Social media may feel like an ever-moving target, but the latest tips and tricks can help to make it a little easier. Here's what we learned at The Caterer's Social Media Summit
"No one cares about your company," was the first of several harsh truths of social media shared by expert Will Francis at The Caterer's Social Media Summit. The reality of being a brand across the apps is hard, but that doesn't mean you can't find strategies to work your way around it.
Over the course of a morning attendees were given a crash course in the latest hacks on how to gain engagement, master the platforms and work with the algorithms, while Francis answered questions big and small from his audience.
Scroll down for the top six tips to master social media in 2024
1. Linking out isn't always good for engagement
While some companies tend to post content on social media with an accompanying URL to provide further information, Francis suggests this is not always a good idea as it reduces engagement, while some social media sites even penalise accounts that drive traffic away.
He also points out that consumers are very savvy about being sold to, so prefer communicating with brands in a more conversational way. Francis compares going too hard on linking out to going to a bar and asking someone to move in with you. It's important to build your value through other means before asking a customer to click outside of the social media site.
One method he has found that could sidestep this is to put a link in the comments instead. Otherwise, he says it's better to pay for social advertising if you're specifically after customers to click to your website.
2. The hard sell isn't the way
Francis showed some examples of hospitality brands on social media and went through their posts to see what did and didn't work. It was clear that posts that looked more like marketing content led to a dip in views and engagement. To grow your brand, you need to act like a creator, says Francis. Your audience doesn't want to see Canva templates and obvious "brand moments", but rather interesting content that adds value to their social media experience.
One way companies are getting around this is to mimic user-generated content. "We're seeing more ads that don't look like ads," says Francis. He indicates the trend of ‘ugly ads' – the things that might look a "bit more grubby or homemade" do better.
3. Use the tools at your disposal
To be able to provide a better experience for your audience, Francis suggests being more personable so they can relate to your brand.
There's user-generated content, which involves encouraging guests to share their experience of visiting your venue, or brands can also try getting employees involved – there are more than just the social media manager's fingers at your disposal – by posting on their own profiles and getting involved in spreading awareness.
4. It's not about shouting into the void
Interacting and engaging with other users should be around 20% of what you do on social media, says Francis. Commenting, liking and conversing can help to make a name for your brand within its niche. "Every successful Instagram influencer will tell you that it takes a huge volume of outward engagement to build a presence," he says.
The idea is for other accounts to get to know your profile – either as you react to their content or as others see your comments on a post. For example, a bar could comment on a cocktail recipe, describing how its own version is different. Each new interaction widens your network by increments.
5. Treat each platform differently
TikTok is fast paced, Instagram loves aesthetics, Facebook favours native content and LinkedIn wants to keep people on the platform. Francis drilled down into what makes each platform tick, with specific advice for each one, but the main takeaway is that if you're reusing the same content across your channels, you are wasting an opportunity.
Being specific about what you post will help to engage your audience on each platform. With this, you can then fine-tune and test out what works.
There is one exception – "you can take the exact same video and put it on reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts," says Francis, but the caveat to that is to not upload it to one platform, download it from there then add it to another, as that will be full of metadata that competitor apps will see and use to penalise your content.
6. How AI can help you on social media
Will Francis recommends using AI tools such as ChatGPT to help with social media strategy and even content creation. However the engine relies on being fed the right information – if you simply say "come up with a plan" it won't produce the best, most specific information.
You can get information from across the web, such as commonly Googled questions, interesting data and templates, and it will craft what you want.
"Think of it as a fairly green intern who needs a lot of help," says Francis. AI is keen to assist you and put in the legwork, but needs the right guidance.
Here are some suggestions of what you can do with AI tools
- Outlining and writing articles
- Researching competitor content
- Devising content strategy
- Writing headlines and hooks
- Rewriting and summarising text
- Image creation
