Where your customers are

How to be successful on social media

You’ve chosen a few social platforms. That’s a great start. Now think a little more about how you can grow your social media presence.

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The platforms create virtual spaces, but social media is really about people. They’re coming to interact, find out something new and keep up with friends, family and community. They want to feel connected. How can you facilitate connections to your business and between people?

What to know about paying for social media

The early days of Facebook were exciting for business owners. A page with 1,000 followers would show up in nearly every follower’s feed, and engagement was high. Today, social media platforms have created complex algorithms to regulate how often your post appears. In general, posts with more likes and shares get sent to more followers’ feeds, but the algorithms are also there to help the platforms make money. If your page doesn’t pay to “boost” a post, relatively few followers will ever see it unless it goes viral.

On the plus side, social media ads are inexpensive. For example, a boosted post on Facebook typically costs about $7 per 1,000 impressions (number of times the post shows up in a feed), and you can target your boosts to individual Facebook users or followers by location, education level, gender and more. Targeted social media ads are especially useful if you want to expand your customer base or shift into new markets.

In general, many brands have found success on Facebook and LinkedIn with ads designed to generate leads. On Instagram, ads promoting products can boost sales. And on Twitter, an ad might help your brand increase awareness.