In this era of likes and shares, social media should be a core pillar in your digital online strategy. In this article, we’ll help you make the most of Facebook and Instagram and ultimately generate leads.
Likes, shares, “hearts”… We’ve never been more connected to each other and the driving force behind this engagement is social media. From topical posts to reaction videos, social media can affect almost all aspects of our lives. Even more exciting is the fact that billions of people use multiple platforms to engage with each other and businesses around the world.
Below, we’ll help you understand two of the biggest social media platforms out there – Facebook and Instagram and discover how you can use them to engage your audience and attract new clients.
Be social
Social media should be a core pillar in your digital marketing strategy and can rapidly grow your business. Make sure that you have social platforms set up according to who you’re targeting.
Before you can even begin to collect likes and shares on your posts, you must create a strategy and strong online presence, on social platforms. That lengthy post might work on Facebook but will likely not be as well-received on Instagram.
Similar to the trading strategy of diversifying your portfolio, having a social presence on various different platforms will help you engage different clients and eventually grow your business.
Facebook Vs. Instagram
Facebook and Instagram are two vastly different platforms with unique audiences and systems you’ll need to understand. The core differences are that while Facebook is a platform dedicated to community engagement, Instagram is primarily a photo/video-sharing medium.
Before we begin let’s look at each platform and their biggest differences:
Facebook – 2.7 billion users
The grandfather of the social media era has been around 16 years and has billions of active users. It’s not an exaggeration to say that every active social media user/business has a Facebook profile. Users can share posts, links, images and videos, even Livestream events.
Facebook has become incredibly important for brands and personalities, enabling them to easily promote their message using paid ads. Active Facebook pages can become popular very quickly, enabling you to tap into a vast network of engaged community members. Facebook allows users to share content, thereby making them thought leaders within their community. You can easily share posts from other users or companies and easily grow your network this way.
One of the biggest issues with using Facebook for business is that you’ll have to act for most of the day and you’re at the whim of its algorithms. Many brands have had to either close accounts or change their business model over the years as the social media giant makes tweaks to its algorithms. Another issue is the fact that users can Like or Dislike your posts, depending on the outcome this could be terrible for your brand.
Pros: Rapidly grow your network, brand awareness, targeted ads (lead ads)
Cons: Regular tweaks to its algorithms, requires engagement to make the most the platform
Instagram – 1 billion users
Instagram is one of the fastest-growing social networking platforms and was acquired by Facebook in 2012. This highly visual platform is extremely popular with the younger generation, celebrities, and influencers. Instagram has become the go-to medium to post images and bite-sized videos.
In recent years many businesses have taken to Instagram to build brand awareness using high-quality images to attract users. Instagram is a great way to share updates on events through videos and live-streaming. If you’re savvy with taking great photos and video, you can amass thousands of subscribers.
One of the biggest issues with Instagram is its audience’s tendency to “heart” (the equivalent of Facebook likes) and not engage with posts; Unlike Facebook, users of Instagram tend to view content without bothering to click on attached links. It’s a great platform for building your presence but you’ll be hard-pressed to push users via links.
Pros: Rapidly build your brand presence, easily acquire subs, targeted ads
Cons: Highly-visual medium, low click-through rate, not as engaged as Facebook
Top tips for using Facebook:
- Generate leads and traffic via blog posts
A great way of generating leads from your content is simply to post your most popular content. Facebook allows you to use a topic and title for a blog post, enabling you to make it more intriguing for your readers.
Not only will a good post generate leads via readers clicking on the link, but you can also create engagement on the post itself through comments and shares.
- Become a thought-leader through curated content
Facebook allows you the flexibility to post content from any source. This is extremely useful if you’re unable to produce regular content yourself. By sharing popular posts and engaging with them (i.e. a link to a CM Trading blog article) you can engage hundreds of potential leads.
By regularly sharing content your audience likes, you’ll be considered a thought leader and an authoritative source.
- Use videos to promote offers
Videos are incredibly popular on Facebook and are a great way to engage with your audience. From Webinars to sharing clips from other sources, videos are a great way to create organic posts. Create videos that are not unique but have a specific CTA in mind (i.e. Register Now) and you’ll soon rise in popularity and garner more leads.
Facebook Live is Facebook’s live video platform that lets anyone broadcast live videos from their mobile device straight to their Facebook News Feed. The best part about these live videos is that they’re meant to be a little scrappier and more spontaneous than normal marketing videos – meaning you can get away with lower production values and not relying too much on a script. It’s the perfect medium to create Webinars with.
- Use analytics and ask for input on your products/services
One of the best features of Facebook is its suite of analytic tools. You no longer have to post blind but will be able to analyse your posts and your audience. With its tools, you’ll able to fine-tune your strategy and reach a more targeted audience.
Another even more invaluable tool is the ability to ask for feedback from your audience. By creating polls or simply asking your audience which content they’d like to see more of, you can create content with maximum reach. The obvious caveat here is that you’ll be opening up yourself to negative comments
- Run a contest or giveaway
You love giveaways, your audience loves giveaways… so why not ensure you reward your loyal following. Once you built up a network you can partner with other entities and create fun giveaways and even set up contests.
Audiences love the value and being rewarded, partnering with CM Trading will create amazing opportunities to drive leads via Facebook.
Top tips for using Instagram
- It’s a visual medium so use visual storytelling
Instagrammers love beautiful imagery and creative videos. Your posts need to be photogenic and/or creative to draw an audience.
Any business can benefit from marketing via Instagram with a little creativity. Each post requires thoughtful viewing before posting. It’s not a place for bland photos and generic stories.
- Partner with (and ultimately become) an influencer
When it comes to social media platforms, you have two types of users – regular viewers and influencers. The latter has a strong following and can lift your brand through increased visibility. By partnering with influencers, you’ll be able to rapidly grow your brand and become an influencer yourself. Be sure to partner with the right influencer for your brand.
- User-generated content = lots of “hearts”
The benefit of giant photo-sharing app is that it provides opportunities to be creative and sharing content. User-generated content is a great way to enhance your credibility and authority. People trust each other more than businesses and by sharing your users’ content on your platform you’ll tap into a rich source of organic likes.
- Advanced analytics at your fingertips
Instagram benefits from owner Facebook’s advanced analytics platform. This means you’ll be able to effectively target your audience. You can advertise to users by age, interests, behaviour and location. Targeted ads mean you can maximise your efforts and build a specific audience.
- Low-cost Brand Building
One of the benefits of Instagram is that although it has the same paid advertising capabilities of the bigger platform, it has many “free” options too.
With Instagram, you build up your followers organically provided your content is good. More people will share your page and this allows for a more natural relationship between your brand and your followers; a key metric to keep in mind is that 50% of Instagrammers follow brands naturally.
Hopefully, you’ll have a better understanding of the benefits of Facebook and Instagram to generate business leads.
Don’t miss the next part!
Like the article you just read? Stay tuned for more; this was part seven of an ongoing series that will provide you with a step-by-step guide on how you can build a profitable business as an Introducing Broker by leveraging the award-winning tools and services of CM Trading Partners.
Look out for our next article where we will cover the popular instant messaging app, Telegram.
CMTrading is a regulated South African online trading broker that offers a diverse range of financial products and services. It specializes in granting access to trading in various markets, including forex, commodities, indices, and cryptocurrencies. CMTrading aims to provide a user-friendly trading experience by offering both beginner-friendly features and advanced trading tools for experienced traders. With a focus on customer support and education, CMTrading provides resources such as webinars, tutorials, and personalized assistance to help traders make informed decisions.
