How to Protect your personal brand on social media

Dominion MesomaMarch 30, 2023

$In this article, you’ll learn how to use social media for small businesses and which (free) software you should have in your toolbox. Why social media is important for small businesses? The biggest benefit to using social media is that it’s a low-cost strategy to increase your brand awareness. While you, of course, have to invest time and resources in building out your content, you can create high-quality content with a reliable phone and a few tools at your disposal. In addition, with social media, you have the potential to reach your target audience for a fraction of what you would pay in targeted ads. For instance, you may spend $100 developing creative assets for a video that ends up reaching 100,000 users. To reach those same users with an ad, you will likely have to invest much more money. In addition, social media allows you to: Drive more traffic to your website and generate leads. Promote products and services. Build a community. Connect with and learn from your target audience. When you get down to it, the way you use social media as a small business isn’t much different from how you’d use it as a mid to large-size business. In both cases, you’re sharing, engaging, monitoring, and optimizing. The key difference is that a small business is likely focused on growth while an established brand may prioritize expansion. Read also: 10 Best Ways to Make a Living from Home What is a Home Based Business : Home Business Easy Guide How to start a Marketing Business Social Media Tips for Small Business 1. Be consistent. The best thing you can do as a small business when starting out on social media is to be consistent. Too often, brands get discouraged if they don’t see results within a few weeks. The truth is social media growth can be slow but like most things, if you remain consistent, you will generate results. This means posting high-quality content on a regular basis (at least once a week). You do this for a few reasons. The first is that when a user does land on your profile, you want them to get a clear picture of your brand. If you have little to no content, users will quickly lose interest and leave. The same is true for scattered posts. Social media is an opportunity to tell a story. When you prioritize consistency and cohesiveness, users will know what to expect from your page, what your voice is, and what you offer. And that’s how you’ll attract your target audience. 2. Diversify your content. On social media, there’s so much room to be creative and experiment. Too often, brands find one strategy that works and stick to that. While there’s a lot of truth to the saying "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it," social media is constantly evolving. What worked yesterday may not work today, as these platforms implement new features and user behavior changes. With this in mind, play around with content formats whenever possible. For instance, on TikTok, you can only post videos. However, on Facebook, you have the option of going live, posting images, conducting polls, and more. Here are some formats you should leverage: Photos Videos Illustrations Stop-motion Live streams Polls With content, the limit truly does not exist. Our social media report revealed that small businesses get the best ROI from creating educational and relatable content. Meanwhile, mid-size and large businesses report better results with funny and interactive content. This data point makes sense for many reasons. Larger brands have likely already built a strong following and know what their audience likes. That’s why they’re able to do interactive polls and be creative with their content. Small businesses, on the other hand, still have a lot to prove. They want to add value to their audience and grow a following, and the easiest way to do that? Make content that educates and/or resonates. This isn’t to say that small businesses should stick to these two types of content. In fact, they should experiment with all content to narrow down what their audience likes. However, this can serve as a strong starting point. Here are some ideas to get you started: How-tos Customer spotlights Industry facts and updates Behind the scenes Trends (viral sounds and dances) Product highlights Q&As 3. Focus on quality instead of quantity. This applies not only to the content you post but also to which platforms you post. From a content perspective, while it is encouraged that you post often on social media, there’s a caveat. Everything you post should add value. If it doesn’t meet that criteria, consider another strategy, such as reposting brand-related content from a non-competitor or sharing user-generated content (UGC). In fact, 33% of small businesses surveyed (those with 1-25 employees) report getting the best ROI on social media from leveraging UGC. Now onto the platforms. If you’re a small business with limited time and resources, you may not able to manage an account on every single social platform. And that’s OK. It’s much more valuable to focus on one to three platforms that have your target audience’s demographics and go from there. According to our 2022 social media marketing research, small businesses are prioritizing Facebook and YouTube in 2022 (even though they report that Facebook and Instagram generate the highest quality leads). However, if your audience is Gen-Z, you may choose to focus your efforts on TikTok and grow your audience there. 4. Find trends. This is another piece of advice that relates to both content and platform. Our research found that many small businesses are exploring live audio chat rooms and short-form videos for the first time – two of the biggest trends of the last two years. Yes, trying out a new platform demands a lot more than trying out a new format or type of content. For a while, brands were wary of TikTok. They saw it as a non-serious platform meant to entertain Gen-Z. Now, brands realize that it’s another highly valuable network that can broaden their reach and increase their brand awareness. This is all to say that you don’t have to jump on every trend when it first appears, that’s not the recommendation here. Instead, you want to monitor them and their evolution. Because while some trends die off, others turn into staples. Other Posts: The Best Paying Work-from-Home Jobs Highest Paying Jobs for Mechanical Engineers Red Thread Foundation Scholarship for Women How to Ace your Scholarship Interview : 4 Steps How to Take a Screenshot with Apple Watch How to Reset your Instagram Password : Easy Guide Best Free Apps for iPhone : Easy Guide How to Change your Instagram Username : Easy Guide How much free Google Drive storage you get - Tips to free up more storage space$

Protect your personal brand on social media

Today social networks play a fundamental role in our society, professionals are beginning to use networks as a tool to enhance their profile and thus find new professional opportunities.

Most companies are likely to search for candidates on social media networks before hiring them, this being one of the factors that can most affect when deciding whether to interview a candidate or make an offer.

Discover how to create the perfect speech to enhance your personal brand .

How can you make the most of social media in your career development, and prevent your online presence from negatively affecting your job search?

Twitter

With the exception of professionals working in marketing or communication, Twitter is generally considered more appropriate for personal use and social use.

In the search for digital marketing and communication professionals, employers can expect an active social presence on Twitter.

Participating in online discussions relevant to your sector is a good way to demonstrate your knowledge of social networks, and demonstrate skills that can be applied to a marketing position.

If you work in an industry where having a presence on Twitter can be important when looking for a job, you can choose to hide who you follow and who follows you by creating private lists.

This will allow recruiters to see your Twitter feed without disclosing information about the accounts you’re connected to.

If you do not work in a digital marketing or communications role, your presence on Twitter may be for personal use only. In this case, protecting the account can also be important.

You may want to take advantage of privacy settings to hide your personal information on the platform, or even your tweets, the tweets you’re tagged in, the people you follow, and the people who follow you.

Even if you have a private profile, recruiters will be able to see the details you provide about yourself in your bio.

Avoid putting any inappropriate content in this section and remove any information you don’t want a search and selection manager to know.

By following these simple steps, you can reduce the chances of making a negative impression on a hiring manager, even before you’ve had a chance to land an interview.

Instagram

Making your Instagram profile inaccessible to anyone outside of your social circle is a reasonable precaution. Some key steps to make sure you keep your profile private are:

Stay up to date on Instagram privacy settings, remove your Instagram profile from Google searches, and make sure what others can see on your profile.

Also, it is important that your stories, posts and tags are hidden.

If you decide to keep your profile public, you have to assume that anything you post will be seen by a potential recruiter, and as a consequence they will be able to see what appears on your wall.

There have been cases where some people have lost their jobs due to comments they have made through Instagram.

It is very important that you do not use Instagram as a space to express complaints about your position. If something is bothering you, talk to your manager about the problem so they can help you resolve it.

LinkedIn is the most widely used online professional networking platform.

It has become the default social network for professionals as a space to engage with other colleagues in the same industry, discuss topics related to their area of work, and build a professional reputation online.

Many recruiters will review your LinkedIn profile for information about your professional experience before deciding whether or not to invite you for an interview.

It is convenient that your LinkedIn profile is completely finished and updated, including your education and professional background.

Make sure your profile highlights the main responsibilities and achievements of your career so that it attracts the attention of HR professionals and thus helps you stand out from the crowd.

LinkedIn is also an interesting platform to discuss innovation and trends in your sector with other professionals.

Leveraging Social Media Platforms for Business - Contentgather