As you wade through the waters of your online universe, kicking a few stones and jumping the waves, you may find yourself wondering what the heck are you doing and how should you do “it.” Flopping like a fish out of water is not what you imagined when you began this digital journey to help build your business and establish a piece of the market share. Oh it all sounded so easy!
Your entrepreneurial spirit got you this far so it’s not time to throw in the towel but instead grab a life vest and paddle like hell; with a plan of course.
“Beginners at social media don’t have an editorial calendar, and they don’t measure results—they simply post when they have time. You have to keep feeding the beast. Otherwise, it’s worse than doing nothing.” Beth Kanter
Social media success is developed on a solid foundation comprised of several components which help to build your credibility, following, loyalty and thought leadership. Each piece is a vital element toward growing your audience and facilitating a return on your investment. While no two accounts are alike, the features below help to shape your position in the digital environment.
Keep in mind that results come from fostering and enriching your online connections within your community via relevant content and conversations. Put down the megaphone and stop broadcasting. Social media is a two-way dialog just like any other relationship.
“Curating and sharing something meaningful, driving participation — that’s where we need to go. Once we stopped shouting and started creating targeted, meaningful communication, we saw a 400% increase in engagement.” Andrew Bowins
Branding: Creating a cohesive brand image is an important powerful starting point. Make sure your profiles, bios and logo are consistent and clearly represent you and your brand. You don’t want to confuse your audience with mixed messages.
Engagement: Don’t set it and forget it. Automate what you must, some of the routine tasks but MAKE time to personally engage with your network. People love people – meet and greet your community. Show genuine interest and respond to all comments and messages.
Content: Content marketing is still the mainstay. Your posts should be speaking to your audience, solving pain points, educating, inspiring and supporting your mission/vision (but not soapbox selling). If you are dull and boring, the same old blah, blah, people won’t stick around. Know and understand your followers and their needs. Provide value! Spice it up.
Relationship building: All business starts with a relationship marketing. I don’t care who you are or what you sell, if you aren’t nurturing your relationships, you won’t have the opportunity to build trust, credibility and authority; which all come into play for the buying decision. Authenticity wins.
Consistency: If you build it they will come. Not! Just because you have a few profiles and post sporadically does not mean you entice people to knock down your doors, hoping to establish a working partnership of some kind. Post consistently. Have a strategy that is functional, practical and feasible. Don’t start out with 4 posts one week, skip a few weeks and then publish just 2. You won’t gain a loyal audience if you are all over the calendar with your content schedule.
Frequency: Decide on how many times per day you are going to post and stick with it. You need to strike a balance between being informative and being annoying. Too many posts can be overkill. There are plenty of articles suggesting times/frequency. They can be used as helpful guidelines but it really comes down to what is transpiring on your social networks. Post. Measure. Tweak.
Relevancy: Is your content relevant to your industry, brand and buyer personas? If you are just publishing content that has nothing to do with your brand or isn’t applicable to the needs of your target market then why are you posting it? Think about the most pressing questions you’ve been asked and write a post about each one. What problems do you solve? How do you or your services makes someone’s life better? Easier?
Sharing: It really is caring. Share the content of your colleagues, industry influencers, clients; anyone who has an impact on your life or business and you deem their posts as valuable to your network. You are able to give back and “share the love” as well as distribute educational/informative content. Your own posts should take a backseat to your community.
Is there more to social media marketing than this? Hell yes! This is just the bare bones to chart your course toward greater visibility, community ties and building your online reputation.
Educate yourself: Read. Research. Test. Measure.
Remember the adage: Be social. Don’t do social. While this may seem like a gagging overused cliché, it holds merit. When working with people, whether online or off, it is always comes back to one simple premise: the human touch.
Consider your current strategy and what changes you can implement today for better results and stronger relationships. What changes are you ready to make?
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Suzie Kummins-Poirier, a.k.a @aceconcierge, is a virtual assistant working
with entrepreneurs and business people who care to focus on their core
genius by delegating the much-needed but time-consuming everyday tasks in
managing their business. With 30 years of experience as a key support for
her clients, her top priority has always been to facilitate the most
effective strategies for time management, delegation and business processes,
creating the realization that even though her clients CAN do it all, it
doesn’t mean they should. She builds a continually up-to-date tool-set that
eliminates typical routine obstacles for the entrepreneurs who contract her.
This growing tool-set is about aiding the client in growing their business
and removing the straps that bind them to everyday tasks/projects and
tugging them away from emphasis on their daily business operations.
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