Starting a Facebook page and making a post does not mean you’re doing social media. Effective use of social media for business has a marketing component to it.
That means a social media marketing plan.
Yes, the purists can shudder at the idea of social media and marketing but the truth of the matter is, it must contribute to your bottom line if you’re a business.
Here’s where to start:
1) Who are your customers? Where do they spend their time online? I always recommend to my small business clients, start with one platform and add on. The digital world doesn’t need another abandoned Facebook Page.
If you sell heavy machinery, Facebook is probably not the first place to go. However, Linked In would be a terrific place.
Think about what you offer and where your customers spend time.
2) Next, set goals. Ultimately, it social media needs to drive your bottom line but it’s not a magic pill. It’s unrealistic to expect to see results in the first weeks or even months.
Like anything else you’ll need to work it.
Examples of goals are numbers of “likes”, amount of engagement and later, (ultimately!) traffic to your website that results in sales.
3) Next, think about who will handle creating the content. Social media for business isn’t about making plans for the weekend with friends or posting puppy pictures – not usually anyway.
Nor is it about old-fashioned advertising as in – “Step up right and get your cure everything oil right here. Only $5 if you buy today and as a bonus…” that will get you ignored which is definitely NOT your goal.
4) Think about the content. Not just who will post it but what will it say? What will you share? Businesses who use social media successfully are businesses who create at least some posts in advance, they think about their audience and what questions customers have, they answer some of those questions either through their own posts or by sharing a helpful article.
Set up Google Alerts to get possible “shared” content delivered right to your inbox everyday. This makes it easy.
To recap, effective social media marketing takes planning. Just like any kind of marketing.
If you’d like some help getting started or taking your social media marketing to the next step, I have a limited number of consultations available in the coming weeks.
We’ll get on the phone together, you’ll answer a few questions, I’ll share some tips and you’re guaranteed to walk away with some key ideas for how to implement your social media marketing plan.
Ready to get started? Email me or call 267-265-7291 and we’ll schedule your appointment.
