Being present on social media these days is important for businesses because it offers an opportunity to grow both as a venture and as a brand. Not only is it free, but it’s also filled with people who entrepreneurs can reach out to for target marketing, based on their interests.

Still, a lot of entrepreneurs find themselves grasping at straws when it comes to making social media work for their business. While it looks easy to be present on multiple social media platforms, managing them in order to deliver results and capture markets is a lot more complex.

In light of this, Globe myBusiness Academy and Manila Workshops invited Freelance Blend founder Marv de Leon to a seminar, where he spent time speaking with business owners on how they can use social media to their advantage.

During his talk, Marv shared his expertise by answering FAQs about using social media for business. Here are some takeaways from the expert session:

• Do I really need to be on social media?
  It would depend on whether your audience hangs out on social media or not. It can be as easy as using the search bar - for example on Facebook - to see if the kind of people you want to target are there. Knowing that about 2.7 billion people worldwide, including 60 million Filipinos, are now on social media, it’s likely that they are there.
  
  

• Which platforms are best for my business?
  It depends on who you are targeting. If you’re looking for millennials, you can try Instagram. But, if your market consists of older professionals, they’ll more likely be found on LinkedIn. It goes back to knowing your customers and knowing where they are.
  
  

• How often should you post on social media?
  There’s no exact rule for this. It depends on the platform. On Facebook, ideally at least once a day is good. However, on Instagram or LinkedIn, once every day is probably too much. Definitely don’t post anywhere four or five times a day, because quantity isn’t what matters. Rather, focus on quality, meaning your posts should be engaging and should resonate well with your audience.
  
  

• How will I know what to post?
  If you know what’s in your audience’s minds and you’re able to create posts they will react to, you’re doing it right. On top of that, you have to mix up your posts. Posting light pieces of content that make people laugh, cry, or react is good. You need to know what makes them tick, and remember that people don’t usually want to feel like they’re being sold to. Once you’ve published soft-sell content, from time to time, you can do posts with a sales pitch or any call to action.
  
  

• How do you know if your social media campaigns are working?
  There are tools corresponding to different social media platforms that you can use to see how well you are doing. There, you can see how many people liked your posts, the time they spent on social media or how long they stayed on your page. You can see these numbers real-time, so if you see them dropping, you can easily adjust.
  
  

• Engagements vs. Reach
  Reach is basically how many people have seen your post. On the other hand, engagements are the total likes, reactions, comments, and shares that your post got.
  
  

• Organic Posts vs. Paid Posts
  Organic posts grow naturally. They’re the posts that you don’t pay for. Meanwhile, paid posts, as the term suggests, are posts that you pay for so that more people interested in your industry may see it.
  
  

• Sponsored Posts vs. Boost Post
  Sponsored posts are paid ads on Facebook. Sponsored posts will come out like regular posts in one’s News Feeds, except that they’re labelled “Sponsored” for transparency -- for people to know that such posts were paid for to appear in their feeds. Boost Post, on the other hand, is one of the quickest ways to make a sponsored post. In a Facebook Page, you can see that your posts have that button with the words “Boost Post”. You can click that, choose your audience, set your budget, and post an ad.
  
  

• How much should you spend for social media?
  This depends on your budget. You can hire a freelancer if you do not have the time to manage your own page. That can cost you about P3,000 (USD 56) to P10,000 (USD 189) a month. You can also use that money for social media ads. In social media, you can have the lowest budget and still reach people.
  
  If you don’t have the budget for social media, you should educate yourself in using free platforms like Youtube for videos and blogs and GlobalLinker for business networking. Build your skills, because there are free tips online on how to improve your social media posts’ organic reach.
  
  

• What are the criteria in hiring a social media manager?
  In terms of skill set, they need to have prior experience using Facebook, Instagram, or other social media platforms, be it for their own pages or their clients’.
  
  First, search for their pages to see if they are doing things properly on their own accounts. Second, ask them to give examples of their work from previous clients. There’s really no particular criteria. It’s about seeing the results or engagements from their work.
  
  

• What was one thing you wish someone told you about social media in the past?
  Social media is just a tool, similar to traditional media. To make it work requires your own strategy and content. Given that you can see the results of your social media efforts in real time, you can hone your skills and experiment every time to get the best results. You should know the basics at heart to maximize social media.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views, official policy or position of GlobalLinker.