Article author, Christie Li, currently works as an editorial assistant at Harri, and enjoys exploring and eating her way through her hometown of New York City.
Promoting a new business is never easy, especially being a freelancer in the hospitality space. Utilizing various social media platforms opens up your brand to a wider audience, making it easier to reach desired clients. Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook all have a huge range of opportunity for entrepreneurs to demonstrate their services and expertise in a short period of time. However, if you don’t use social media effectively, it can be a gamble of your time and most importantly your hard earned cash. As pop star and social media sensation, Beyonce, once said, “I don’t like to gamble, but if there’s one thing I’m willing to bet on, it’s myself.” Take these helpful hints to gamble less, and make investing in yourself a sure thing!
Visual always wins!
Smartphones are an essential part of life and visual posts are king. The phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” could not be more true when it applies to prospective clients’ ability to share, comment, and like various posts. The opportunity for exposure can be exponential when done right. Studies have shown that Facebook updates with images and videos have 39% more engagement than just posting text alone. Posting too often on Facebook can be a little too aggressive for most clients, but with Instagram and Snapchat, more is more!
Social media engagement stats from HubSpot
On Instagram, using tools like Boomerang to make short videos can really let your brand shine. The most successful times to post on Instagram are Mon-Thurs from 6AM-12PM. For fixing light, filters and sharpness of your photos many businesses swear by VSCO Cam in conjunction with the regular Instagram filters. It does wonders for food and event pics!
Snapchat is a different story. The platform reaches 41% of all 18 to 34-year-olds in the U.S. every single day. Cross hatch your social media outlets to be sure your followers are aware of your Snapchat username. Post to demonstrate your talents and mention new followers. Snapchat is one of the best outlets to host contests or announce discounts on services. Taco Bell, Buzzfeed and Food Network are all in on the platform, why not get a piece of the action? Measuring your return on investment is a little tricky to track with this medium, but the exposure is definitely there.
Post with purpose.
One of the biggest challenges facing entrepreneurs using social media is posting with purpose. Contrary to popular belief, posting anything for the sake of posting once a day is pretty useless. An old professor of mine compared social media to a big room where everyone is screaming at once. Having a concrete social media strategy will keep your brand from getting lost in the noise.
Make a social media calendar that syncs to your seasonal and professional events. For example, if you’re a personal or consulting chef, knowing when seasonal produce is available and when food holidays occur is the best way to create relevant, useful content. Planning out your social media on each platform either monthly or quarterly will keep you organized and prepared. And in those inevitable cases of impromptu social media phenomena, take the opportunity to tie it into your business. Who knows how many beverage brands could have benefited from Beyonce dropping her visual album, “Lemonade” (yes, back to Beyonce).
Partner with influencers and keep up relationships.
As with all industries, it’s all about who you know… or in this case, all in who follows and comments on your accounts. Spend some time reaching out to influencers on all platforms. These people usually have a target audience and live to vouch for brands. Influencer targeting is essential for increasing awareness for your brand. These key users normally list their contact info directly under their bios on Instagram or have a separate page to reach them.
Be sure to study each respective influencer’s page and make sure their brand and audience aligns with yours. Put these relationships first, and offer them something in exchange for exposure—anything from a free meal or service to discounts or a shoutout. Once you get influencers through the door, their audiences will follow. Respond to all inquiries within 24 hours and have your company email posted wherever you can. Now get out there, sell yourself (and brand) in the most effective way possible, and try not to break the internet.
I think you are right Tessie that Instagram and Snapchat have a philosophy of ‘more is more’ while posting often on Facebook, you come up too agressive for your clients!