June 1, 2021 - In the trucking space, there’s a common misconception that social media doesn’t have to be a high priority in order to be successful.
Though this isn’t true, it does create a great opportunity for you. Since the space isn’t overcrowded, there’s plenty of room for you to make your own place for yourself.
You may be thinking that this is daunting and will take a lot of time, especially if social isn’t your forte or you’re starting from scratch. This is also untrue, especially with this blog to help get you started. Here are five tips for improving your current social media strategy, or help you hit the ground running if you’re just getting started.
Unify your brand imagery
One of the best things you can do on social media is make your brand easily recognizable. The best way to do this? Use up to date, coordinating images for all of your social media platforms. This doesn’t mean necessarily using one image for all of your profile pictures. What it does mean is that you should have logo images or other images relevant to your brand that all look cohesive; part of the same brand. These images should be optimized to each platform. Want to take it a step further? Make your brand imagery even more cohesive by using a similar image quality throughout your posts. This can be achieved using presets, filters, or even just having the same photographer take all or most of your images.
Pictured: drop & hook social media launch images.
For our recent drop & hook brand launch, we used imagery that reflected our primary client vertical (transportation) along with image motifs that indicate way-finding—for example, maps—as a visual shorthand for data-driven social media strategy. A quality branding and design partner can help you define visual styles, choose fonts, and more!
Once you’re up and running, consider creating a branding guide to keep your content on track. This is especially helpful when working with vendors or managing multiple team members! Try one of these tools: Frontify, Canva
Need to know the common social media image sizes? This Sprout Social resource is our favorite!
Make the most of free features
Posting on social media is more than just putting up an image with a caption. There are a number of ways to maximize your content so you’re getting the most bang for your effort. For example, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn all have story features. You can share posts directly from your feed to increase your content views. Or you can create stories from other timely content. It’s quick, user-friendly, and a great way to increase viewership.
Hashtags are another great way to increase your reach, specifically on Instagram. You can use up to 30 hashtags per post, but closer to ten or less is recommended. Find hashtags relevant to your brand by doing a hashtag search and by looking at competitors to see what tags they’re using. If you click on a hashtag you can see how many posts have used that tag. Keep in mind, a higher number can mean more exposure but also more competition. Finding niche hashtags can be key.
Additionally, most platforms have some sort of performance analytics, so be sure to check your stats periodically to see which posts are performing best and how you can improve.
Get on a schedule
Consistency is paramount when it comes to increasing followers and engagement. This doesn’t mean going from 0-60 if you’re not currently posting at all; steadily increase your posts by adding 1-2 weekly to get to a content schedule that you can maintain. We recommend 2-3 times weekly at least. Daily is even more ideal, but the perfect posting cadence is the amount that you can consistently keep up with. Also, posting in real-time is tough to manage. In order to meet your posting goals, create a calendar with planned posts in advance. There are also tools you can use to help you schedule your prepared content in advance.
“…the perfect posting cadence is the amount that you can consistently keep up with.”
Choose your words wisely
Along the same lines as our tip above about consistent brand imagery, the words you choose are just as important. This includes post captions but also bios and profiles across social media platforms. Optimize your bio/profile summary by making sure it explains not just what you do but how you do it; informing people what you do is important, but the voice of your brand should also shine through. Ultimately, your bio should be concise and make a great first impression, while also conveying your brand personality.
In terms of captions, post caption lengths with the best performance will vary by platform. For example, on Instagram 138–150 characters is typically the recommendation, though you can use up to 2,200. Longer, storytelling captions can be effective when used sparingly, but short, quippy captions tend to perform better. Bonus tip: change the font of your caption using a free keyboard app to make your post stand out in the feed.
Engagement is a two-way street
The long and short of increasing engagement? You can’t expect to increase engagement if you’re not actively engaging yourself. This means responding to comments made on your posts within 24 hours if possible. It also means consistently spending time seeking out likeminded accounts, following them, and liking/commenting on their posts. This is a great way to promote your brand in a non-promotional way. It also makes you more discoverable to people searching for your services. Furthermore, if someone tags you in a post, like, respond, and or comment. It can also be beneficial to share it to your profile or stories.
Though there are tried and true methods for increased social media success, there’s no silver bullet. The best advice we can give is to find what works for you and your brand! Define your goals, develop a posting strategy and schedule that you can stick with, and you’re sure to see improvement. Like anything, what you get out is all relative to what you put in.