Looking to amplify your social media results without eating up your marketing budget? We’ve compiled a list of our top low-budget social media tips, so you can boost visibility and engagement without spending a penny.
1. Feature Guest Contributors on Social Media
One of the best ways to grow your social following is to leverage the following of another thought leader or brand. New perspectives on your social channel help improve the transmission of ideas, affirm the depth of your connections, and engage new audiences.
If you’re already leveraging this tactic with guest blogging, consider sharing a quote of the article, tagging the contributor, and encouraging them to repost to their channel.
If your brand has an active podcast, consider interviewing a top leader in your industry. Then share the link to the podcast or the video clip, if applicable, on social media. Audiences trust brands that display various perspectives, promote dialogue, and share knowledge freely.
2. Leverage Live Streaming
If you’re looking to support brand authenticity while driving engagement, create a livestream. Both LinkedIn and Instagram offer this feature. Depending on your target audience, you may want to leverage one platform over the other. If you’re unsure, try testing it on both platforms and see which one provides the best viewership.
3. User-Generated Content
If you’re struggling with content creation or you’re simply looking to build excitement around your brand, try user-generated content (UGC). This refers to content sourced from your audience or customers. UGC could be anything from images, quotes, to reviews—or even responses from a fun prompt.
- Create a prompt: You can center your prompt on a product launch, industry trend, or even a holiday. Remember, not all content has to be serious for it to be high quality.
- Create an incentive: If your prompt is compelling, your audience should want to take part. But we all need a small incentive to stop scrolling through our feed. By offering discounts, merchandise, or social promotion, you may capture more responses. Let your audience know how the responses are rated and what to expect if they’re chosen.
- Share and tag content: The goal of UGC is to heighten engagement, excitement, and, of course, to share the content. Make sure you tag the winner and inform your audience of any future UGC campaigns.
4. Newsjacking for Social
There is almost no greater tool for expediting your visibility and gaining trust than newsjacking. This entails taking a trending event and turning it into timely content for your audience. To accomplish this, you need to be among the first to speak on issues in the news or in your industry and offer a unique perspective.
Tag news media in your timely posts and you may be able to secure PR coverage by becoming a source. This can amplify the benefit of newsjacking and support your follower growth.
Once your PR coverage is achieved, share it on your channel!
5. Offer and Promote Live Events
Live events such as workshops, webinars, or conferences make great content for your social channels. Promoting your events on social media can help drive engagement, shares, and comments.
Further, the events themselves are rife with opportunity for creating top-tier content, including:
- Pictures
- Testimonials
- Video feedback
All of this should be repurposed on your website and social channels. This type of content can provide the social proof your prospects need to take the next step with your business or personal brand.
6. Ask Questions To Engage With Your Audience
Another method for bolstering your engagement is question-centered content. One of the best ways to acknowledge your audience is by valuing their questions and feedback.
Your questions can center on:
- Their thoughts on industry trends
- Their pain points
- Questions regarding your brand
- Their hobbies and interests
Diversity your prompts between questions that don’t require an answer from you and those that do. Q/A content is directed toward you, your company, or your thoughts on your industry.
Question-styled content is geared toward getting to know your audience. These do not require an “answer” though active responding is recommended.
7. Experiment with Posting Times
If you’re consistently posting quality content with limited results, experiment with posting times. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to the best times to post your content. Sure, there are best practices that social media marketers follow. However, your audience may be unique.
Try testing on various days of the week and various times. Document the results so you can narrow in on the ideal posting times for your company.
Social Media Marketing Q/A:
View some common questions regarding social media marketing and best practices.
Should I Use Paid Advertising?
Even if you’re looking for low-budget solutions, paid advertising may still appeal to you. Whether you should incorporate paid advertising into your strategy depends. The simple rule is that quality trumps volume.
Paid advertising is a tool to enhance the value of your posts, not compensate for it. If you’ve addressed quality, tone, visual interest, audience demographics, frequency, and still desire results, it may be time.
Just because it’s paid, it doesn’t follow that it has to be expensive. We suggest working with a social specialist who understands targeting to help you devise the ideal paid strategy.
Should My Social Strategy Include Influencer Marketing?
Influencers with impressive visibility come with a hefty cost, so we chose to leave it off the list. There are micro-influencers who may be willing to work with you for a smaller cost—or in return for your product or service.
We suggest starting your search within your existing network to maintain an authentic connection with the audience. As influencer marketing expands, so does audience skepticism. Well executed collaborations, however, can instill greater trust and protect your bottom line.