The biggest mistake I see businesses making with their social media is they rush out to throw up a Facebook page, make 3 posts and ask their friends and family to “like” their page and then make another post or two.
And then….tumbleweeds.
They either ignore Facebook saying “social media doesn’t work” or they come to me and complain their Facebook page isn’t bringing them business.
To use social media effectively for your business, you need to have a plan. Every business doesn’t have to be on Facebook.
Think It Through
Before you set up a your account, spend 45 minutes thinking out your social media marketing before you rush out to open a profile on every platform.
1—Where are your customers? If you’re primarily a B2B business like one of my clients, Linked In and Twitter are better options for you than Facebook. If you’re a bar or restaurant, Facebook is a better choice for you than Linked In.
2—Next you need to think about how you’re going to connect with your prospects/clients. What do your clients/customers want to know? (Besides price?) What are the questions they always ask? How do you answer them?
3–Who’s going to be responsible for managing and maintaining your social media presence?
Who’s going to create new content and review your strategy?
These are marketing questions. Providing value is a cornerstone of successful social media marketing.
Offer value and offer it in an interesting way.
If you’re using Twitter you need to language the tweets in such a way as they grab attention. In the past week, I’ve leveraged Twitter to send over 686 people to a client’s website with a few tweets. The week before that it was 636. Once there they could sign up for his newsletter, download his ebooks or flat out make an appointment with him.
At this rate, he’ll have more than 2000 people coming to his site this month. If 2% convert at an average sale of $1500 and it’s consistent, that could mean a significant boost in his revenue this year. Not bad for a few tweets.
Would an additional 2000 people a month coming to your website make a difference to your business?
That’s the value of social media. But it takes planning, creativity and marketing mindset.
Do you have social media successes you’d like to share? Love to hear about it in the comments below!
