15 Essential Social Media Marketing Tips From Beginner to Advanced

One of the most humbling experiences as a marketer is putting out that tweet you just knew would be a home run for your audience.

We’d like to think of ourselves as being able to come up with A+ social media content every day, but the reality is that we're all human. Sometimes, we hit a wall with planning content that aligns with our company and goals.

If you're just starting out in social media marketing or are looking for a few tips to get inspiration, we've compiled some helpful knowledge to beef up your accounts — no matter your skill level.

1. Sync posts across all social media accounts.

If you're just starting out, it's a good idea to invest in a social media management service like HubSpot's Social Inbox. This tool can help you schedule posts, monitor mentions, track your social analytics, and keep an eye on all your accounts. Similar tools include Later and TweetDeck.

These apps will also let you sync posts across various accounts. Keeping content synced will ensure you post across all of your platforms and introduce followers with multiple accounts to your brand.

2. Republish and update older posts.

If you have a backlog of content that's outdated, update and republish it with fresh ideas for SEO. This tactic has the potential to draw in new readers and take less time than continuously pumping out new ideas.

This can be blog posts, landing pages, and offers that you have on your website. Your social media strategy exists to put your best foot forward by building engagement, and you don't have to start from ground zero.

In fact, this exact post is an update from 2017, originally posted in 2013. We regularly update posts to ensure our readers are getting fresh content on our blog, social channels, and emails.

3. Schedule posts for evenings.

Don’t be afraid of weekends either. Scheduling content launches for evenings opens up a door for engagement that isn't cut off by time zone. That way, even if it's 3 AM in your geographic location, your tweet about your new app update reaches audiences around the world.

HubSpot Life is a behind-the-scenes look at HubSpot's culture, posting content from global offices on social media. During what's considered "off" hours in the US, HubSpot Life features posts during work hours in other countries, like Paris, Bogota, or Dublin.

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This ensures that global audiences are able to get fresh content during their work days, as well.

When scheduling posts for evenings, avoid content that requires engagement from your team. For instance, an Instagram photo that invites followers to "Comment below!" about something might not be the best idea to post at midnight, when you're not able to engage.

4. Include hashtags to increase engagement

Hashtags are like a golden ticket to increasing your online reach. Common tags like #SocialMedia and #MarketingGoals are great, but try searching for less-used ones like those of bigger brands (such as Adobe's #CreateYourStory), or community-based (#BrightonMA). Those are going to be the ones an active audience is checking out.

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As well as using existing hashtags, try your hand at creating your own branded hashtags, like Buffer did in the example above (#BufferLove). This allows you to track what your followers and customers are saying about your media presence and product.

5. Use visuals whenever possible.

If you're getting your feet wet with the social media game, it's okay not to invest a fortune into visual content. However, it's always a good idea to include pictures, videos, or graphics in posts whenever you can.

There are a number of free services, like Canva, to help you edit and create content. GIFs are a great way to engage with a younger audience. And never forget the smartphone most likely in your pocket they produce beautiful pictures you can definitely use on socials.

If you've tried your hand at social media before and feel comfortable branching out, these intermediate tips are for you. They're aimed at easing the process of creating uniform content across your channels while increasing clicks.

1. Post multiple times a day.

You don't need to post every hour, but one to three times a day keeps your brand fresh in your audience's mind. Reposting user-generated content also counts, so don’t stress about coming up with dozens of new content ideas.

Download this free guide to learn how to leverage user-generated content to improve your conversion rates.

If you’re looking for ways to brush up your content marketing, how about incorporating an infographic or eBook into that Facebook post? For more tips like those, check out our list here.

2. Incorporate your brand into your social strategy.

Your brand should speak for you. Once you've established your brand, think of ways to blend it into your social media marketing. This can mean adding your logo to posts, including a company hashtag, or highlighting your employees.

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Check out this branding from social media management company, Metter Media. From a quick scroll through their Instagram homepage, you can quickly spot company colors, get a look into their team, and gain an idea of who they represent.

3. Engage audiences with interactive content.

From Twitter polls to Instagram Q&As, there are many ways to engage your audience and make your company’s content diverse. You can use interactive content to educate your audience about your products or to connect with your audience.

Think of ways your audience engages with competitors and how you can add your company into the mix. You can even ask your audience what type of content they prefer to see on an Instagram story, like this example below:

The story of this food blogger begins to recap previous recipes with links to corresponding blog posts. To put this in a B2B perspective, say you wanted to boost clicks on previous blog content. You could poll followers, "Which type of post goes best with your coffee?" and link to two options in the next parts of your story.

4. Invest in more visual content.

As you get into the swing of posting on social media, invest more time into visual content. On average, retweets with pictures gain more clicks and views than text-only posts.

Visual content isn't just restricted to Instagram. Post infographics about your industry on LinkedIn, tweet a funny meme relating to your office culture, or post a video on Facebook taking viewers on a high-speed tour of your office.

Next up are some advanced tips. These ideas are for social media pros in need of a new direction or options to brighten their feeds.

1. Use new app updates to your advantage.

Have you tried TikTok or IGTV yet? If not, we suggest expanding your strategy to include these channels. After all, you don’t want to miss out on your content having the potential to meet one billion phones.

New apps and app updates add to the ability to diversify your brand and keep things fresh. If you're looking to show your company's humorous side, try uploading a little dance video on TikTok. If you want to bring that podcast of yours to visual audiences, upload it to IGTV.

2. Invest in influencers to promote your product or service.

It's official: young audiences listen to their idols. Four in 10 millennials trust the products their favorite influencers promote on their social channels, so investing in influencers might be an avenue to look into when trying to generate sales.

Download our free ultimate guide to getting started with influencer marketing.

If you have an audience that's younger, research influencers in your industry and pitch potential partnerships. Or, for a more budget-friendly option, look at how influencers are branding their content — you may be able to incorporate some ideas into your strategy.

3. Diversify content on every social media platform.

You can update and sync content on your accounts like a pro. Now it's time to make that content unique. Save your high-definition videos for Facebook and meme posts for Twitter.

When diversifying content, make sure they all relate back to your company's goals and mission. There's no need to post a recipe for falafel on your marketing company's Instagram, but an infographic displaying the 'recipe' for a perfect caption would be a compelling, spot on example.

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On October 24th, LinkedIn highlighted a blog post on Facebook. On the same day, LinkedIn promoted a Twitter thread aimed at aspiring filmmakers. Threads are a Twitter-specific tool aimed at sectioning off long thoughts, while the Facebook post gives LinkedIn more clicks from their Facebook followers.

4. Start promotions to build audience growth.

Have you run a contest on your Twitter account yet? Totino's does them well.

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Don't worry, promotions don't have to be this fancy. Running a promotion can be simple as giving 10% off of your product or service to a lucky winner who retweets. This expands your reach and sparks lead generation among your customers' followers.

5. Create timely content that resonates with audiences.

As a huge believer in taking advantage in the meme of the moment, creating timely content adds some fun to your channels and can explain the uses of your product in a new way. Memes aren't the only way to accomplish this, seasons are, as well.

Is it wintertime in your part of the world? Celebrate by snapping a pic of your company's favorite snowy activity and share it to Facebook. Alternatively, #NationalSandwichDay is November 3rd. Popeye's used this holiday to announce the comeback of a recent fan favorite.

Is it too early to call this genius type of marketing “legendary?”

Keeping content fresh can be difficult, even if you're a social media pro. The pressure is on nowadays when it seems like the trends are changing every second, and diving in can seem like jumping down a rabbit hole.

These tips will keep you current on ways to organize your page, upgrade your content, and grow your target audience, but don't stop here. Check out our ultimate guide on social media marketing for more inspiration.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.