Social Media Marketing - The Basics

Social Media Marketing
- The Basics -

Why you would communicate with your customers through social media?

Almost 80% of Americans use social media to connect, engage, and share. Through social media platforms, you can easily engage with those who already love your store and potentially reach thousands of riders around the country who haven’t heard of you yet.

Social media platforms are easy to use and you can post content for free. But keep in mind that growing an engaged social community is like growing a garden. To truly thrive, it will take a plan and some ongoing effort and nurturing.

Whether you have existing social media accounts that aren’t thriving, or if you are just getting started, click here for a fantastic resource that can help walk you through the process of planning your social media strategy.

What are the differences between social media platforms? Do I need to be on all of them?

Social media is constantly changing, with new platforms emerging every year and older platforms falling out of favor with certain demographics.

Because your social channels need to be maintained to thrive, we recommend choosing one or two that are right for you and your audience. Facebook and Instagram are two of the most common choices for small businesses.

Some top social media platforms in 2020 are:

Facebook: This ubiquitous platform with over 2 billion monthly active users offers well-rounded tools for businesses to connect with their audience. It can be challenging to be seen without using their paid ad services. While used by all age groups, older demographics are seeing the largest increases in use.

Instagram: A visually driven platform with a majority of the 121 million users under age 35. Instagram offers tools to connect posts to online stores as well as opportunities for promoted listings.

YouTube: With 2 billion active users, YouTube is the second most popular social media platform. Users span many age groups, though the audience is primarily 18-49. Video can be simple to create and edit right from your phone, and it can be useful to your audience and improve your search rankings.

Twitter: An excellent tool for real-time communication, great for industries like entertainment, sports, or politics. 66% of the 330 million users are male, and with the largest age group being 18-29.

TikTok: A fast-growing platform for short-format videos. It was a top downloaded app in 2019 and has about 60 million users in the United States. Very popular among younger demographics with 41 percent of users between 18 and 24.

LinkedIn: Originally a site for resume and job search, LinkedIn has evolved into a sharing platform for businesses, brands, and industry experts with almost 300 million accounts. Most users are 25-49.

Pinterest: Inspiring and fun to browse, Pinterest draws 335 million active monthly users with over 70% being female. Popular with parents, Pinterest offers another way to organically expand your audience if you have strong visuals or how-to content.

To learn more about these and other social media channels, we recommend the following reading:

The Top Social Networking Sites People Are Using and How to Choose Social Media That Fits Your Small Business

Tips for setting up an account

Once you have chosen the social media platforms that are right for you, you’ll need to set up your accounts.

A few tips to keep in mind:

Choosing a name

• Choose a name that you can use across all social media platforms.
• Some social media sites limit names to 15 characters, so consider staying under that limit so you can keep the same name.
• Choose a username that is obviously connected to your business so people can find you easily.
• For more technical tips, check out this blog.

Include relevant business information in your profile

• Make sure your store location, contact information (phone and email) and store hours are listed and easy to find
• Link to your website or webstore
• Include key words and phrases about your business to help people find you in searches

Your profile photo

• Your store’s logo can work if formatted to fit the image space appropriately
• A clear image of your store front with sign is another good choice