There is no right or wrong way to do social media. Depending on a variety of factors – resources, staff, industry, etc – everyone will have a different strategy. Sure, we’d all like to hire influencers and create high-quality video content to promote our products or services, but that’s not the reality for most of us.

As someone who ran the social accounts for a minor league baseball team for seven years, the “f**ck around and find out” method was my preferred strategy.

A well-respected colleague of mine in the baseball industry sent this to me and it now sits above my home office as a reminder that, despite the rampant negativity on most of the platforms, all of the buzzwords, KPI’s, strategies and analytics, social media is supposed to be fun! It’s ok to try stuff out and if it flops no one will remember or care within five minutes. If it’s a success, analyze what made it work and try to replicate it for future content. Along the way you’ll find a consistent social voice that works with your audience and your “flops” will become fewer and fewer.

Of course, many organizations and social media managers won’t have that freedom and will take a much more cautious and thought out strategy to their socials – and rightfully so. The following are a few basic practices that I learned along the way that I think can translate to any small business with limited budget and resources. 

HAVE FUN

Social media platforms today are filled with negativity, political garbage, and a myriad of ads. The goal should be to have your accounts be a place where people can escape all that and come for a smile or a laugh – be silly, use memes, put your own spin on what’s trending, be self-deprecating, etc. Before you hit send on every post ask yourself if it’s either entertaining or informative. If it’s neither, don’t post it. 

HAVE A CONSISTENT PRESENCE

In order to gain a loyal following you have to put out quality content regularly – ideally 3-4 times/week. You want people to expect content from your account, not be surprised to find it. If you don’t have time on a daily basis, set aside an hour on Monday and schedule out your content for the week in advance. 

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

This goes beyond knowing the simple demographics of who’s following you on your platforms. If you’re a local business catering to local customers, know the topics, foods, adult beverages, sports teams, etc. that resonate with them and use that information to help build content ideas and to relate with them when you’re engaging with your audience. 

BUILD RELATIONSHIPS

Engaging with your audience on social media is so important. It’s not enough to simply make a post and forget about it until you’re ready to post again. That means “like” every positive comment and do your best to reply to as many as you can. Don’t avoid the inevitable criticism that will come in the comments section – always respectfully reply and if needed ask to take the conversation to the DMs. Be personal in your responses, don’t make it sound like a canned reply. Stay on top of your direct messages and be sure to answer in a timely manner. 

HIGH-QUALITY VISUALS

Don’t ruin a great post idea with a sloppy graphic or photo. The visual is what will hook your audience. You don’t have to pay for an Adobe Photoshop or another fancy editor. Use Canva – it takes at most an hour to learn and it’s FREE (there is a paid version that’s about $13/mo). 

80/20 RULE

Don’t always be asking people to buy your product or service on your social platforms. People on social media aren’t on there to be sold something, they want to be entertained and informed. A good rule of thumb is that 80% of your posts should be “fun or informative content” and 20% should be “sales content”. Furthermore, your “fun content” doesn’t always have to apply to your product or service. Sometimes it can be as simple as wishing people a great weekend, posting a motivational quote, or sharing a feel good video.

BE SELF-DEPRECATING

You’re not perfect. No one expects you to be. You have to be able to make fun of yourself. No business gets it right 100% of the time, things go wrong so don’t be afraid to share when something doesn’t go as you had planned. This creates authenticity with your audience.

THIS IS ALL GREAT, BUT I STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO POST

This is the toughest part of social media. It’s 24/7, 365 and users are always expecting fresh content. Here’s a blog from Hootsuite with 29 different creative content ideas. Here are a few from that list which are applicable to any business to get you started:

• Run a contest/giveaway – a great way to get people to engage with your account.
• Share relevant content from another account – sometimes it’s ok to take the easy way out and share content that someone else made that is relevant to your audience.
• Celebrate “National Whatever Day” – There is a different social media “holiday” every day of the year. Find a few that are interesting to you and make some content out of it.
• Tap into a trending topic – Find out what everyone’s talking about on social media and see if you can find a way to put a spin on it that’s relevant to your business or industry. 
• Ask for advice – Great for engagement and to encourage people to comment with you; which in turn gives you a chance to respond back and start that relationship building we mentioned earlier.
• Highlight team members – People are more likely to make a purchase or use your services if they feel like they know the people behind the business. Plus, it never hurts to give some shine to your co-workers.
• Fill in the blank – “If I could only eat one meal for the rest of my life it would be _______” . Another way to create engagement and encourage comments.
• Brag about reviews – It’s ok to show off.
• Highlight charitable work/contributions – Show that you care about your community and are actively trying to make a difference.

DOG PICS

When all else fails cute puppies always play on social media. Actually, now that I think about it my social media approach was “f**k around and find out AND post cute dog pics as much as possible.”