Freshy Founder Ben Giordano, and Digital Marketing Manager, Giovanna Bernardo, recently gave at a presentation on social media engagement at the United Way Broome County Partnering For A Purpose Conference.
We compiled a list of social media best practices, tips and hacks for that presentation and wanted to share those with you all :)
General social media best practices
The following are general social media best practices and tips across a variety of platforms. Later on in the post, we’ve broken it down and focus specifically on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
- Employ clear, consistent messaging across all platforms.
- Lead posts – and followers – back to your website when possible.
- Mix up your verbiage and terminology in posts.
- Measure back-end social metrics against overall goals for each platform.
- Utilize branded, recognizable images for profile & cover photos.
- Keep ‘About’ sections consistent & up to date across all platforms.
- Post at least once/day on each platform.
- If not once/day, every other day.
- Schedule posts ahead of time if possible – HUGE timer saver!
- Always tag another page, account, public figure, etc. mentioned in posts.
- Respond to every comment – especially if negative!
- Focus on quality of your posts, as opposed to quantity.
Facebook best practices
- Have clear, measurable Facebook goals & target demographics.
- Make sure profile & cover photos are filled in.
- Follow correct Facebook image sizes.
- 1200 x 630 px.
- Best time to post? Saturday or Sunday from 12 – 1 PM.
- Use links back to content, images, videos or article links in every post.
- Try not to exceed 120 characters in a post.
- 23% more engagement rate.
- Keep hashtag & emoji use to a minimum.
- 0 – 3 hashtags per Facebook post.
- 0 – 1 emojis per Facebook post.
- Ask questions to followers – these posts perform better!
- Utilize Facebook stories.
- At the top of users’ feeds – one of the first things they see.
Instagram best practices
- Have clear, measurable Instagram goals & target demographics.
- Make sure profile & cover photos are filled in.
- Follow correct Instagram image sizes.
- 1080 px wide.
- Best time to post? Monday from 2 – 3 PM or 8 – 9 PM.
- Use links back to your content in bio and try out videos when posting.
- Employ hashtags in company’s best interest.
- Research the best hashtags for the business and/or brand.
- Instagram allows up to 30, but try 0 – 11 hashtags.
- Utilize Instagram stories.
- At the top of people’s feeds – one of the first things they see.
Twitter best practices
- Have clear, measurable Twitter goals & target demographics
- Make sure profile & cover photos are filled in
- Follow correct Twitter image sizes.
- 506 x 253 px.
- Best time to post? Wednesday from 12 – 1 PM or 5 – 6 PM.
- Use images in every single post.
- Keep hashtag use to a minimum.
- Research the best hashtags for the business and/or brand.
- 2 -3 hashtags per Tweet.
LinkedIn best practices
- Have clear, measurable LinkedIn goals & target demographics.
- Make sure profile & cover photos are filled in.
- Follow correct LinkedIn image sizes.
- 531 px wide.
- Best time to post? Mid-week from 5 – 6 PM.
- Use images in every single post.
- Try not to exceed 125 characters in a post.
- Keep hashtag use to a minimum.
- 0 – 2 recommended for each LinkedIn post.
- Avoid question marks, but use exclamation points. They perform better.
- Share informative industry or company news.
- Add job listings to company page.
Happy posting!
