When your customers look for you or your industry online, they’re looking for engaging, organized and up-to-date information that can help them understand your products or services before coming by for a visit. They want to be able to easily navigate to your website, check out your hours or menu, and contact you with any questions. That’s why it’s so important to make sure your pages — including social media profiles — are updated and ready to drive results.
Are you doing your Social Media spring cleaning?
Update your social media profiles in 6 simple steps
Google your business
Claim your pages
Update your information
Update your cover and profile photos
Refresh your social media content calendar
Clean out your social media inboxes
Ready for the spring cleaning?
1. Google your business
See what your customers are seeing. Run a quick Google search for your business online and see what comes up.
Are you listed consistently across all of your social media platforms? Does business name should always appear the same on every page.
For example, Pete's Pickled Fish, ensure that your profiles list you as Pete's Pickled Fish and not Pete's Fish Pickled. Edit the incorrect listings to make sure your brand is consistent. It’s the best way to establish brand awareness, brand loyalty, and to ensure that your customers aren’t confused when they’re researching your business.
It’s also important to remember that you don’t have to create a page on every platform for your business to have a presence there.
2. Claim your pages
During your Google search, you might find some pages you didn’t know were attached to your business. If you see an unclaimed page for your business that you think could add value to your brand — such as a Yelp, Google or TripAdvisor page — you can claim it, add the correct business information, add photos and start responding to your reviews.
Claiming these listings allows you to add your voice and feedback to the conversation, which helps to protect your legacy and online reputation.
3. Update your information
As mentioned above, make sure all of your profiles have the same information about your business and that your hours, menu, address, phone number and other information are accurate. Whenever a customer visits your pages online, there should be no inconsistencies in key information that could prevent them from coming in your doors.
4. Update your cover and profile photos
Just as springtime means it’s time to clean out your closets to feel ready and refreshed for the new season, it’s also time to clean up your profiles to rejuvenate your online presence. Keep your logo as your profile photo on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, but upload new cover photos for Facebook and Twitter. It’s also time to refresh your bio on Instagram, and upload fresh photos of your products and services on review sites like Yelp and Google. Let your fans and followers know everything that’s new and fresh at your business this spring by posting about it on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
5. Refresh your social media content calendar
You should take this opportunity to revamp your social media and review site strategy. Check out your analytics to get insight into what’s working — what’s engaging and appealing to your audience — and what’s not. Every social media platform has an option for you to check your analytics and statistics. Review your numbers to see what’s performing well for your business online and make a note to do more of that.
Consider if your content is reaching your target demographic and what to do if not.
For your social media marketing strategy, you should set calendar reminders to help you post time specific content to gain greater engagement and traction. You can decide to incorporate more user-generated content, use Instagram Stories, create a Facebook photo album after your next event, or start tweeting out your daily specials. If you vary your content, your followers will notice, get engaged, and spread the word to their families and friends.
When it comes to review sites, add a new, updated photo of yourself to answer reviews. Make sure that all of your reviews are answered, if they’re not, catch up so you can go into spring knowing that you have responded to all of your customer feedback from the months before.
6. Clean out your social media inboxes
Your customers are always looking for ways to contact you and share their thoughts. With so many ways for them to reach out, it can be easy to miss some of their outreach. Treat your social media inboxes as an additional email account, check your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Yelp inboxes for direct messages from customers to make sure you haven’t missed any questions, comments, concerns or feedback. Responding to your customers is the best way to extend your customer service online.
You may be feeling a little overwhelmed as you start your spring clean your online presence and elevate your social media marketing strategy to engage with your customers like never before — get help if necessary!