It’s no secret that the social media world is constantly evolving. There’s always something new to learn, and keeping in the loop across multiple platforms can be tricky!
We appreciate that understanding and making the most of social media can seem daunting. No matter if you are brand new to it, or using it regularly.
For that reason, we thought it would help to have a FAQ list to help answer some of the most common questions that crop up!
Social Media Question 1: What is social media?
Answer:
Social media is a broad term, covering quite a few different topics. However, the simplest explanation is that social media is a variety of platforms that are web-based and allow users to connect, interact, create, share and consume content. This is mainly done through apps on smartphones and tablets but also on laptops and PCs. Social media enables us to build online relationships and exchange media.
The most commonly used platforms in the UK are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, WhatApp, and Pinterest. But there are literally hundreds out there!
Social Media Question 2: What is the most popular social media platform?
Answer:
Facebook continues to be the most popular social media platform. With more than two billion people using it every month! We hear people saying ‘no-one uses Facebook any more’ – but this is simply not true. Even people that don’t have a profile set up on the platform, will be targeted by Facebook Ads across Instagram and the Facebook Audience network (this is thousands of apps and websites linked with Facebook). Worldwide the platform now has 1.65 billion users.
Facebook is closely followed by Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. Instagram holds less users due to its compatibility – the fact that it’s mostly used and compatible on handheld devices (although it can be viewed via a web browser too), although the user numbers have continued to grow significantly over the years on this platform too!
Social Media Question 3: How many people are on social media?
Answer:
Just under half of the world’s entire population is now on social media. 2020 has proved a huge year for social media with figures surpassing the 3.8 billion mark!
Social Media Question 4: How long do people spend on social media per day?
Answer:
It is estimated that in 2020 users having been spending around 2hours and 22 minutes a day on social media.
Social Media Question 5: What is the fastest growing social media platform?
Answer:
Tiktok has recently taken over Instagram for this title but 2020 has certainly been the year with a difference. Whilst TikTok was the most downloaded social media app earlier this year it’s likely that the hype surrounding it will die down so watch this space!
Social Media Question 6: What’s the best time to post on social media?
Answer:
The best time to post on social media depends on more than one thing. The platform you’re posting on, your industry, and your audience, all play a part in answering this question. Ideally, you should look at how your posts do at different times of the day and day of the week to get valuable insight. Think about your consumers and when they are most likely to be online, however standard key times to post are first thing, lunch times and evenings.
Social Media Question 7: How often should I post on social media?
Answer:
Again, this largely depends on your audience. The key thing when it comes to social media posting is consistency. Find the right pattern for your business and stick with it, don’t post sporadically, this will likely have more of a negative impact on who sees your posts.
Social Media Question 8: Which social media platform should I use to promote my business?
Answer:
While the natural assumption is that you should be on all the popular platforms, this can be counterproductive if not executed with a strategy. Instead, focus on a couple of platforms that are highly popular among your target audience, and use them well! The best platforms to use will vary for each business but if you need help, just let us know! (email us on info@pickandmixms.co.uk)
Social Media Question 9: How do I get started with social media marketing?
Answer:
There are a few things you need when you are beginning marketing on social media – a goal, a target audience and a strategy. For some top tips when it comes to social media strategy visit the downloads section of our website.
Social Media Question 10: What kind of content should I post?
Answer:
The most popular type of content when it comes to social media is visual, but exactly what you post will depend on your goals and audience. Posting cute animal pictures won’t help you achieve strong brand awareness for example, unless of course you work with animals and it’s relevant!
Think about what you want to tell your audience, how you want to engage with them and tie this in with your content – it should all be part of one big plan!
Social Media Question 11: How can I get more followers on social media?
Answer:
Growing your social media following involves a lot of planning as well as posting the right content and targeting the right audience.
Finding the right social platform and focusing on utilising it will help grow your followers but understanding how each platform works is also key.
Read more about how the main platforms work and tips on what to post in our algorithms blog.
Social Media Question 12: Should I be active on all social media platforms?
Answer:
Not all social media platforms are suitable for all businesses. Before creating accounts on every platform, it’s important to think about your audience and how they’d want to find you. For example, if you operate a business support company, it will be more beneficial to share content to LinkedIn, where most businesses have a presence, but if you’re selling beauty products, your customers will probably be more likely to be active on apps like Instagram.
Our recommendations on this question differ from business to business but the same advice always applies – put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Where would they want to find you? How can you make it easy for them to engage with your business? Once you’ve figured out which platforms are right for your customer, you can create plans for content!
Social Media Question 13: How can I measure the success of my social media marketing?
Answer:
The answer to this depends entirely on what your business goals are and what you are hoping to achieve by using social media. However, all platforms offer some insights into different elements of how posts are working. By monitoring the following you should get a good idea of how your social media is doing.
- Reach
- Engagement levels
- Page likes/follows
- Direct messages
- Shares/retweets
- Tags/recommendations
- Ad click-through rates
- Ad cost per result
- Conversions from social
To find out more about tracking and measuring your social media presence, get in touch on info@pickandmixms.co.uk
Social Media Question 14: What is the best way to reach my target audience -organically or through paid ads?
Answer:
Again, this needs to start with understanding who your audience is and which social platforms they use. You don’t want to be investing too much into any platform where your customers/audience don’t exist, be that in time or money!
Organic posts are your normal social media posts – those that you don’t need to pay for. Understanding how best to post for each platform and audience in itself can work wonders. For some, more immediate results can come from paid ads, however, this is a short-term, higher-cost strategy. We would suggest that a combination of the two usually works best. Combining paid ads with an organic social strategy will more thoroughly engage your audience.
Social Media Question 15: Should I follow back, like, comment and direct message back to everyone on all my feeds?
Answer:
Engaging as well as posting content is a key part of any successful social media strategy, however, this doesn’t mean you have to follow back or like every single engagement you receive,
For example, spending time on the platforms finding relevant accounts to follow, posts to comment, like and share on and conversations to join will be more effective than simply following back others that have chosen to follow you.
As for responding to comments or direct messages, it’s best practice to respond to any and all of them, when possible. Your presence online these days is as important as how you deal with customers in person or by other means.
As you become used to engaging on social media you will be able to decide which feeds and which users may lead to actual business and begin to tailor the way in which you handle your social engagement.
Social Media Question 16: How come I can’t see my social adverts in action?
Answer:
If you’ve set up a paid advert and are wondering why it hasn’t shown up in your own feed, then that is because adverts are based on target audience behavior. You will likely have set your advert’s parameters to display a given ad for only a subset of social users, your advert appears for that audience, and that might not be you.
Social Media Question 17: Do I really need Social Media for my business?
Answer:
Simply put…yes.
Even if you personally don’t take an interest in social media that doesn’t mean social media won’t take an interest in your business. These days social media enables people to leave reviews, complain and ask questions. So, whilst you might not be on the platforms personally, the likelihood is that your potential customers and potential employees will be and therefore your business should be too!
If done right, social media marketing creates trust and loyalty – showing that there are real people working for the company.
Social Media Question 18: Is it OK to post the same content on each platform every day? Or should we post different updates on different sites?
Answer:
People follow you on different platforms for different reasons and therefore you need to be sharing information based on this. You also need to bear in mind that if one user is following you on a platform and each day you post the same content, they are going to lose interest and unfollow you. Engagement is key on social media and by posting the same content, you aren’t encouraging this.
Consider things like caption length, image formatting, and how vocabulary differs per platform. Sharing the exact same post on all of them means you might accidentally end up inviting your followers to “retweet” you on Facebook or “pin” your post on Instagram which can ultimately harm your business credibility.
Social Media Question 19: What is the best way to handle negative comments on social media?
Answer:
You may not like this one…but you must react quickly.
People are more likely to take it better when their complaint is answered quickly, even if the problem is not solved.
Be friendly, make an effort to show you understand the problem, and are being as helpful as possible. Remember not to argue or delete comments, and if appropriate for your brand and the situation you could use humour.
If the complaint or negative post is false or inaccurate you can report it to the platform and request it to be removed, or block the person involved.
Socia Media Question 20: How do I keep on top of regular posting?
Answer:
There are plenty of tools to support with this, whether you set reminders to post live updates or use a piece of software to schedule posts in advance.
Depending on which platforms and how many of them you are using, you can make use of many free scheduling tools. Some of the platforms have their own integrated where you can simply type a post and schedule it for a specific time and date. These are straight forward to use and allow you to schedule multiple posts.
If you’re wanting to schedule across multiple platforms, you could look at a scheduling platform such as Hootsuite or Buffer (many others are available) there are free versions of these and they’re simple enough to use and allow you to manage multiple social platforms and your posts.
We hope these have helped answer some of your questions but if you have any more here at Pick & Mix we’re always happy to help. There really is no question too simple when it comes to social media and if it’s a difficult one, we love a challenge!
Reach out to us via one of our social platforms, give the team a call or feel free to drop us an email with any questions you might have.
01904 863511 or email info@pickandmixms.co.uk