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5 Easy Social Media Best Practices for MSPs

Business Development

I’m sure you know how important it is for your MSP to have an active presence on social media.

After all, with 97 percent of people of online adults using social media at least once per month, it’s an easy way to talk directly to your target audience.

But I’ll admit – figuring out exactly what you should be doing on different social channels isn’t easy.

Luckily for you, I’m sharing 5 quick and easy social media best practices to get your MSP up and running on the most important social channels.

Ready to get started? Then let’s dive in.

#1. Build a Company Page on LinkedIn in Less Than 10 Minutes

With 500 million members and counting, there’s no doubt that LinkedIn is the best professional network to connect with your target customers.

And if you haven’t set up your company page yet, that’s a critical first step for getting your MSP live on the right social channels.

Why?

Lisa McDermott summarizes it perfectly on the Stratus Interactive blog:

“Your LinkedIn company page represents your brand. It’s your official social media location to present who you are and what you do, and showcase your products and services. It provides opportunity for the branding trifecta: text, imagery, and video – everything that’s needed to convey your company’s voice and culture.”

In other words, your company page becomes a central hub for your business on LinkedIn and is a great way to build a following by sharing your MSP’s story.

And the great part is that it takes less than ten minutes to put together the basics.

Here’s how:

From the LinkedIn homepage, click “Work” in the top-right corner and then select “Create a Company Page.

 

Enter your company name in the designated field, check the box that your the official representative and…that’s it!

 

Pretty simple, right?

The truth is, those two steps shouldn’t take you more than a minute or two. The reason I say creating your company page will take about ten total minutes is because you’ll need to add some text and photos (like your logo) to fill things out once the page goes live.

When it’s all done, it will look something like this:

 

#2. Follow Industry Influencers (and their Followers) on Twitter

Of course, LinkedIn isn’t the only channel where your customers have an active presence:

Businesses have been using Twitter to get their message out in brief, little 140-character blurbs since the platform first launched in 2006.

But how does a business actually get started using Twitter?

Well, aside from obviously creating an account, the very next thing you’ll do is start following other Twitter users.

And while you may feel compelled to follow the latest musings of Steve Martin or Weird Al, the real value for your MSP comes in following industry influencers.

For example, let’s say you start following CEO of IT Authorities, Jason Caras.

 

Not only can you benefit from retweeting content he shares, but you can also quickly gain access to an entire list of potential leads for your business by looking at his followers, too.

Here’s what that looks like:

 

By following Jason and his audience, you accomplish two things:

  • First, you get a pulse on what’s important to your target audience.
  • And second, you build awareness of your presence on Twitter.

How?

People get notified when you start following them.

And as a professional courtesy, they may start following you back. That means you’re building your social audience based on people who have already showed interest in your industry.

#3. Start Sharing Other People’s Content on Facebook and LinkedIn

Of course, it wouldn’t be a post about social media without mentioning the king of them all, Facebook.

After all, the company just hit 2 billion monthly active users in June 2017.

 

Pretty insane, right?

And while there’s plenty of content out there on how best to grow your audience on Facebook, here’s one simple way to get started:

Share someone else’s content rather than worrying about creating your own.

As Shawn Kemp at Social Media Today puts it:

“The Facebook News Feed does not slow down. There’s a lot going on, making it easy to miss something important. Imagine how your supporters would react if you could find the best content related to your mission on Facebook, and consistently deliver it to them, helping them not miss out on important news, events or memes…Doing so will help transform your Facebook page into a source of solid and relevant information, which will boost engagement and reach. It enhances trust with your audience and your credibility, turning you into an expert in your nonprofit niche.”

Here’s an example from Hivelocity:

 

Notice how they share an article that’s relevant to their audience, with a few quotes extracted to get the conversation started.

It’s an easy way for you to get started distributing content on the largest social channel.

#4. Search Keywords and Hashtags on Twitter to Engage With Your Customers

I’m sure you’ll agree that the biggest reason to be more active on social media is to interact with your customers and leads.

But it can be hard to find the right conversations for you to jump in, right?

Luckily, Twitter gives you the option to search for specific keywords or hashtags to find comments that are relevant to you.

For example, a quick search for the term “IT issues” brings up tweets like this one:

 

Now, your company might reply to this tweet with something like:

“Anything we can do to help?”

Or even:

“Direct message us the issue and we’re happy to help you troubleshoot.”

That way, you’re engaging directly with a potential customer who has an immediate need. And while you helping them might be pro-bono today, you’re building a pipeline of leads for the future.

#5. Like and Comment on Important Industry Discussions on All Channels

Here’s a common social media mistake many brands make:

Don’t forget about the “social” in social media.

Some brands focus only on sharing content and not actually engaging in the conversation with other companies and users of social media.

And ultimately, your best exposure to new customers will be through engagement on content shared by other brands or individuals.

So whether it be Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, make sure you allocate time to actively engage in the social component in order to build brand awareness.

And When You’re Ready for The Next Steps…

Once you feel comfortable with these social media best practices, it’s time to move on to creating your own content to share.

Check out Hubspot’s “Ultimate Guide to Publishing on LinkedIn” as a great resource for developing content to publish.

But in the meantime, these five social media best practices will get you started on the right channels to engage your target audience.

Good luck!