Easy Ways To Shake Up Your Social Media & Build Better Relationships With Your Customers

Unless you're a content whizz, it can be tempting to let things like social media marketing, blog posts and email marketing slip to the bottom of your to-do list. We know we should be making social media a priority, we fully understand how crucial it is to our business growth - particularly in the last year as business operations shifted to solely online for many of us - and yet we still find ourselves overcomplicating it.

Today, let's keep it simple. Here are three easy ways to shake up your social media presence to connect with your customers more.

Optimise your bio

Much like the top line and front page of your website, your social media bio is the first thing that someone sees when they click on your profile. You want to make sure they understand exactly what you do within 30 seconds of being on your profile. Keep it short and sweet and prioritize key information for your audience to understand the work you do. Remember, you're working with approx. 150 characters here.

Make use of opportunities to link your products

Specific to Instagram, make sure you're optimizing your own link in your bio too. Use this to direct your customers to a key page of your website or use a tool like LinkTree that allows you to consolidate multiple links in one place, giving you more options for where to direct your audience with that one link in your bio.

Having a following of 10,000 or more will activate the use of direct swipe up links with your Instagram story content but there are still plenty of options to link your products to your social media posts if you fall below that 10,000 followers mark. If you've published IGTV content, Instagram allows you to link specific IGTVs via a swipe up link on your stories, regardless of whether you have over 10,000 followers or have set up you've set up Instagram shopping on your account. This will create a swipe up link directing your audience to your IGTV video. Do this by hitting the interlocking link button in the top right-hand corner of the Instagram Story creation screen. This also increases the lifespan of your video content because you can repost it when relevant and send your audience directly to it. Use this to your advantage by creating IGTV content explaining your services and products, giving your audience tips to make the most of your service or partner with an industry-relevant influencer to promote your product of service on your IGTV.

You can also use swipe up links to tag products when you set up Instagram/Facebook shopping features. This is another way for e-commerce businesses with less than a 10k following to still access swipe up links or tagging products in static grid posts. Use the same button mentioned earlier - interlocking hyperlink button, top right of Instagram Story screen - and choose whether to link your story directly to the product mentioned or to your Instagram shop to view your full range of products.

Celebrate what makes you special

The whole point of social media is to celebrate the work you do, share your message and draw attention to your work. So if you're someone who stresses about what to post, keep it simple and think of it as simply sharing the stories behind your business. People buy from people and your audience has actively chosen to follow you and your business on social media. So give them a chance to do so, peel back the layers, show them what a day in the life of your business looks like, answer their questions, ask them questions and talk to them as though they're a customer who has just stumbled into your real-life shop or office.

Shout about your accomplishments, link your press. We know you're amazing, now it's time to show the world!