A lot of businesses are aware that they should be using social media and then plunge head first into it. As with all things, it needs to be researched and understood. There are specialist services for PR, Marketing, Advertising and Sales functions. You pay for these services or take a DIY approach. What separates social media marketing from specialised activity is that everyone has access to it and use it This fast moving mechanism of sharing communication and content is a great way of getting a message to a lot of people quickly - 9100 tweets every second!
If you have something to say the questions to ask yourself is where do I say it? How do I say it? When do I say it? and a good question to ask is Why should I say it? There is a big difference between what you put on your personal Facebook page to the content you post on your Business page.
Start small and don't have huge expectations of things happening over night. As with all marketing activity, it takes time and effort. You are probably thinking that you are doing all sorts of other activities in your business and time and effort are sometimes in short supply. I totally agree, as a small business myself, I have to factor in my own social media marketing activities, as well as my clients.
Here a few things to consider as you start out on your social media journey:
Objective
Why are you using social media? Is it because you've heard that you should be using it? Is it because you are limited in other marketing activity? Are you looking to increase awareness or looking to increase sales?
There is plenty to suggest that businesses however large or small should be including social media activity as part of their marketing mix. If you are marketing your business through other activity, you will have similar objectives.
Time
Dedicate a set amount of time each day and stick with it. It is easy to push this activity to the end of your to do list and by the time your busy day has finally ended, it carries over to the next day or the next. Sound familiar? Just 15 minutes a day is a sufficient amount of time to create a habit of doing it regularly.
Start small
Don't rush to set up an account for every social media platform there is. Where are your customers? Think about how they find businesses? Is it a local magazine? Are you advertising? Are your social media links there so people can follow you and keep up to date with your services and offers? Are your social media links part of your everyday business activity? Packaging and promotional material, email signatures?
Stay on Track
It's easy to get sidetracked. If you are like me and have a busy social media feed it's easy to find yourself immersed in news, research and generally catching up on topics that are of interest to you. This is where discipline needs to be applied. I schedule pockets of time to focus on work and then after each task I have 30 mins to surf around topics that are of interest to me or my clients. If I see something while working on line, I save the link to a reading folder and come back to it in my allotted time. When I have read it I will share it or schedule it or delete it.
Quality not Quantity
It's easy to get dismayed when you see a business page with hundreds of fans and yours is barely reaching 100. Remember you want to engage with people who are interested in your products or service. Do not be put off by having a low number. If they are liking and commenting on your content and sharing it, it is much better than nothing happening at all. Something is drastically wrong if 100s of fans are not doing anything on a page. Imagine your page is a magazine, keep the content interesting and informative.
There's a fantastic book that I have read and re-read by Jeff Olson - The Slight Edge and he quotes that if you do a thing often enough whether positive or negative, it will reap a result. For example, if you eat a hamburger every day, at first you might not see results but continue eating a hamburger for 10 or 20 years you will definitely reap a result albeit a negative one.
The same applies to marketing your business. Do something every day, even if it is just one Facebook post!
If you have something to say the questions to ask yourself is where do I say it? How do I say it? When do I say it? and a good question to ask is Why should I say it? There is a big difference between what you put on your personal Facebook page to the content you post on your Business page.
Start small and don't have huge expectations of things happening over night. As with all marketing activity, it takes time and effort. You are probably thinking that you are doing all sorts of other activities in your business and time and effort are sometimes in short supply. I totally agree, as a small business myself, I have to factor in my own social media marketing activities, as well as my clients.
Here a few things to consider as you start out on your social media journey:
Objective
Why are you using social media? Is it because you've heard that you should be using it? Is it because you are limited in other marketing activity? Are you looking to increase awareness or looking to increase sales?
There is plenty to suggest that businesses however large or small should be including social media activity as part of their marketing mix. If you are marketing your business through other activity, you will have similar objectives.
Time
Dedicate a set amount of time each day and stick with it. It is easy to push this activity to the end of your to do list and by the time your busy day has finally ended, it carries over to the next day or the next. Sound familiar? Just 15 minutes a day is a sufficient amount of time to create a habit of doing it regularly.
Start small
Don't rush to set up an account for every social media platform there is. Where are your customers? Think about how they find businesses? Is it a local magazine? Are you advertising? Are your social media links there so people can follow you and keep up to date with your services and offers? Are your social media links part of your everyday business activity? Packaging and promotional material, email signatures?
Stay on Track
It's easy to get sidetracked. If you are like me and have a busy social media feed it's easy to find yourself immersed in news, research and generally catching up on topics that are of interest to you. This is where discipline needs to be applied. I schedule pockets of time to focus on work and then after each task I have 30 mins to surf around topics that are of interest to me or my clients. If I see something while working on line, I save the link to a reading folder and come back to it in my allotted time. When I have read it I will share it or schedule it or delete it.
Quality not Quantity
It's easy to get dismayed when you see a business page with hundreds of fans and yours is barely reaching 100. Remember you want to engage with people who are interested in your products or service. Do not be put off by having a low number. If they are liking and commenting on your content and sharing it, it is much better than nothing happening at all. Something is drastically wrong if 100s of fans are not doing anything on a page. Imagine your page is a magazine, keep the content interesting and informative.
There's a fantastic book that I have read and re-read by Jeff Olson - The Slight Edge and he quotes that if you do a thing often enough whether positive or negative, it will reap a result. For example, if you eat a hamburger every day, at first you might not see results but continue eating a hamburger for 10 or 20 years you will definitely reap a result albeit a negative one.
The same applies to marketing your business. Do something every day, even if it is just one Facebook post!
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