Social Media Presence: A Reflection of Your Business

Have you ever walked into a business and been surprised by great presentation? The décor is on point, it’s clean, organized, there's a cohesive theme—a fantastic first impression for you as the customer. But have you also walked into a business and been a little…well…let down? Appearance is a huge reflection of your business—and that extends to your online presence as well.

We've said this before, and we’ll say it again: People know when you’re not trying very hard. If your Facebook page has small blurry photos, lengthy text posts, and a bad habit of not responding to users that engage with you there—that’s a bad first impression to someone who comes looking for you online. It’s highly likely you’ll be written off and the user will look elsewhere for someone who can fit their needs.

A sloppy social media presence shows that your attention to detail, aesthetics, and customer service are lacking. If your Twitter feed is full of links to other social networks, what’s the point in following? There’s no quality content. If a person comes to find images of your restaurant’s food but only finds poorly-lit, unappealing photos on your Instagram account, will they be enticed to come in and try it? Again, an interested party has taken the time to find you—so what will they find when they do?

Here are five quick tips for cleaning up your online presence:

1.  Make sure your photos are properly sized for the image requirements of the medium. Here’s a cheat sheet for your social media outlets.

2.  Respond ASAP to users who ask questions, comment on posts, and serve as your online cheerleaders.

3.  Be interesting and showcase your best features with high quality images that give a unique perspective.

4.  Don’t push social media streams through to other social media platforms. Unlink your Twitter from Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram—each platform should offer something tailored to its appropriate user base.

5.  Customize your profiles with current links and as much information as possible.

Even if you don’t have the time to post content every day, make sure that when you do, it counts. Quality content that’s well thought out speaks volumes for your brand and is a positive reflection of you and your business.

Seven Creative Uses of Social Media

Sometimes on social media, we fall into a routine. The same content (rephrased and with a different photo) shows up over and over again. So how can one shake things up a little bit when that routine becomes monotonous? How can we keep our followers from getting bored?

We’ve come up with a list of seven creative ways social media can (and has) been used to offer the viewer something unique and special.

1.  Facebook photo scavenger hunt. Allerton Park in Monticello, Illinois, often takes partial view photos from around the park and posts them to their Facebook page, asking people to guess where or what the photo is of within the park. For example, the photo would be of the bottom half of a sculpture. Not only does this showcase the aesthetics of the park, but it drives up engagement and exposure for their Facebook page.

2.  Twitter chats. Bringing people together to have a real-time conversation under a unified hashtag is a different way to use Twitter. The Association for Women in Communications uses these to discuss Communication topics in a Q&A form each month—which brings together Communicators from all over the US.

3.  Use Instagram to give an exclusive inside look. Cosmetic company NARS recently gave Instagram followers a behind-the-scenes look at models and their runway makeup before they hit the catwalk during New York Fashion Week. It offered a unique perspective and showcased the product!

4. Trivia Questions. Asking trivia questions on Facebook and Twitter are easy ways to share information and drive up interactions. The tricky part: finding a question that’s not too easy or too hard.

5.  Pinterest Potluck. Everyone loves a good potluck—so why not have your staff build the menu on Pinterest? Not only does it allow your staff members to have buy-in with your brand’s social media, but it’s an easy way to create content that can be shared with others. Everyone loves a good recipe on Pinterest.

6.  Let customers have a say. Retailer Modcloth often uses Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to let its followers choose which items they stock in-store. Again, this makes the buyer part of the business’s decision-making process—and is a nice way to guarantee more sales.

7.  A running theme for posts. GE showcased 22 days of inventions on Facebook with this series of carefully crafted graphics and facts. It showcased patented products and reinforced the company’s pioneering spirit for invention. 

Your social media doesn't always have to follow the same format. Try something new and get creative! Or, get in touch with us to see how we can help.

If You Build It, They Will Come

Keeping up with various social media outlets is a lot of work. You need high quality images, timely information, personality, and time to interact with other users after planning all of that wonderful content. For many organizations, this is overwhelming. So instead of putting 100 percent effort into creating content, building a community, and interacting with users, there are a lot of half-hearted attempts made to cover the organization’s social media bases—including hasty posts, spelling errors, and low-quality images (just to name a few.)

The problem: Your audience has an excellent sense for detecting when you’re not trying very hard. The results are sloppy—and make for a bad reflection of your organization. Think of it like when you’re baking: if you don’t measure your ingredients and rush through the cooking process, the results are never good…and probably inedible. The same holds true for online content. When you don’t follow the recipe and respect the science behind it, the end product is poor.

So what do you do when you’re limited by staff resources, time, and aren’t really sure what qualifies as “quality content” in the first place?

For one, this is where a business like Lumen (that’s us!) can help by providing support services. By contracting out your online presence, you can count on consistent quality content that’s relevant, interesting, and engaging. It’s less risk than hiring a full-time staff person and is backed by tested strategies that produce results. Our passion is storytelling and building a community that supports businesses they believe in.  You can learn more about what we do here.

But what if you can’t hire out support services and still want to have a solid social media presence? Our advice: stick to a few social media outlets you know your target audience is using and focus on quality over quantity. It may take more time to build a following, but if you can provide a few well-thought out and well-executed posts each month, it’s better than spending a lot of time producing low-quality content. If you build it, they will come.