Here’s five tips to help you get your social media up and running: 

Focus on platforms that work 

Not every platform will work for you. When you start out, think about which one will work for you, then keep an eye on your data.  

Broadly speaking, Facebook is the most adaptable, but be aware, information deemed useless will just annoy your followers.

Don’t over-communicate. As for the other major platforms, LinkedIn is widely used by professionals and B2B. Instagram suits businesses that can easily promote their product or service through images (such as florists). 

Put on a brave face 

“People might be scared to put their face to the business, but that is what can really help your business grow,” says Perth digital marketing consultant Lauren Benedetti. 

You should showcase yourself and your staff in photographs and videos. When people get to know and like you, it builds loyalty and trust. 

“That’s how you really connect with people. People go, ‘Okay, this is Julie and she owns the cooking school. She’s fantastic’.” 

Check your data 

The beauty of the digital world is that virtually everything is trackable. Find out which channels and messages drive traffic to your site, and which do not.  

You can develop quite detailed profiles of your customers to help you target communications and services.  

Keep an eye on where visitors to your site arrive from and what they view, and importantly, what the last thing they looked at or actioned was before leaving the site.  

This may help point to any problems. 

Don’t be scared of humour or issues 

It can be tricky – you don’t want to be flippant about serious issues and you don’t want to alienate your customer base.  

But being authentic and understanding your customer demographics can reap rewards.  

The Willows Café and Wine Bar in Sydney once put up a sign that read: “Breastfeeding mums: Pop in, have a FREE cup of tea if you need a pit stop. No need to eat. No need to ask. Please relax.”  

The image was shared online by a customer. It went viral and generated untold free publicity and goodwill.  

YouTube is under-rated 

After Google, YouTube is one of the most searched sites, Benedetti says.  

It has huge potential for businesses, particularly trade-related, but most neglect it.  

Think creatively about what content you could post. “How-to videos are huge. They gather a lot of traffic and help your content spread further,” she says.  

Behind-the-scenes and staff Q&As are also popular and easy to repurpose for a blog or website.