accept friend requests, whereas a page will mostly represent a business and can be liked rather than befriended.

A very quick and simple overview of the differences between Facebook likes and follows:

What happens when someone ‘likes’ your page?
They are added to a list of people you can use for remarketing
They are added as a follower of your page by default

What happens when someone follows your page?
Your posts become eligible to show in the follower’s personal newsfeed
A liker gets the option to change their follow to a “see first” follow, prioritising your posts over posts from other pages.

Basically, a “follow” is better for reaching people with organic posts and a “like” is better for reaching people through paid advertising.

Though Facebook likes are required for someone to follow your page, the reverse is not true.

There is an option to unfollow a page after liking it but, more likely, if someone doesn’t like the posts that they are seeing from your page they will simply unlike your page (which will unfollow it too) as the ‘follow mechanic’ in Facebook is understood by few.

Those who do understand the mechanic will know that they can also receive more posts from a page they really like by updating their follow to a “see first” follow. For obvious reasons, this is the most desirable option for a page.

To get more “see first” follows, strangely, the best way is to educate and ask… something along the lines of “If you are enjoying our content and want to see it more often you can go to our page and change your like to a see first like”. Think carefully before you do this though, not all situations are the same and this could work for some and not for others.

As always with Facebook, the best practice is to post relevant, high quality, useful content to give you the best chance at convincing someone to not only like your page, but to not unlike or unfollow it.