New Year, New You is the mantra of people shaping up different aspects of their lives at the start of the year. From updating their eating and exercise habits to decluttering the house or committing to a new hobby, the new year always motivates people to press the refresh button on their lives. But what about your business? Does your business’s online life need to be refreshed, too? It’s always best to start with changing your passwords and then check off the following list of seven tasks to ensure your social media presence is cleaned up and ready to work for you in the new year.
Photo Album Overhaul
First things first, make sure that all photos on your page are of current product for sale. Don’t waste time answering messages through social media asking how much a product is based on a picture from years ago. After you finish deleting the old products, post new pictures of the products you will introduce in the coming year. This will create buzz and make for a quick and easy social media post. Stagger photo posts of your new stock over multiple days and weeks to keep your audience interested!
Confirm Connections and Affiliations
This one is pretty straightforward. Make sure all of your contacts are up to date and correct. If you no longer have a connection with a local shop, you don’t want any posts or photos in your social media leading your customers to believe you still work with that business. Also, be sure to eliminate any connections you may have had with a charity or business that received negative press and you have chosen to no longer associate with them. Those are not connections you want on your social media accounts.
Perk Up Profile Pictures and Cover Photos
This one is not only important to keep your page looking fresh and updated, but it is also important for security reasons. Your profile photo and cover photo can be copied and used to start bogus accounts. By changing these pictures frequently, your clients can not only be sure that your page is the official page, but also that you are checking and maintaining the account regularly, leaving it less vulnerable to copycats and hackers. The aJuxt Social Media Troupe does this for every major holiday and at least four times a year for our clients. Posting new cover and profile pictures also presents a good opportunity to debut your updated logo or showcase a specific product.
Banish the Bots
Put simply, bot profiles damage your social media credibility. Since they never interact with your posts, they reduce the number of real clients and followers that see them, which negatively affects you in social media algorithms. Most algorithms in social media work by only showing a new post, say a status or a photo, to a small part of your followers. Then, depending on how your post does with that small group, the post either fades out if it performs poorly and gets minimal engagement or if it does well, the algorithm will show it to more of your followers.
Track Link Destinations
After putting all that work into adding links to your social media network, it’s good to double check that they don’t go to dead sites or pages.
Reveal New Products and Services
Is the beginning of the year the start of new product season for you? Did you spend the holiday break coming up with an exciting new service you are going to offer? Make sure that all these new products and services are featured on your social media pages. Link photos or videos to your website and describe them in detail to all your followers. Using social media to launch your new products and services is the perfect way to get everyone pumped-up and ready to purchase what you are offering in the new year.
Expand Social Media Platforms
If you’ve decided to jump into the world of Instagram or your business is taking advantage of advertising on Pinterest, be sure to let your customers know by linking. With all the different types of social media platforms out there, you can reach your clientele in many different ways. It’s a good idea to explore all of them and see which ones work best for your business. Once you find ones you are comfortable with, grab those links and put them in a visible place like your about page or your website.
Following these seven steps to clean up your social media presence guarantees your clients will see the best new (business) you in the new year! If you need any guidance in this area, or if you just think this might be too much to do on your own, our Social Media Troupe is eager to assist you on this project! Contact us today and let’s get started.
Written by Carrie Hellbusch || Digital Warrens Specialist