3 Fundamental principles for promoting your brand or business on social media

by Joe Kuzma ( joe_kuzma) on October 9, 2018

When perusing Facebook, Twitter or any other social media platform, most people don’t realize they should have an underlying strategy to posting for their business or brand.

Unlike making personal posts, where photos of your children, pets, or food are the norm, you should incorporate these ideas into your social media campaigns. Doing so will not only keep your content fresh, but it will help further engage your audience.

I always like to think of these three principles like a circus: everyone doesn’t go to the circus to see the lions, so you need a trapeze act, clowns, etc. In the same way everyone isn’t visiting your Instagram, Facebook or Twitter profiles for the same reason.

That’s why it’s important to shake things up by following these three principles for promoting your brand or business on social media.

Inform

The most basic principle of posting to social media is to inform someone of something.

That may sound basic and it is. If you have an event, you should notify people of when it’s happening and all of the pertinent details: when, where, why, and how. The “how” can be any associated costs, such a fee at the door, entry fee or even if your event is free. (Which is often a determining factor for families to plan to attend your event.)

Informational posts can also include product or service announcements, deadlines or pretty much any other details that are important to share with your followers.

Oftentimes the informational post you create on social media will lead back to somewhere on your website. If it’s for a product, you will want to link where to buy it. If it’s an event, you may have more details than can possibly (or neatly) fit within a social media update.

Educate

A little different than simply informing your following of an event or announcement, educational posts do as they indicate: they teach someone about a topic.

This too seems like a no-brainer; however, you’d be surprised at the number of missed opportunities I witness where someone can position themselves as an expert in their field by sharing a link that educates their audience about a particular subject matter.

Almost always this should be a link back to your own website: it’s a lot wiser to send traffic your way than to someone else!

Educational posts usually have a lot more value to your target audience but they may not always strike a chord with everyone. Have some patience, as your informational posts and the next category, will help shake things up and keep everyone engaged with your brand’s social media.

Entertain

Entertainment posts are listed last because it’s incredibly easy to get too carried away with them. Sharing photos or videos is fun, and it may get you that quick satisfaction of a like or share, but if that’s all you do you will lose the entire purpose of your social media accounts: which is to help build your business’ presence with the goal of converting followers into advocates and purchasers of your products and services.

It doesn’t hurt to have an occasional fun item on your social media pages. It helps break up the monotony of virtually yelling to your followers about an event or an announcement, and assists in my making your page less boring.

Granted some business ventures will almost never have anything entertaining to say or do. This (and not your TV or radio spots) is an opportunity to share photos of the grandkids or pets, or get employees and coworkers involved in your pitch. If you have a special day at the office, such as Football Friday or a company picnic, sharing pictures of these events can further help others relate to your brand.

But again, don’t get too carried away with this. All it takes is for a joke to be taken the wrong way to destroy your credibility, so be careful what you post.

Once again, I emphasize making it about yourself, especially when it comes to entertaining updates. Sharing another page’s amusing post does not make youentertaining. In fact, it may make someone question why you aren’t the ones having fun!