Do’s and Don’ts of SMM in 2022
Long gone are the days when SMM was simply sharing rare photos or ads. For business owners, it became a powerful tool for promoting their brand, driving traffic, establishing influence, and strong presence on the market.
As a worldwide online design service, we are helping thousands of large and small businesses launch their social media campaigns and improve their visibility online. There are many persistent tactics that contribute to a company’s success on social media (as well as its downfall).
Don’t wait until next year if you’re looking to end on a high note in 2021. The time to start is now, and the place to start is on social media.
We’ve made a list of the top do’s and don’ts of social media marketing for business owners in 2022. Keep these rules in mind, so you can engage, entertain, advertise, and tell your story; all while being on track to likes and shares.
The Do’s
Create your own posting schedule and stick to it!
Many small business owners don’t have the budget to hire a professional that will run their social media channels; they do it themselves. They start with an intense posting routine and then quickly lose interest, eventually abandoning their profiles. This is a recipe for disaster.
If you’re only posting once a week, building or retaining an audience of loyal followers will be extremely hard. It doesn’t mean that you need to “surprise” your followers with a post every ten minutes. Still, clients don’t have to chase down your company to learn about it (by the way, you’re welcome to follow our official page or join the VistaCreate People private community on Facebook).
Although posting at least once every day is the conventional gold standard of effective SMM, there is no set rule to optimizing your frequency. Instead, commit to a frequency that you can sustain in the long run.
If you’re busy running a business, you may not have enough time to create seven days worth of original content. But with modern online design services like VistaCreate, this task is not as challenging and time-consuming as you think. Learn more on how to create trending designs for Instagram in minutes here.
It’s ok if you manage to only post a few times per week. Stick to it.
Separate the personal and the professional
Business owners often want their brand to have a “personal touch”. In other words, they start to associate their personal account with their business one, and actively comment or share between accounts.
Don’t step on this “thin ice” strategy, as it can attract controversy around your brand.
Be fun
People don’t follow boring brands on social media. That’s why you shouldn’t hesitate to get a little bit less serious with your online communication.
Establish yourself as a company that is brave to take risks and show some personality. There’s nothing wrong with spicing up your tweets or Instagram stories with unoffensive memes. It can significantly improve your retention rates.
Check out our Fun Templates for all kinds of social media and marketing occasions!
Mix your post types
If you use the same design style repetitively, you might tire your followers. They will start skipping over without engaging with your content.
Your social media feeds should be diverse. That’s why we suggest posting an even mix of the following:
• High-quality horizontal and vertically oriented photos
• Animations
• Short videos
Need a fresh design for your ad campaign on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media? You can always find thousands of design templates for popular content types with VistaCreate.
The Don’ts
Don’t overlook spelling and grammar mistakes
This may sound obvious, but you might be surprised by how rarely business-owned social media pages have their posts proofread by a second pair of eyes (before publishing, this article has been checked twice).
Releasing a post or update, ensure that at least one proofreader has checked it over. Online writing assistants like Grammarly and Jarvis can help you with that.
Don’t put up with trolls
Of course, if your social media accounts become popular, you’ll run into haters. When you encounter a social media troll who makes offensive comments, simply delete the comment and report the user. If you don’t act — or worse, if their comments start gaining traction — you could jeopardize the reputation of your brand.
Don’t neglect daily stories
To keep your brand in your followers’ minds, provide daily Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat story, or Twitter updates.
Posts like these take a fraction of your time, and they can be used to share special moments throughout the day, announce company updates like an early store closure, or inform customers that you’re almost sold out of a product.
Don’t worry about taking hundreds of photos. You can always find millions of royalty-free photos by Lightfieldstudios in our library of Creative Assets.
Don’t cut your followers out
Driving user-generated content around your brand is one of the best ways to create buzz online. It’s not time-consuming, and it doesn’t require having a large budget. For instance, you could throw a giveaway contest for those who post the best photo with your product, or simply encourage people to use a #brand hashtag.
Choosing a social media marketing strategy for 2022
Effective social media marketing is about developing a unique brand voice, visibility, and an active community. By committing to the do’s and don’ts listed above, you can create an impactful social media marketing strategy for the next year.
