An easy to-do list on how to successfully nail social media
Starting a business isn't an easy task. Especially when you start off as a solopreneur you need many different skills and you have to be willing to learn new skills and tools all the time. One of those skills is to learn how to use social media. In my day-to-day business and during consulting I see that many people don't understand how important this game became.
I work in marketing since many years and what many influencers already figured out, the big businesses and SMEs still don't understand. They seem not to see any value in having a social media presence or aiming to do the bare minimum. They are still sitting and wondering why cold calling doesn't work anymore.
There is nothing more to understand than that social media is like 10-20 years ago the internet website. You will not get found if you are not visible with a brand profile and not active on LinkedIn, Instagram, Tiktok, Clubhouse...
The general rule of thumb is that you have to go where the attention of the people is. I put together a list that will work for all of you on social media, not only for the big businesses but also for the young entrepreneur and working moms.
The most important thing about this is to be aware that the social media game is a marathon and not a sprint. It is a commitment to show up regularly. So first think about how much time you want to invest and how many posts and blog entries you can do per week.
1. Search for influencers and keywords in your brand footprint
a) follow the influencers and comment on their posts or blogs
b) search for hashtags and comment on the top ranking posts
2. Get creative and produce a piece of valuable content for your audience. You can either write a 1000-3000 word article per month or you can create a video around a common problem your potential customers might have or something of general interest. Then you can start reusing this content in the following ways: a) Reflect on the article/video and talk about how it affects your audience or a particular industry (3x/month) b) Tweet each blog post twice a day (check if twitter can be connected to linkedin) c) Post every article and re-blog to your facebook fan page d) Ask provocative questions on your fan page; people will respond if you’ve asked them to.
3. Comment as often as you can Being out there and giving advice, leaving a comment or a compliment will give you simply more exposure. If people find your comments useful they will go and check out your profile to see what you or your business is all about. b) Being meaningful is not as important as being present c) You will establish credibility because you show up d) People will begin to recognize your picture/brand/personality.
4. Pick another account or blog or two to complement or antagonize a) Ever wondered about the b*%ch fights between celebrities or between youtubers? Usually they fight/challenge each other in public, and sometimes they work together for a common good. But this engages the otherwise passive contributor to follow. b) This generates content for you. c) Don’t be extreme in either direction until your base of followers is fully set
5. Post as often as you can be consistent a) I recommend at least once a week for professional blogs, and every day or every other day for personal brand blogs, especially in the beginning. b) lenght doesn’t matter - the shorter the better in the beginning and use volume to create relationships with your followers c) Make certain to respond to EVERY comment made on your profile, blog or social footprint d) Sharing has already been set up so all you need to do is create compelling content
6. Repost someone elses blog post and re-populate to your networks a) make certain you mention them with their handle b) this creates social traction
7. Periodically log on to a sharing app and post to all your networks something interesting or a random realization a) try to do this three times a day b) this means that instagram, twitter, facebook and linkedin networks will be being touched three times a day through the app c) Schedule four/five updates a day so that even if you forget or get busy, the network is being touched.
8. Invite as many people as you can to your facebook fan/group page a) start a discussion about generic news to get traction b) post your latest videos or content there
c) monitor the discussions and if needed, be there to answer questions.
And here comes the daily dose of self-marketing: I can help you setting up your marketing and advertising strategy and create an action plan on how to move your company forward and generate leads for your business. Contact me here.