Tag: social media

Competition isn’t a bad thing in business. It keeps you on your toes, allows you to improve continually, and gives you a chance to see what works and what doesn’t with your target audience.

Social media has made it easier than ever to research your competition and take a lesson from their customer interactions. Knowing what to look for as you check out their social profiles can give you a huge advantage in the marketplace. Here are a few things to investigate on your competitors’ pages. 

1. Identify Your Target Audience

You might not already know who your target customer is, especially if you’re a new business. Start by tracking down businesses that offer a similar product or service, and then hop on their social pages.

From there, you can begin studying the types of people frequenting the pages and interacting the most. Are you seeing mostly moms, young professionals, teens, millennials? Male or female? Read the comments to get an idea of who your target customer might be.

2. Study How They Engage With Customers

Now examine how your competitors interact with your target audience. Are their pages littered with complaints from customers that have gone unaddressed? Or are complaints handled promptly to customers’ satisfaction? How about positive comments? How are those handled?

Not only will you learn customers’ likes and pain points, but you’ll also identify how you can pick up where your competition is leaving off. Make it your priority to respond to customers within the hour, using a friendly tone of voice and wording that’s appropriate for your target customers. Your diligence and attentiveness to customers will earn you a reputation of being trustworthy, respectful and helpful (while your competitors flounder!).

via GIPHY

3. Mimic What’s Working

Which competitor posts are getting the most likes, shares and comments? Which posts inspire positive reactions from customers?

On pages with heavy customer engagement, you’ll get an idea of which type of content resonates with your audience. Is it curated content, case studies, images, quotes, videos? A combination of posts? Take note of the most effective posts so you can repackage similar content and calls to action on your page.

Also, although the majority of your content should be non-promotional in nature, you’ll want to sprinkle in posts about special promotions and contests. Be aware of how often your competitors post self-promotional content and how customers respond so you can learn the best ways to present this type of content.

4. Avoid What’s Not

On the flip side, which posts get negative feedback … or no feedback at all? Here’s where you have a chance to be a fly on the wall to know how an audience reacts to certain types of content.

Side note: If the page overall doesn’t appear to get any customer engagement, it could be because customers are not seeing the page in their newsfeeds. Whatever the reason (lack of advertising, for example), that page might not be the best example for you to study. However, if the page gets interaction on some posts but not all, then you can be reasonably confident in studying how customers engage with the content.

In the case of negative responses to posts, take note of content that makes customers angry or upset. That’s not to say you should never post anything controversial, but do so cautiously. While thoughtful dialogue and debate is good, offensive is not, and you probably don’t want that kind of commentary on your page.

[bctt tweet=”Be a fly on the wall to know how an audience reacts to certain types of content.” username=”rallioHQ”]

5. Identify the Best Times to Post

In addition to the types of content, be aware of the times of day when customers seem to interact with content the most on competitors’ pages. Look at key times of day, such as early morning, lunchtime, dinnertime and late evening. Over time, you can identify patterns and post your content when your audience is most likely to see it.

6. Establish Yourself as an Expert

As a business owner, you are an expert in something. Perhaps your competitors have already demonstrated their expertise with a target audience, and you might think there’s no room for another one. That’s simply not true!

You can involve yourself in conversations that give you an opportunity to showcase your ideas, knowledge and authority on the subject. Join Facebook and LinkedIn groups that relate to your industry. Track keywords on Twitter and Instagram so you can respond to users’ comments. Go wherever your target customers are hanging out so you can become top-of-mind with them.

Avoid saying anything negative about competitors, as that just makes you look desperate. Instead, rely on your own expertise to convey information with confidence. Your customers will pick up on your tone and learn to identify you as the go-to person on a particular topic.

I’ll give you a great example. I’m a member of a Facebook group that’s just for local moms. People post all kinds of comments and questions on there, and sometimes people will post something looking for a good real-estate agent. Oftentimes, in response to these inquiries, people in the group will tag a friend of mine who has established herself as the go-to person for any questions about home buying and selling, mortgages and the like. She didn’t do it by bashing competitors; she did it by providing great customer service, helpful information and a friendly tone of voice. Simple as that!

[bctt tweet=”As a business owner, you are an expert in something.” username=”rallioHQ”]

7. Post Content That They’re Not Posting

As you’re noticing what competitors do post, note what they don’t post, too. Start brainstorming ways you can communicate with customers in fun, novel ways. Creativity goes a long way toward gaining loyal followers!

What information have you learned by studying competitors’ social pages? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

It starts off innocently enough. Let’s say you have a brand-new coffee shop, and you are super proud of it, as you should be. You know you need a Facebook page to promote it, so away you go, setting up your business page and inviting your friends to like it.

via GIPHY

A handful of friends take the bait, and pretty soon you’ve got 50 fans. You are diligent about posting daily status updates, and people like them. Your “Come on down to the shop today and mention our Facebook page to get a free cup of coffee!” earned 33 likes and 14 shares. You’re feeling pretty good about yourself.

And then, it happens. Suddenly, without warning it seems, your little Facebook page has exactly zero engagement, even on days when you remember to post an update. If you listen closely, you will hear crickets. Where did everyone go?

via GIPHY

It isn’t just the frantic pace of entrepreneurship that causes business Facebook pages to sink into oblivion. If you’re making one or more of these social media mistakes as a business owner, the sooner you fix them, the better:

#1: You’re not posting enough.

When you first create a business Facebook page, you will post things frequently, but when you have bookkeeping to tend to, vendors to call and meetings to make, the Facebook page will be one of the first things to fall by the wayside. The result is often a thin-looking page that makes users question whether you’re even in business.

People are already checking out your business online in social platforms when deciding whether to do business with you. If they see a robust social presence with lots of engagement, they will have more confidence in the business. It could be the push they need to pick up the phone, stop by your store, make a purchase or make an appointment. On the other hand, if they see a quiet social presence, they will go looking for a business that seems more trustworthy, up to date and capable of delivering a positive customer experience.

If you’re looking for content ideas, see my post 31 Days of Social Media Ideas for inspiration.

#2: You’re posting too much or at the wrong times.

Just as you don’t enjoy reading a play by play of what your personal friends do all day long — from the moment their eyes open to the moment they turn off the lights at night (and sometimes even in the middle of the night, when they’ve developed a case of insomnia) — your audience doesn’t need to hear from you throughout the day. As the saying goes, “Speak only if it improves upon the silence.”

Another issue could be the time of day or day of week that you’re posting. You’ll have to test different days and times to see when you tend to get the best response, but this infographic offers a nice breakdown of the best posting days and times according to the platform. On Facebook, for example, engagement tends to peak on Thursday and Friday.

[bctt tweet=”The less people want to be at work, the more they are on Facebook. — Buddy Media via @RallioHQ” via=”no”]

#3: You’re ignoring feedback.

Remember that people go to your social pages to connect directly with your brand. If they leave a comment, either positive or negative, it’s important to respond to it.

Let’s say someone leaves a negative comment on your page. Rather than deleting it or ignoring it, use it as opportunity to demonstrate understanding and empathy. The way you handle these situations speaks volumes about your character. It’s a chance not only to smooth things over with your customers, but also to show the rest of your audience that you can respond in a timely manner with grace and respect.

Responding to positive feedback isn’t as time-sensitive in that you’re not trying to put out a fire, but it’s still important. A simple “Thanks for being such an awesome customer, Shelly!” lets her know you’re listening and appreciate her taking the time to leave a good word.

#4: You’re too self-promoting.

The occasional self-promotion on Facebook is acceptable. When your self-promoting posts become too frequent, however, you will begin to lose your audience. If the only thing they ever see when they visit your page (if they visit at all) or see you in their newsfeeds (if you even appear there) is a bunch of posts about you, your offers and your general awesomeness, they will lose interest at best and shun you at worst.

Put yourself in their shoes, and imagine your favorite restaurant, for example. Would you rather see a post that shows the recipe for one of your favorite dishes that they make — or a post about how amazing the food is, how superior they are to everyone else and how no one does it better than they do? More than likely, the recipe will cause you to read, click and share. The self-promotion will cause you to ignore, click away, perhaps even roll your eyes and stop following the page.

via GIPHY

#5: You’re not promoting your posts.

For as little as a couple of bucks per day, you can pay for individual posts and promotions to be seen in more of your fans’ newsfeeds. The Rallio platform makes it easy to view analytics on posts and, with just a few clicks, boost one or thousands of posts all at once. To get new customers at their new salons, our client Fantastic Sams boosted offers to people a few miles around each location. One-third of the people who got the coupon walked into the salon to claim it, producing a 330 percent ROI for the campaign.

Promoting your posts this way increases the likelihood that you’ll reach a larger number of people outside your current fan base. As more of your fans like and share your promoted posts and/or buy any special offers you create, their friends will see the posts and begin to build trust in your company as well. Over time, the viral effect of promoted posts will boost your likes and encourage more and more people to buy from you.

Making time for social media, and doing it right, is no longer a “nice to have” for small businesses. The better engaged you are in social platforms, the more you will build credibility, trust and profits.

What other mistakes do you think are important to avoid on social media as a business owner? Drop your comments below.

Did you catch last week’s post featuring 15 days’ worth of social media content ideas? If not, give it a quick read, and then round out your month with today’s post. Let’s jump right in!

Day 16: Post a poll.
It doesn’t have to be anything formal. It can be as simple as “Which dish are you more likely to try?” along with a photo comparing “A” and “B.” You’d be surprised how eager people are to share their opinions!

Day 17: Use Facebook Live to post a video.
By some estimates, people spend three times longer watching live videos than those that are no longer live. Moreover, live videos are more likely to get pushed up higher in news feeds, giving you even greater exposure. Check out Facebook’s best-practices tips to learn more about this increasingly important feature.

Day 18: Link to a previous blog post.
Grab a link to a post from a month ago, and recycle your content. People may have missed it the first time you posted it. And even if they read it before, they’ve probably forgotten it by now. (I can’t even remember what I read five minutes ago sometimes.)

Day 19: Brand an image.
Create a share-worthy image, and brand it with your logo and website URL. Every time someone shares the image, your brand will get in front of new eyes. See these tips from Social Media Examiner to learn five ways to create images that drive traffic.

Day 20: Post a prediction.
Is the World Cup happening? Predict the winner. A popular sports star is retiring (ahem … Kobe Bryant)? Predict what he will do next. Keep things fairly neutral; political and religious topics are somewhat dangerous territory unless, say, your business happens to center on something political or religious.

Day 21: Link to an infographic.
Head over to Daily Infographic to track down a link to something relevant and useful. Your audience will appreciate your helpfulness! (Hint: Link to it; don’t grab the image and post it on your page unless you have permission from the publisher, or you risk copyright infringement. That goes for any images you post on social media.)

Day 22: Post a review.
Have you read a book or purchased a product recently that your audience might enjoy? Post a few paragraphs about it. (If you want to monetize your content, consider joining an affiliate program such as Amazon’s Associates Program. This blogger swears by it.)

Day 23: Create an “A Day in the Life” post.
What’s it like to be a chef, a mountain biker, a CEO or whatever it is you do? Post a photo with a quick recap.

Day 24: Post a tip.
Add interest by including a random tip number, such as, “Tip #178: In place of butter, substitute 1/4 cup buttermilk with 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce.”

Day 25: Recommend a business.
Did you have a great experience somewhere? Share the love by give the business a shout-out. Someday, the business might return the favor.

Day 26: Take to Reddit.
The Trending Subreddits page offers a treasure trove of popular topics. Find something funny or interesting, and post a link with your thoughts about it. (Case in point: I just started going down the rabbit hole of “TalesFromRetail” that takes me back to my shoe-selling days. I could have been there for hours, but I’m still wrapping up this post, so, onward.)

Day 27: Share one of your Pinterest boards.
If you don’t have a Pinterest account, get one, and then create boards related to your industry. As a chef, you could pin links to recipes you love and then share a link to that board.

Day 28: Recommend a colleague from LinkedIn.
Who is someone you like and admire with whom you are connected on LinkedIn? Recommend that person! On the LinkedIn platform, you can “endorse” colleagues for specific skills and also write recommendations that live on their profile pages. (Don’t forget to ask for their recommendations, too!)

Day 29: Hold a contest.
If you have a jewelry company, for example, ask readers to post photos of themselves wearing one of your pieces. Tell them you will randomly select a winner to receive a free piece of jewelry. (Just be cautious about how you word things. See this helpful article about ways to keep raffles and contests legal.)

Day 30: Link to a controversial post.
Along the lines of the poll idea above, nothing gets people engaged more than eliciting their opinions about something. Track down a controversial topic that is sure to get your audience talking, and post a link to it with your own (carefully worded, respectful) opinion.

[bctt tweet=”Nothing gets people engaged more than eliciting their opinions about something. via @RallioHQ” via=”no”]

Day 31: Give props.
Turn the spotlight to the unsung heroes in your business: the receptionist who keeps your life from falling apart, the UPS driver who always has a smile for you, the nice coffee-shop neighbor who gives you free coffee every morning, the son or daughter of yours who inspires you every day. Giving credit where credit is due goes a long way toward winning over your audience’s hearts. Of course, include a photo!

There you have it: 31 days of ideas to fill your content calendar to the brim. As always, please add your own great ideas in the comments, because there are infinite possibilities when it comes to churning out monthly content!

You might already know that it’s important to publish new content regularly on social media. What might not be quite so clear? Knowing what to publish. If you’re running low on ideas for your content calendar, this two-part blog series should help you get the creative juices flowing again.

Using the ideas I’ll share in today’s post and in the post to follow, you could repeat this same calendar every month simply by making each topic current and relevant to what’s going on in your business. For example, on days when you want to promote your website, you can tie in your post to a current promotion or offer. On days when you’re giving a behind-the-scenes snapshot of your business, you can simply snap a photo of what’s going on in the break room or at someone’s desk. You get the idea.

You can switch up the order of posts, as long as you have a variety of different posts throughout the week. Keep in mind, you want to avoid being too self-promotional and instead have the goal of authentically connecting with your customers. They want to get to know the real you and gain something of value, not get bombarded with sales messages every day.

Day 1: Post an inspirational quote
Do you have a favorite author, business leader, speaker, musician, philosopher? Look up some of their inspirational quotes, and turn them into beautiful images using a graphic design app. One of my favorites is Canva.com, which offers a wide range of backgrounds, fonts, templates and images, many of them free. You can also upload your own images and use them as backgrounds.

Day 2: Showcase one of your products or services.
A great way to show off your product or service is through a customer testimonial. Ideally, you’ll have a real photo of a customer using your product or showing off the results of your service, posted along with the text of the testimonial. Otherwise, you can simply post the text or even turn it into an image like you did with the inspirational quote above.

Day 3: Offer something free.
People love freebies. Do you have a download (or can you create one) that you can give away? If you are a chef, you could offer a downloadable pdf of “10 Quick and Easy Weeknight Meals.” Be sure to capture their email addresses and request opt-ins so you’ll have their information, too.

Day 4: Post a behind-the-scenes photo or video.
Using the chef example above, you can capture and post moments in the kitchen, cooking tips and simple recipe tutorials. People will share and save your tips and videos and come back to them again and again.

Day 5: Share someone else’s post or link.
Let someone else do the talking by sharing a great photo or link from someone you follow. You’ll not only save time, but also offer something of value to your readers and build relationships with people in your industry.

Day 6: Answer an FAQ.
What are some of the burning questions in your industry related to your business? Answer one of them in a quick post or video.

Day 7: Promote your website or blog.
Post a quick, enticing snippet that encourages readers to click over to your website or blog. The chef could say, “Planning a big summer barbecue? Head over to my website to sign up for my four-part cooking class, and become a grill master in just four weeks!”

Day 8:  Ask people to fill in the blank.
When thought-provoking enough, these posts encourage lots of engagement. Examples: “I always take along my ____ when I travel” or “I would never eat _____.”

Day 9: Post an old photo.
Your old photographs make for great “Throwback Thursday” or “Flashback Friday” posts. Make a game out of it by creating a collage that includes yourself along with other random baby pictures, and ask people to guess which one is you.

Day 10: Ask people to caption something.
Some pictures are worth 1,000 words (or at least a line or two of text!). Post a fun photo depicting a funny, cute, odd or incredible event, and ask people to provide a caption describing what’s going on.

Day 11: Share a link to sign up for your newsletter.
Once you’ve gained your readers’ trust, invite them to keep up with your latest news. You can even pair this post with another freebie. They opt in to your emails, and you send them a digital download in return.

Day 12: Share a tip from a reader.
Readers have great content ideas, too. Snag a tip from a reader and turn it into a post, such as: “Eric does his meal planning and grocery shopping on Sundays. As he cooks throughout the week, he makes enough of certain dishes to have leftovers and freezes them for another meal.”

Day 13: Share a favorite resource, app or tool.
The chef could post a photo of herself with a favorite cooking utensil or ingredient. Better yet, create a promotion in conjunction with another brand: “I’ve paired up with XYZ Company to offer a free cookbook to the first 100 subscribers.”

Day 14: Post a photo of yourself outside the office.
Do you frequent a local coffee house? Snap a photo of your latte, and tag the shop in the photo. Place your to-do list alongside your coffee to let people know what you’re up to today.

Day 15: Thank your followers.
A simple “Thanks for being our fans!” goes a long way toward building good will, brand loyalty and confidence in your brand.

Tune in next week for part two of this series with days 16 to 31. In the meantime, you have plenty of ideas to get you started. Happy posting!

What other ideas do you have for social media content? Leave your comments below.