In today’s digital age, maintaining up to date and consistent messaging across your social media is a key strategy to increase awareness of your company. Social channels are equivalent to the ‘shop front’ of your business so it is important they are representative of your organisation and its offerings.
Social media algorithms refer to a set of rules that control the organic reach of posted content and aim to provide users with information suited to their behaviour. For this reason, considering the factors which feed into the platform’s algorithms provide a great insight on how to maximise engagement.
By default, social media algorithms tend to sort users’ feed based on relevancy and behaviour rather than publish time. So, while the various networks require different posting frequencies, retaining quality and consistency is a top priority for social media success and should be applied across your company’s channels.
The below points focus on popular business social platforms and the best approach to posting:
LinkedIn is often perceived as the most formal social media platform, however it is important to stay clear of overly corporate speak, as this detracts from the social nature of the tool. The platform is suited to creating business relationships, making new connections, and joining in with industry conversations.
Ideally, it is best practice to post at least twice a week on LinkedIn and interact with your network daily. Example posts include sharing company announcements, commenting on recent news within your industry and providing additional insight into ongoing discussions. To optimise the reach of your post, use between three to six hashtags based upon the topic you are discussing.
Twitter generally has a less formal tone than LinkedIn but remains a professional network. This platform should be used for topical posting and news hijacking as well as jumping in on industry-focused discussions. A quote tweet which involves a retweet with an added comment can be a useful way to spark a conversation and share your company’s view on a topical story.
Twitter’s algorithm is based on popularity and relevance of tweets. The platform has the shortest lifespan of any social media post, around 18 minutes, so it is important to consider the ranking signals in order to prioritise your posts. Twitter will rank tweets based on the use of rich media, level of engagement, prominence of author, date, and relationship of user to author.
Although this seems like a lot of factors to consider, follow the rule of posting five tweets a day. This should be complemented by five to ten likes, retweets, or comments, and use images where relevant. If these targets seem unattainable, use free scheduling assistant tools such as TweetDeck and organise your posts ahead of time.
Unlike the above platforms, Instagram is led primarily by imagery and video, so it is important that the photography used is clear, engaging, and representative of your company’s message. It is generally recommended to post on Instagram at least twice a week. Hashtags are important, but they should be used sparingly and limited to three to six per post.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, states: “The more likely you are to take an action, and the more heavily we weigh that action, the higher up you’ll see the post.” So, when considering what image and accompanying caption to post, keep in mind what your business audience are likely to engage with.
Key considerations:
- Make your targets sustainable – If the suggested posting targets seem unachievable set yourself smaller aims to grow your social media and build up the level of activity.
- Track progress – Measure your engagement levels using tools such as LinkedIn Analytics. This enables you to assess the success of your campaign, consider what worked well and then adjust your strategy to optimize the value of your posts.
- Establish routine – Social media takes time to grow. Within your organisation it may be useful to delegate days to members of the team and ensure at least three hours a week are focused on social media efforts.
To find out how we can help optimise your digital platform, get in contact with us: hello@8020comms.com
