While pictures of your kids or what’s for dinner might work on your personal social media pages, it won’t cut it for business. But how do you keep people engaged and interested in your status updates?
Glad you asked. There are a few easy ways to update your social media platforms every day and stay current to engage your followers. It does require some thought and consideration, with the company’s best interests at heart.
Here we’ll show you a few ways of keeping customers happy and engaged with some catchy updates.
The Power of Status Updates
Social media platforms are a fabulous way to sell. Using a daily update keeps your customers aware of your name. But how do you come up with them? Here are some tips and some rules to keep in mind.
Consistency
Use your platforms often, but not too often. Sending out an update at the same time every day keeps form and order. Try to have a certain time to update your status.
Sending out your message in the morning, and then again in the afternoon will cover a lot of your follower’s schedules. It also reinforces the message. People like consistency.
Use the same message on your website, and all your platforms. This keeps everything on the same page. You will reach more people with this method. If you have a slogan, use it often, but not to the point of overkill.
Tactful and Tasteful
You may want to stay current and comment on certain news or noteworthy topics, but keep your opinion out it. If you think using topical information will help, be professional and kind.
Understand that people spend their days looking to be offended, so don’t hand it to them. If you think your choice is iffy, it is. Take a page out of someone else’s status updates that make you cringe. Then don’t do that.
Customer First
You can get creative and have fun with your status updates, but remember who the target audience is. Direct the content to your follows and the customers. The message is about them, not you.
Engage them, offer them advice or deals, inform them about what is in it for them.
Clear and Concise
Don’t use vague comments. Cut to the chase. Lay it out as clearly as you can with as few words as possible. People don’t want paragraphs. One or two quick lines or words tops.
No one reads more than a few lines anyhow. Keep it to the topic, tight and quick.
Informative but not Boring
Don’t drone on about your service or product. Give them exactly what they need to know for that update. Whether it’s a sale, a new product or new information about your hours. Give them that without long reasons or apologies.
Proper Grammar and Word Usage
Nothing turns people on more than getting to be the grammar police. Don’t give them the satisfaction. Spelling mistakes and bad grammar are all people will see. Get someone who can get it right or use a grammar app.
You can also have a package for your media or website. Hiring someone outside of the company might be a better solution, like this company.
How to come up with Status Updates
There are few ways to get your updates, a little imagination, or just through the internet.
Use Humor
Humor works. Keep in mind the message about tact. You don’t want to offend anyone, but a laugh a day is a great way to get people to remember you. It’s also a good way to spread your message.
Try to find something that relates to your brand. If you can’t, there are jokes or one-liners you can find on the internet. You can use these or tailor them closer to your product or service.
Making light of your company, in particular, if it’s something every day, like plumbing, can take the mundane right out of it. A funny line about your own company also beats the competitors to it.
Jokes and Riddles
A joke of the day or asking a riddle keeps people interested. By asking a riddle, you engage people even further. Ask them to send you the answer and offer a reward for the correct ones.
People like to share humorous items and asking for a response is just good for your business. Offering a discount or additional service for participants makes for happy customers in a fun way.
Try a Daily Quote
Sending out quotes, inspiring messages or even quoting song lyrics can also engage customers and drum up interests in potentially new ones. You can find quotes for any occasion, so keep the theme going.
Offer a Reward
Sending out a message every day offering incentives is a good way to get people through your door. There are many ways to do this. Free items, percentage off, two-for-one deals all work.
This doesn’t really cost the business anything, and it’s a sure way to get people interested in your product or services. People love to save.
Contests
Contests are also a fun way to keep people interested. You can offer discounts or gift certificates for prizes. You can ask for photos relating to your service, like ‘worst kitchen pictures,’ or ask for jokes, quotes or riddles that you will use as your updated status.
People will be more likely to share your pages and items if they are directly involved. People love to win things, and they love to tell people they won. You could even use that for your status, the winner’s circle.
Status Quo
With a little work and imagination, you can use your status updates to keep business moving forward. Once you get started, it gets easier. You will find inspiration in many places, most of all, what not to do.
Take pride in your challenge and enjoy it. You can get very creative and still market your company with social media, without making it look like it.
Watch what other people do, and learn from them. It’s easy to learn from other’s mistakes. Here are a few other tips for what not to do.
