Whether you love social media or hate it, you’re going to have to learn to not only live with it, but to effectively utilize it for your business.
Those of you who hate it probably have not had any success with it and, I’m going to go out on a limb here, have probably not approached it as a marketing tool. I would be quite wealthy right now if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard, “My (niece/daughter/insert relative here) is “on” social media – I’m going to let them handle it.” If they’ve taken marketing courses and have researched your business, put together a social media plan and are going to be diligent in posting, connecting and reviewing analytics, that should work for you. But if that’s not what’s going to happen, you need to find someone who will do that, or you’re just wasting your money, precious time promoting your business and – worst of all – possibly doing damage to your online reputation.
Working Social Media
Depending upon your business, you may be the best person to be on social media for your business. If you have the time, your business must be running itself pretty much, and may I offer a huge “Congratulations!” to you. But if you’re like most business owners, you really don’t have time to do one more thing. Or maybe you have a little time, but not really enough to utilize social media to its full potential.
Best way? Hire someone who knows what they’re doing to come up with an appropriate plan, will manage it for you, but have you integrate into it as much as you’re able.
Time Management
I recommend coming up with a plan for the best time of the day for you to work on your social media and then stick to it. Maybe it’s before you start your day, mid-day – whatever works for you. Stick to your plan; don’t allow it to become a time suck! Plan out what you’re going to say, find the perfect picture to go with it, and make sure you respond to any comments on your posts! You can use a tool like HootSuite to make your life easier by pre-scheduling posts and tweets, but that is not enough. You need to interact with people – it’s all about the community in social media. And remember: manners and social media etiquette is VERY important. There IS such a thing as bad publicity in social media.
Find Your Audience
Who is your target audience? Take the time to do some analytics and find and cater to them. Never underestimate the power of Google Analytics and finding the keywords that matter for your business.
Engage Your Audience
Why should people follow you? Tell them your story. Give them something interesting to read! Think about what you want them to learn about you. Ask them questions; get them to engage – and make sure you respond to all questions and comments! Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get immediate responses to your questions. In this world of instant gratification, it takes time to establish an on-line presence. I heard this comment recently, and I couldn’t agree more: Marketing is not an ATM. And that is true whether it’s conventional marketing or social media marketing.
Offers, Giveaways, Events
Like it or not, statistics show that people want stuff for free. So figure out what it is that you can easily give your customers and clients – it could be an eBook on tips having to do with your business, or a coupon for a free [widget] or a percentage off on an item or service. Plan an event and promote it with social media; set up an EventBrite or some such other event tool and talk it up on your sites.
Be Consistent with Good Content
And here we are back to the beginning – post regularly. If you are not able to, don’t just disappear – get help! Know what you’re doing and where you’re headed with your posts. Set clear objectives for your efforts and always have an end goal. The talent comes in when you are able to weave “social” into marketing without sounding self-promotional, because the one thing that I can guarantee is that will not work.
Pictures!
In 1921, the phrase “One look is worth a thousand words” was written in an article published by Frank R. Barnard in Printer’s Ink, commending the effectiveness of graphics in advertising. Although we’ve come a long way from 1921, this phrase is never more true. Posting pictures to go along with your written posts will grab people’s attention, and since you’ve got approximately 2.5 seconds to catch someone’s eye, choose well!
And proving that theory, in comes Pinterest! If you haven’t checked out the site yet, you are missing out. Pinterest is fun and a feast for the eye – an absolute win-win for business owners! Post pictures and link them back to your website or blog. Again – do not be self-promotional by going on and on about your product – let the picture do the talking! And have a good website to bring them back to.
With proper planning and execution, you can join more than a billion people who are utilizing social media to get their word out and in front of the people they want to!
Nickey Hollenbach Personal Touch Concierge Service, LLC info@ptconciergeservice.com http://www.ptconciergeservice.com
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