If you are as busy as most of the business owners I know, you’re probably finding it difficult to keep up with posting on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, a blog, and whatever other social media sites you’ve been told you “need” to be on.
First of all, consider your target audience, and whether they are on those sites in the first place. Typically, a B2B (business-to-business) company will do well by making connections on LinkedIn, whereas a B2C (business-to-consumer) businesses should probably have a Facebook business page. Again, depending on who their target market is within the consumer market. If your target market is women, give Pinterest a try.
Blogging is always a good idea. Why? Because it adds fresh content to your website, and the search engines (particularly Google) love that! If you’re always updating your website with new information, Google sees those topics that you write about as important. If someone’s keyword search matches your topic, they are more likely to show your results toward the top.
Of course, this is assuming that your blog is ON your website, not somewhere else like WordPress.com or blogger.com. (If it is, please call me.)
I manage social media campaigns for a few of my clients. I’ve found that the key to keeping up is to have a calendar of topics. Decide on the dates that you want to post and then the topics, for a three month period. That way, when you know it’s time to post, you don’t have to sit there racking your brain for ideas.
Topics can revolve around events, holidays, seasons, current news, or current discounts and sales going on in your business. By organizing your social media posts in this way, you can make your social media an intergral part of your overall marketing plan.
The goal of social media is to engage your audience, so consider posting polls and surveys, or just asking for people’s opinions of something. Once you find the topics that get the most feedback, likes and shares, focus more on those topics.
Don’t just use social media to advertise. The majority of your posts should be topics that interest your target audience, even if they’re not directly related to your business. Remember, you’re building relationships. I recommend staying away from politics and religion.
The bottom line is, think about your social media business pages as part of your marketing plan, and treat them as such. This will also help you focus on why you are spending time posting, and not looking at it as a waste of time.
I’d love to hear how you are using social media to promote your business – successes and challenges.