No one knows better than the people at Yado.io just how much work goes into running a social media campaign. It can be a total pain…extremely confusing…overwhelming. There are so many different platforms out there—with more popping up almost every day—that it is easy to get lost in the flow of information. To make matters worse, if you do not know what you are doing, you can end up spending months on a campaign that does absolutely nothing for your bottom line.

That is why we decided to put together this shortlist of our favorite tips and social media tricks that anyone can use. In minutes a day, you can go from running in circles to running a campaign that will take your website to the next level.

Trending Topics=Easy Visibility

What is everyone else talking about today on social media? Normally, that information might cost you hours of scroll time. Fortunately, if there is one thing you can depend on, it is that somewhere on the internet, there is an easy answer to even life’s hardest questions. A quick Google search for ‘social mentions’ or ‘trending social media’ will open you up to a smorgasbord of websites offering both free and low-cost information on the topics trending this very moment across the various social media platforms.

Once you find the perfect site for your purposes and discover today’s topics and hashtags, all you need do is post about these topics on your accounts. Because you are staying current with what is trending, you can reach significantly more people—and potential customers.

Use APIs to Your Advantage

You know that information is important. As a matter of fact, information is so important that in many ways it has become its own currency.

API stands for Application Programming Interface. What does that even mean? In a nutshell, it means API is the type of program the big companies use to gather that information. Many large companies make a portion of that information available to the public. There is also a legion of smaller companies that offer that information as well, mostly free for the asking.

What to figure out who your real demographic targets should be? Need keyword information? Locations where your demographic population may have come together in a more concentrated area? With a quick Google search for ‘Best SEO API’ will give you all the information you need to get started with your research.

Better Calls to Action

In the old days, creating a call to action meant figuring out the right thing to say on a website or in an email. These days are now well past us. If you really want to create a standout call to action that will get your customers to move, video is the only game in town.

There is so much information bombarding every user from the time they start up their computer, that it can be difficult to stand out. This is where creativity comes in. By creating a short, 15-second video, you can stand out from the crowd, deliver your message, and get significantly more clicks through to your website or landing page.

Use video CTAs on Instagram, Snapchat, and any other social media website that allows video sharing. Make it interesting and time-sensitive, and watch as your followers spread your message far and wide.

Emoticons Show You Really Care

We all use Emoticons when we text our friends and family. However, did you realize over 90% of the online population use them in daily conversations while online?

If you want to truly connect to people, try speaking to them on their level. Include various different Emoticons when interacting online with your customers. By showing them your human side, you gain their trust and empathy—you are far more likely to come across as a new friend, and everyone prefers to buy from their friends.

Optimize Those Images!

One of the worst parts of using social media across platforms is that you always have to resize your images. The image size you use on Facebook won’t work on Instagram or Snapchat, and let’s not get started on Twitter!

Fortunately, there is an easy fix for that! Once again, the internet comes to our rescue. The Magic Resize Button from Canva allows you to resize any image—with almost 50 different image types to choose from—with nothing more than the click of a button. No more spending an hour or three—or more—fighting your computer to get the sizes you need.

Gather a Small Army

You do not always have to do all the work on your own. As it happens, there is already an army of micro-influencers on every social media platform, just waiting for you to come along and gather them up. Some of these people have a large following. Some of them are still getting established.

Any of them who have a following that matches your demographic can still help you to reach out. Because they are not yet established, these influencers are often willing to work for far less than the big fish—often for no more than a discount.

Would you rather pay a little more and get a better influencer? Places like Twitter make that easy. Using Tweetdeck, you can easily discover how many lists a given influencer has been added to by their followers. The higher the number in relation to the number of followers they have, the more influence they have on those followers.

IFTTT

Need a virtual assistant for your social media, but do not want to pay for the hours you know that would cost you? Try using IFTTT.

IFTTT, also known as If This Than That, is a fantastic social media tool that will take a lot of the drudge work off your hands. You can create an almost infinite number of conditionally-defined tasks using this simple tool. You can automate almost any task associated with your social media accounts.

Do you want to post everything you say on Facebook on your Twitter account too? No problem. Want to save the pictures you post on Instagram into Dropbox? Consider it done. Want to change your profile picture across all of your social media accounts at the same time, every time you update? Done and done.

Remember to Have Fun!

Finally, we get to the most important tip we have for running a successful social media campaign. Social media, at its very core, is all about being social with other people. If you are not having fun interacting with your followers and potential customers, they can tell.

As vapid as it may well sound, it is vitally important that you enjoy interacting with your customers. Get into it. Have fun. Learn a little about the people you want to sell yourself to and engage with them on a personal level. Remember, customer satisfaction is nothing. Customer loyalty is everything, and every customer you turn into a mouthpiece for your company will generate a higher ROI than any advertising campaign could hope to bring in.