Social Media Recipe For Success
We’ve all heard the wonderful benefits of marketing your business on social media. Not only does it increase brand awareness but it can also drive quality traffic to your website and help you build stronger relationships with your audience.
Sounds great, right?
Although social media marketing seems to have all the bells and whistles to grow your business, most small business don’t really know what they are getting into once they enter the world of social media.
Does this sound familiar? If so, we are here to help you out!
Step One: Pick your ingredients (or platforms):
Today, there are an abundance of social media platforms popping up almost daily. However, that does not always mean your business should jump right away into every platform possible.
As a newbie to social media, it’s best to start small and master one platform at a time before you expand your online presence. At a basic level, the four platforms you can master are:
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Google+
Step Two: Do Your Research:
Once you select the two or three platforms that you would like to try, its time to do some research. See if your target audience us currently using those platforms, pay attention to the types of content they are sharing and engaging with, etc.
Step Three: Set Up Your Profiles:
Once you feel confident that you have chosen the best social media networks for your company, it’s time to set up your profiles.
Setting up your social media profiles can be considered the prep work for optimizing your business.
Your social media networks should be given the same amount of love and effort as your your website and printed materials. Make sure to include a recognizable profile photo such as your business logo and complete your “about” sections in entirety as well as remembering to inlcude:
Phone numbers
Office locations
Website links
Links to other social networks
Hours of operation
Step Four: Share Content:
Now it’s time to start cooking and sharing content! Whether it’s a blog post, a press release, a new update to your business or a behind-the-scenes peek at a new project, it can be shared on your social media networks.
Keep these ideas in mind when participating in social media:
Provide value – this is where your audience research comes into play. You want to provide your audience with valuable content that they want to read, so make sure every piece of content you share can provide value or a solution to your audience.
Stay consistent – this will make or break your social media marketing. Social media is not something you can just set up and walk away from. Social media is still your online presence; so don’t let it go stale!
Step Five: Be Patient:
Your social media success will not happen overnight. It takes a long time to build up quality followers and real engagements. It may become discouraging when your favorite piece of content isn’t getting any reactions but don’t give up! If you stay consistent, the results will follow!
