Social Media is changing the way we do business

Small businesses seem to struggle to fully embrace online marketing and continue to rely heavily on local print or radio ads.

Some do not understand the benefits of using social media. Some can't justify the time to learn how to use these platforms, others can’t afford the expense of hiring someone to do it, and others still flat out don't like change.

Large corporations are embracing their online platforms. They are using them to create a community, culture, brand recognition, and develop trust. 

They are investing large amounts of money every day on Facebook marketing and tracking the results. They now better understand what their clients' needs are based on data, not assumptions.

5 Tips to Improve your Social Media Strategy

Choose A Platform

Business owners tend to feel overwhelmed by the number of platforms so they try them all instead of becoming very good at one. Knowing how to run even 1 effectively is better than running 6 without a plan

Facebook is by far the biggest social media platform and is typically a game-changer for businesses. It provides in-depth demographics that make it easy to understand your clients. The results are shocking when you begin to peel back the layers of your clients.

Create Valuable Content

Make sure you are creating authentic content that is relevant to your ideal client.

Establish a clear content plan. The biggest mistake you can make is talking about your business all the time. 

What problems do your clients have that you could solve? What are their goals? Have you recently found a product that you love? Talk about business partnerships, news (in a non-political way),  and share viral content.

Work at creating a relationship where your future clients come to you for advice. 

Set aside Time for Content Creation

You don’t want to be scrambling to find good content all the time.

Set a specific time that you work to schedule your posts for one week or two weeks at a time.

Then pop in a couple of times a day to engage with those who are responding to your post. When you start showing up on a regular basis your audience will come to rely on you and look forward to it. 

Task Batching

Try to group related tasks together.

If you want to blog 3x's a week set up a time to write all 3 posts at once. Then choose additional times for editing, adding graphics and scheduling.  If you create quote graphics for your social media posts, try to do several at a time. By grouping similar tasks into smaller chunks of time you will be less stressed and more productive. 

Sprinkle your Day with Social Media

Social media is something that consumes more time than we realize, so set a time limit. When you actually set yourself a time limit, you become more intentional about your actions.

This will save you from scrambling just to put something up. As your profiles begin to grow, people will start to talk back, so schedule a couple of times a day to pop in and talk with them.

I personally use the Facebook Creator Studio to schedule my content and the Facebook Page App to respond to my followers so I don’t get sucked into my personal feed.

With these simple hacks, you can become more productive in creating and maintaining your social media strategy.