How To Use Social Media In Your Business

In today’s episode of the Digital Prosperity Podcast, our host, Andy Gibbins, welcomed Kerry Baker, our social media manager. Keep reading to discover how to use social media for your business, along with some great tips and insights that will help your business boost its credibility and visibility on social media.

Why You Should Implement A Social Media Strategy

As highlighted above, a social media presence is essential for modern businesses to stay credible. A lack of presence on social media can make your business look untrustworthy, especially since people are more likely than ever to discover what your company is about and what it represents through social media.

Our Head of Social Media advised that social media is one of the best ways to showcase not only who you are and what you do, but also to give potential customers more insights into your team.

She said, “I see a lot of B2B businesses doing great things and getting great results by regularly posting and running ads on Meta.

“If you're in the service industry, and you want to target people in the local area, social media is brilliant for that, and as I said, it gives you an opportunity to really showcase who you are and the services that you offer.”

It is important to remember that most leads will not come instantly from social media; it will require consistency and patience. For example, at JDR, LinkedIn is one of our biggest sources of inbound leads; however, most of those leads do not contact us instantly. They keep a close eye on what we do and share before contacting us, and there is a great possibility your leads will do the same.

Which Platforms Are The Best?

While we often recommend LinkedIn as the top social media platform for B2B businesses, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best fit for you and your target audience.

In order to find out which platform is most appropriate for your needs, it is essential to consider your ideal customer: whom do you want to attract, and what platform is that person most likely to use?

Kerry Baker said: “It depends who your ideal customer is, but as a general rule, I think, LinkedIn is brilliant for B2B.

“If you're in the professional service industry or anything like that, or you offer great thought leadership and you're good at building relationships, then LinkedIn can work really well.

“If you are an e-commerce store or you have a fashion brand, for example, then Meta is a good option as well.

“If you're more B2C, then Meta, Pinterest, Instagram, even TikTok could be good options, but it definitely depends on what your ideal customer wants to see and where they are spending time when it comes to the social media platforms, I mean, there's no point posting on LinkedIn if you know that your ideal customer is spending most of their time on Facebook.”

Every platform has different benefits; for example, Pinterest is usually recommended for very visual companies (for example, if you are a designer or an architect) because it allows you to showcase your projects to inspire other people. On the other hand, TikTok requires more dedication, as you will need to upload content daily in order to be able to build a name and grow your following.

Kerry Baker said, “I've worked with a client who used TikTok to attract graduates, and that worked really well for them.

“What they've done is they've posted a lot of content about who they are as a company, and what graduates can expect when working for them so, people already knew, when they came for an interview, what to expect before they even got through the door and had the interview, which is helping with staff retention as they are getting the right candidates.

“TikTok is great for helping businesses in ways they might not have even thought about.”

What Content Should I Be Producing?

Once you have found the ideal platform for your business, it is time to start creating content, but what is relevant nowadays?

For Kerry Baker, it doesn’t matter what type of content you put out as long as it is going to add value to your potential customers. Things like free guides or how-to tips that your ideal customer is going to be interested in. It is also essential to measure to get an idea of what is working and what isn’t. This will give you insights into what your ideal customers engage with the most and what content you should post more of.

Our Head of Social Media explained: "If you can, create short videos and eye-catching branded graphics, and always include a link back to your website. Social media isn’t just good for engagement and reach. It’s also a powerful tool for driving traffic to your website.

Kerry also added that whilst organic content is essential for a strong social media strategy, you also have the option to run advertising campaigns. This ensures that your ideal customers see your content, but it also helps you target people who would not typically see it.”

Kerry said: “If you’re running Meta ads, LinkedIn ads or ads on X, you can really hone in on who you want to see your content and what you want to get back from that content.

“The ads will allow you to really focus on the results you want, and they’re affordable as well.

“You can start for as little as £2, £3 a day and get some great results.

“Obviously, the bigger the budget, the better the results, but it doesn’t mean you can’t get results from a smaller budget.”

If you don’t know who your ideal customer is, start by looking at your current customers and asking yourself the following questions:

• Who spends the most amount of money?
• Which customer gets you and your business the most?
• Who do those people spend time with?
• What are their challenges?
• What motivates them?
• How do they consume content, and what social media platforms do they use?

By answering these questions, you will be able to get an in-depth idea of who you need to target and how you should structure your social media strategy.

What Results Can You Expect?

If you have just started to post on social media, businesses need to realise that not only is engagement going to increase, but also the brand awareness, the number of followers, leads and sales.

Our Head of Social Media also highlighted that a well-planned social media strategy can help strengthen relationships with both existing and potential customers by giving them a chance to get to know your business better.

How Can You Measure The Success Of Your Social Media Strategy?

The success of a social media strategy can be measured not only through the number of leads you receive but also through brand awareness and engagement levels.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself:

• Are people engaging with you?
• Is your follower base growing?
• Have you received DM’s that you wouldn’t usually receive?
• Are you building relationships with customers?

For JDR’s Head of Social Media, the most important thing is to know what you want to achieve from your social media.

She said: “If you want to post regularly and from that, ultimately you want to get leads or sales, with social media, the sales might not be instant, but over time, if you nurture the people that are following you, those results are going to come through.

“It might not be that somebody has followed you and instantly bought from you or immediately became a client, but if they’re going to follow you and if you keep nurturing them by putting out good social media content, eventually they might think: oh let’s find out a bit more about who these guys are and what they do.”

If you are looking for software to keep track of your social media performance, we recommend HubSpot. You will be able to analyse your engagement levels, as well as get an idea of the number of people reached and know how many leads have been generated. By checking your results through HubSpot on a daily basis, you will have the ability to discover where changes need to be made or if you are on the right track.

For more information on this subject, we have put together a webinar, which will give you access to exclusive tips and tricks that will help your social media strategy succeed. Click here to get access to it.

How We Can Help

At JDR Group, over the past 20 years, we have helped businesses get a strong understanding of their ideal customers to help their marketing and social media strategies succeed.

If you are struggling to get results with your social media, our team is there to help you, so please get in touch and discover how we can help.

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