I remember discovering Twitter for the first time; I got hooked. I carried my laptop everywhere and was constantly looking for new tweets. There were some early influencers who used the channel strategically to promote their brands, but most of us were just getting in on the act. Wow, have you ever changed! I quickly learned that I needed to set deadlines for myself, even set a timer, to manage how much time I spent on each channel. Otherwise, 10 minutes turned into an hour, and nothing was done!
As social media became more popular and the number of users across channels continued to increase, marketers quickly looked for ways to leverage it to increase brand engagement. Social media has gone from being a hobby to a full-time job.
The big misconception is that small businesses have an “easy” way to expand their reach and increase the size of their pool of prospects, simply by engaging and interacting.
But it is not easy, it is strategic.
Unless they have a dedicated team member managing their social media, small business owners go through cycles of engagement. They read a blog, or take a class, highlighting the benefits of social media for business, jump back in, excited about a new direction, and quickly realize how much work it takes to keep the momentum going. Excitement wanes, engagement drops, and it’s back to the status quo. If there’s one thing we’ve learned about social media, it’s that consistent content-rich engagement brings the most success.
At the risk of sounding overly simplistic, it all boils down to an understanding of:
Whose – Who is your target market?
Than – What should you be posting?
Where – Which social media channels you should post to.
When – When your target market is online, including when your posts are most likely to be seen. This means you can post less, but at more specific times, when your messages are more likely to be seen.
How – video, text, photos – a mix of all three. Are your posts scheduled or spontaneous, or both?
From here you can develop an easy-to-follow formula that works with the time you have available. Your message will be well received both in format and in time and frequency; maximizing the effectiveness of your messaging with the time you have available to manage it. Link this strategy to a lead magnet for capturing email addresses, and you’re not only building a social media following, but your email list as well.
Are you curious to know more? Head over to our website and check out our Social Media Jumpstart package. It’s a quick and easy, no-compromise way to get back on track for social media success.