Social media is a powerful marketing tool for entrepreneurs, bloggers, business owners, and self-published authors. Popular sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram have changed the way we market to our customers, by allowing businesses to reach them directly.
When it comes to growing your business using social media, there are some best practices. Here we share a few ways to use social media to grow your business in the African American community.
1. Be consistent
This is our number one tip for a reason! Your blog posts should be well-thought-out and scheduled to keep an active blog, well—active. Your social media should also be scheduled to ensure you are posting often. Sticking to your plan and being consistent will go a long way to making your brand look professional.
2. Tailor content to a specific social platform
Managing several social platforms for one brand, it’s important that you give each site its own personality. Although you can share the same blog on various platforms, you should format your posts to the site you’re posting on.
For example, you shouldn’t use hashtags on LinkedIn, but you should on Twitter and Instagram.
3. Push the most on the networks that you get the most engagement on
If you see one social network is getting more attention than your other social networks, then put the most time into growing that network. Some networks are going to work better than others for your brand, and it’s important you go where your audience is.
4. Write good content
The best way to get traffic to your website is to write engaging content that your audience can relate to. It’s better to have one potential customer than one hundred followers who aren’t interested in what you have to offer.
5. Balance your posting between business and fun
It’s important to mix both business and fun social posts into your marketing plan. Although the fun posts may attract more people and get more likes, the business posts will attract potential customers. Having a balance of each will keep your brand fun and informative.
6. Celebrate events and culture
A good way to engage African Americans is by posting about African American events and culture. You could host a giveaway or a contest pertaining to the event to push engagement. A few upcoming events you should keep in mind:
- African American History Month: February 2017
- African American Day Parade: September 17, 2017
- Kwanzaa: December 26, 2017
