5 ways to boost success via your social media platforms

Nail tech, educator & winner of the Scratch Stars Best Use of Social Media award 2016, Katie Barnes, reveals her 5 top tips for making the most of your social media platforms…

1.Consider your content

Your content is the way to get someone to STOP in their path and click on your post. How much time do we spend just scrolling through but not interacting?

You need to consider:

• Relevance
• Is the post about them?
• How can you improve their life?
• How does it benefit them?

On Facebook, only three lines of text will be shown on mobile devices before you click ‘see more’. So you need to grab attention in those first three lines.

No one buys into direct selling posts like they used to, so it has be worded in a way that you are offering them something they cannot refuse without directly selling. For example: ‘Are you fed up of your nail polish smudging or chipping? Book in for a gel polish service which can give you lasting polish for up to two weeks!’

Add value to your posts with:

• How to video
• PDF cheat sheet
• Giveaway
• Discount

Posts with emojis and photos have more value and gain more interactions. I know time is an issue, but spend time planning your posts, they will be far more valuable. I sit and plan all my posts at least a week in advance and write them down.

Vary your content and include:

• Something inspirational
• How to
• Nail image
• Business information

39% of users like and react to offers. Try out different things and see what works for you. If your post isn’t considered valuable, it will not be visible.

2. Be visible

Facebook changes will target your posts to existing followers on criteria for organic reach. You want to aim for newsfeed targeting whether this is organic or paid. We will cover this in more detail later in this article.

There will also be reduced discoverability on Instagram on the explore page. Aim to get on this page for the most reach. Instagram prioritises this discoverability on what it thinks that users want to see. Only around 30% of your followers will see each post. How do you get in here? Think about what gets the most reactions on Instagram – it is often different to Facebook. For example, when I posted about a visit to Swarovski HQ, this got so much reach and was then discoverable in explore, therefore gaining more reach. Indirect reach will also help your posts as it will direct traffic to your page.

Focus on creating posts that encourage meaningful interactions:

• The more interaction on your post, the more reach it gets. Facebook and Instagram then see its value and place it in more news feeds. You want to gain interaction, so ask questions and post something that is hard to resist commenting on.
• The emotion button plays a big part in this. If a user presses the love, shocked etc emotion instead of just like, this has more value. Facebook sees this as genuine interest.
• Every comment including your own helps. Every time someone comments reply, every time someone shares, comment. This continues to increase the reach.
• Facebook also values shares via Messenger. So share your post to someone in Messenger that has requested details.

What Facebook will see has little value and reduce organic reach on:

• Posts created for selling
• Posts to push people to enter competitions/giveaways
• Posts that link to outbound content

If you are reaching 3% of your followers, this is considered that your posts are extremely valuable and you’re doing well.

It is important to repeat posts, even changing the words up slightly or using different images. The original post may have missed, the user may have scrolled past. Repetitive marketing is a winner. Think of the adverts with annoying songs? The more you hear it, the more it gets in your head. You don’t forget it. The buyer may not want to purchase at the point they see the post but repetition will keep this in the buyers mind for when they want to purchase.

Nurture your audience:

98% of online shoppers don’t purchase from a website or post on their first visit:

• Follow up on EVERY SINGLE query and engagement
• Build meaningful relationships

3. Consider when & how much to post

The most popular time for users to be online is between 8pm and 9pm. This changes for all users but this is the general popular time for browsing. You can check yours in your insights.

Forget promotions on popular days such as Black Friday, it will just get lost as everyone has the same idea. UNLESS, you have something you can guarantee will stop SM users scrolling. 10% off a treatment just isn’t going to cut it.

Think you’re posting too much? Worried you’re annoying people? You’re never posting enough. When you think you may be posting too much, post more!

Those that get annoyed aren’t the followers you want; they don’t offer valuable interactions and therefore reach. Focus on those that see the value in your posts. In turn they will be your free promoters, by sharing and commenting on everything. Remember, comment on each share and comment to increase organic reach.

Four to five times per day is about right. Remember the % of how many a post is viewed by? It’s likely that these won’t even be seen so keep your presence and post, post, post.

4. Understand post promotion

Open your newsfeed – scroll down. What is the second post? A sponsored advert.

Boosting a post has a very low conversion value. I personally don’t bother, unless you really understand targeted marketing – it gets lost. It only reaches the users online at that time you boost and does not target users that are most likely to purchase.

You need to truly understand the workings of algorithms to benefit so invest in some training.

The things to consider and that FB will for who they target are:

• Interest
• Behaviours
  • Do they have the money?
  • Spending habits
  • Search history
  • What they like
• Demographics
  • Life events
• Lookalikes
  • Friends of people who have already liked your post and page
• Custom audiences
  • Export email addresses

5. Choose different platforms

Change your posts and content for different platforms:

• Facebook has the most users – use this as the number 1. This is a mix of writing and photos.
• Instagram – users react to photos and step by steps. Try posts of your nail designs. Avoid a lot of writing and photos with writing – these tend to be skipped. Keep captions short.
• Twitter – beneficial for business networking.

Love Katie B x

www.katiebarnesacademy.com