10 Ways to Lift Your Social Media Game Right Now

Guest Post by Lauren Lacava | Principal Consultant, Black & White Marketing

Social media can make (or break) your events business. When it comes to implementing a strategic social media plan, many of our events industry colleagues are just missing the mark. There are a few key things that you can start (and stop!) doing right now to lift your game and deliver social media campaigns that are en pointe.

Stop

Allowing multiple administrators to post on your pages. Unless you have a standardised set of brand guidelines including use of language, you should not be allocating multiple staff to manage your pages. In using multiple managers you are using multiple voices which will present as inconsistencies, which will, in turn, appear unprofessional. A professional marketing team can manage company pages ‘in the one voice’. An unqualified group of staff cannot. Allocate one person to your social media accounts and ensure that person has the correct skill sets to manage the page effectively.

Posting inconsistently. If you have unlimited levels of content that is interesting, by all means, post several times per day. If you are doing this, ensure that you are using your analytics tools to understand if people are engaging and to ensure that you are not getting any unlikes or limited reach as a result. If you are seeing negative patterns in your analytics, you are posting too much of the wrong thing! If you feel you have enough amazing content to post multiple times per day, ensure that you have enough to provide a consistent pattern ongoing – rather than posting several times in one day, then leaving your page lay dormant for weeks. Don’t be afraid to stockpile content that you can use for later!

Speaking in the third person. Your fans want to hear your voice! Inject some personality into your social media by speaking in the first person and remember your aim is to tell a story and to get people intrigued and engaged. Don’t be afraid to use some humour too!

Making spelling and grammar mistakes. This one is a no-brainer! Re-read what you have written a couple of times to ensure it makes sense and is spelt correctly. Do people want to hire people for such detailed work as floristry, styling or catering that are constantly making spelling mistakes and typos online every day?

Using overly promotional posts. Facebook will simply not allow for it any longer. Most business owners do not understand the purpose of Facebook and want to see direct and immediate leads which in turn leads to overly promotional sales pitches. This goes against what Facebook is intended for, and recently Facebook has made changes to ensure this style of post will be blocked from obtaining reach.

Start

Using the Facebook call to action button. Take advantage of this free new feature on your company page. Hover over the button and go into Edit mode to choose your call to action and to link back to the relevant part of your website. Calls to action can include ‘watch video’, ‘sign up’ and ‘book now’. This button is a great, in your face call to action to get your target market to sign up for your newsletter, click through to your latest video etc.

Using the analytics tools. Facebook (and to a lesser extent Linked In) have some great data available on your company page that, surprisingly, most business owners are not using. Information about your market including demographics is available (for administrators to view and report on) via the Insights tab. Here you can monitor your market as well as your campaigns – Facebook will tell you how many people you are reaching, what they like and what they don’t like. This information is invaluable to your social media strategy, is easy to use and free.

Using hashtags. Most people I meet have heard the old ‘don’t use more than 3 hashtags or people get annoyed’ sentiment which is completely incorrect. A hashtag is a label that helps define and categorise your content. It is there for the purpose of people searching for content that they are interested in. Therefore it is important to include several hashtags (there is no exact amount I would recommend) that are relevant to the type of people you are hoping to attract to your post or page.

Using scheduling and management tools. Get organised for the week, or even the month ahead by setting aside time to schedule all of your posts in. This can be done on a desktop or via the free Facebook Manager app. currently only Facebook has the scheduling feature.

Be social, every day. By being social, I am referring to continued activity by your company page that engages your audience. There is no point setting up a company page if you are not going to be social by liking, tagging, sharing and commenting on other pages (for example, your venue partners, your clients, chosen charity etc.). This is a critical task for the page administrator.

Social media is rapidly becoming the cornerstone to most events businesses marketing strategies and should be budgeted for and resource allocated accordingly. If you do not have the correct resources inhouse that have the time and expertise to manage your pages, it’s time to look at outsourcing this function, leaving your team to focus on what they are best at!

Guest post by Lauren Lacava | Principal Consultant, Black & White Marketing

Lauren Lacava is the Principal Consultant of Black & White Marketing, a Melbourne-based consultancy and marketing agency that provides real advice and effective marketing solutions to help events businesses grow.