Social Media Tips & Tricks for 2024

If you’re a business owner, you likely already use social media to reach out to your customers and potential customers. Every day, countless decisions, like what to buy, what business to call, and what restaurant to walk to, are made via social media. If you’re not using social media to have a seat at the table during these decisions, you’re missing out. Innovative brands understand this and have been using social media for years to remedy this.

However, social media is an ever-evolving discipline; what once worked well might need to be revised. Your audience and industry are evolving. Your social media game needs to, as well. Read on to help you plan out your 2024 social media strategy!

Use Video

The days of written posts are long gone.  Short Form video is dominating social media platforms, and brands that don’t utilize video will have a more challenging time keeping the attention of their viewers. Typically, videos between 15 seconds and 2 minutes perform best on social media.

Make It Interactive

People don’t go on social media to learn about your brand. That may be painful to hear, but it’s true. Now, your customers and potential customers get on social media to have fun, and if you can make learning about your brand fun, then you’re in a good place. Making social media posts interactive is a great way to do that.

We recommend utilizing polls, pictures of your staff events, shoutouts for employee birthdays and anniversaries, and other interactive elements to keep this fun and exciting atmosphere. Remember, you’re not using social media merely to educate your clients, although that is a benefit. You’re also there to beta-test new product ideas, hear feedback, and deal with customer service questions. Create an interactive atmosphere on your social media profiles to keep that two-street between you and your customers alive.

Plan It Out

You don’t necessarily need to plan out every element of your social media marketing a year in advance, but you need to think it through. Having time to plan out in advance allows you to create written or visual content well in advance so that you can be prepared. We recommend planning at least a quarter. In our experience, this is far enough to get content ready but close enough that you have more visibility into your social media profile’s current performance and trends.

Research, Research, Research

It can be easy to think of social media as only the process of writing posts and developing content. However, research can often be neglected in the social media process. Understanding what your audience cares about, what others in the social media space are doing, and your industry is crucial to developing great content for your audience.

Tailor Your Approach By Platform

Many social media managers fall into the trap of “cutting once” when working on their social media calendar. If they have an interactive and well-researched post planned for Facebook, then it seems scalable to take this post and copy it over to LinkedIn. This might be easier, but it’s not always the right approach.

There are massive differences between LinkedIn and Facebook audiences, value propositions, and content. Social media managers must be aware of this when planning their social calendars, or they risk falling flat on one platform versus another. What might be educational on LinkedIn might be dull on Facebook.

It’s also worth remembering that not all platforms need to be equal for your marketing strategy. TikTok and Instagram will likely be your focus if you’re a jewelry reseller focused on reaching women under 30.

If you’re a law firm focused on reaching business HR departments, you must spend most of your time on LinkedIn. You can, of course, still use a variety of platforms. Our fictional law firm should still be on Facebook and Instagram, and our jewelry reseller should have a LinkedIn presence. However, both should ensure they’re spending the most time and resources on only the most relevant platforms.

Decide Whether TikTok is for You

TikTok is not for everyone, and we recommend that every business consider if this channel is the right fit for their marketing needs. However, TikTok is a dominant social media channel, and the app’s market share and audience share do not look to fall off at all in 2024. With over 1 billion users, TikTok is a massive piece of the social media pie. If you’ve traditionally only used Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, it might be time to consider branching out to TikTok. This is especially true if your target audience is younger or your brand uses an e-commerce store.

Contact JSL Marketing & Web Design

Social media marketing can be challenging, but planning your marketing strategy doesn’t need to be. Contact JSL Marketing & Web Design for a custom social media evaluation and strategy session and take your social media presence to the next level in 2024!