Something PR professionals and social media have in common is they are both based on communication. However, social media has grown tremendously since it was first introduced because of its ability to connect people with information quickly. While the speed at which social media can produce a message can cause harm, it can also benefit PR with its “real-time messaging.” This can amplify the results of news/press releases, emails, blog posts, and other PR means. In an instant, social media can show a larger audience the content you create while also helping it last longer.
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You can go above and beyond to gain clients through social media as well. To do so, you must take full advantage of each platform and produce content that not only promotes your brand but builds a relationship with your audience. Here’s how.
4 Tips for Increasing Leads Through Social Media:
- Don’t limit yourself to one social media channel.
Using just one type of social media limits the kind of content you can produce. So while you're typically more comfortable with a certain platform over another, you need to use multiple. This will help you reach a wider audience, including more potential clients.
With 4 billion people actively using social media, you can’t pinpoint one social media channel that your buyer personae use; they use multiple platforms, so you must use multiple, as well. However, you need to use the right channels to connect with the right people for your company.
With 69% of adult Americans using it, Facebook is one of the most widely used and longest-running social media platforms out there. The largest demographic for Facebook is adults aged 25-35, while the smallest is adults aged 65 and over. It’s also used by companies worldwide, which makes it a great platform for business-to-business commerce.
LinkedIn has 310 million monthly active users. Over the past several years, LinkedIn has seen an increase in popularity. It also has a wider range of active users with 16% of 15-25 year-olds, 27% of 26-35 year-olds, 34% of 36-45 year-olds, 37% of 46-55 year-olds, and 29% of people 56 years or older using it. It also has a big impact in the B2B world. Around 55 million companies use LinkedIn as their platform, allowing 80% of social media B2B leads to come from LinkedIn.
Instagram is known for its visual-based content, which has drawn in 2 billion monthly active users on the site, making it one of the fastest growing platforms and a great place to share company content with its more than 200 million business accounts. It also reaches a variety of people, with 71% users between ages 18-29 and 48% between 30-49.
Twitter consists of 330 million active monthly users and about 211 million daily users. The speed and ease of posting and the ability to engage personally with consumers is why 67% of all B2B companies use Twitter. In the United States, 42% of people aged 18-29 and 27% of people aged 30-49 use Twitter, according to a report by Statista.
TikTok has around 1 billion active monthly users. Out of its users, 32.5% are aged 10-19, 29.5% are aged 20-29, 16.4% are aged 30-39, 13.9% are aged 40-49, and 7.1% are aged 50 or older.
Pinterest has 444 million active monthly users. Out of those users, 32% are 18-29 year-olds, 34% are 30-49 year-olds, and 38% are 50-64 year-olds. It's also a great place to expand your brand's reputation — eight out of 10 Pinterest users say the platform makes them feel positive.
- Content is key.
Content is the key to a successful social media page. In general, light-hearted, humorous, and consumer-based content tends to work the best. In fact, this type of content often surpasses typical ad-type posts. You want to promote your brand about 20% of the time, but focus on creating conversations and connections with your clients during the other 80%.
The kind of content you want to produce depends on the channels you use for your company. While infographics and images do well on all media channels, video and photo do better on Instagram and TikTok. Larger paragraphs of text work better on Facebook and LinkedIn (accompanied by an image), and short bursts of information do better on Twitter.
- Show, don’t tell.
Content that helps your audience relate to you or humanizes your company often promotes it more effectively. No one wants to hear from you how good your company is if they don’t trust you. You need to establish credibility and a relationship with your audience. You can do so by posting funny, creative, and conversational content. You also need to give value to your clients' posts. Users who have a good experience with your brand on social media are more likely to recommend your services to friends and family, and good reviews from clients will help increase activity on your page.
- Be personable and relatable.
To humanize your company and establish credibility with clients, you must create content that lets them see the relaxed, real you. You need to take advantage of trends — making a video with a popular sound on TikTok that shows people what your company is about is a great way to do so. Also consider other forms of engagement like hashtags (#tbt — “Throwback Thursday”) or polls with your clients and employees (Favorite morning drink before work?).
No matter which platforms you use, social media is a huge part of business. It’s how you connect and communicate with potential and current clientele, as well as other companies. So, it's important to use it to its fullest potential.
For more information on managing your social media accounts, download the
The Essential Social Media Management Guide e-book.
Topics: owned media, social media
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