How to make your social media posts work harder for your business

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1. Keep it short: even though you can write more on Facebook, it doesn’t mean you always should. If you want people to click on your link and go to the website, give them just enough to pique their interest. Facebook posts tend to work best with Twitter length posts or shorter – ideally 40-80 words.

2. Keep it simple: make each post as clear and concise as possible. Think about each word and whether it is necessary, or if you’ve used any jargon that people might not understand.

3. Pose a question: posts that pose a question and point users to a link for an answer tend to be good drivers of referral traffic.

4. Give it some personality: people tend to be more engaged with social accounts that feel like a real person. Think about how you present yourself professionally and incorporate that into your posts. Reply to people when they leave a comment on a post or respond to a Tweet. Retweet things that you think will interest your followers. Get discussions going.

5. Time it well: think about when your post is likely to have the biggest reach. For example, people are most likely to read an article when on the train to work than they are at their desks.

6. Use images, graphics and videos as often as you can: if your article does not have an image, think about what might work as a good visual representation of what you’re saying. But don’t use any old image just for the sake of it – it has to be relevant.

7. Think about who you’re aiming at: whether this is quite specific or very broad, it is still a good idea to put yourself in your audience’s shoes and think about what they will respond to. This may involve trying different approaches and seeing which works best.

An in-depth article about winning clients online will appear in the September/October issue of Accounting Technician magazine.

Mark Rowland is a journalist and former editor of Accounting Technician and 20 magazine.

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