Don’t Be Afraid to Face Plant…and Other Social Media Engagement Tips

Welcome back to Small Business Straight Talk. As the Editor-in-Chief of CO— by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, my job is to find and share the latest small business news, trends, and resources to help entrepreneurs start and grow successful companies. Here’s what you need to know this week:

Quote of the Week: “Don’t be afraid to face plant.”?

This week I got a chance to interview a digital marketing genius named Evan Horowitz. Evan is the co-founder and CEO of a digital marketing agency called Movers + Shakers, which Adweek has named the #1 fastest growing agency in America. His agency has been responsible for several super successful social media campaigns. You’ve probably seen this TikTok campaign they created for e.l.f. Cosmetics. The crazy thing? Evan says he wasn’t even really familiar with the then-brand new TikTok before his company created this campaign!? My number one takeaway from Evan? Be willing to try lots of new things and don’t be afraid to “face plant” every now and then. You can watch my whole interview with Evan, plus an amazing interview with CO— Features Editor Barbara Thau and Pura Vida co-founder Griffin Thall here.

Here are some tactical social media engagement tips you can try this week.?

Social media is currently the No. 1 channel used by marketers to attract new customers and engage with existing audiences. With each app’s unique intended functionality and use, business owners handling their organization’s social media need to understand how engagement differs by platform.

• On Pinterest, an image-sharing social media platform with virtual boards and pins, 85% of searches are unbranded — meaning businesses have a wide margin to surprise and delight new customers with unique, relevant content. To improve engagement on Pinterest, invest your time into reviewing your analytics, creating Pinterest Idea pins, and analyzing past successes to recreate great engagement.
• On Instagram and TikTok, hashtags have become a driving force of customer discovery and engagement. Instagram allows 30 hashtags, so small businesses have the ability to showcase their versatility through branded hashtags, community hashtags, industry-specific hashtags, and more. TikTok limits captions and included hashtags to 300 characters or less, but offers flexibility in hashtag-driven engagement. Try to run a branded hashtag challenge with sounds and visual aspects. Make it accessible and open-ended, and encourage participation from anyone who sees it instead of only existing customers.?
• When it comes to social media, authenticity has never been more important. Gone are the days of creating promotions-only posts for social media and marketing to the masses. Marketing practices today require creating unique, relevant content that speaks to specific problems or offers solutions to a niche audience. They also result in much higher engagement than traditional, cookie-cutter techniques. Here are more outdated?marketing tactics to leave behind.

This article was written with editorial assistance from Katarina Betterton.? Jeanette Mulvey is a passionate advocate for small business and the Editor in Chief of CO— by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Follow CO— on Instagram!