It's no secret that social media is a great way to help build brand awareness for your small business and help connect with new and current customers. Small business social media can have a great return on investment but doesn't need to be complicated or difficult to take action on. Once you get your social media profiles set up, all you need is a simple strategy of actionable items to run through and you can handle your social media marketing in less than an hour a day.
Before
you get started, make sure you identify your goals. Don't be deceived
by vanity metrics either. Having a low number of loyal followers that
share your content, lead to sales and more business means much more than
gaining a ton of followers if they aren't your target market or don't
engage with your content.
Here are six steps to setting up your social media plan and start building your online presence:
1. Monitor New Posts In Your RSS reader
Add
all of the sites that you read on a regular basis to something like
Google Reader and catch up on what's been posted around the web all in
one place. Make a folder of "strategic partners" to keep tabs on. These
are influencers in your industry that are not really competition but
share a target demographic with you. Connecting with them and building
relationships will help you get in front of your ideal audience more
quickly.
2. Buffer New Quality Content
Mention
the author of the post as opposed to just the site that it was
published on (if it isn't an individual's site). I find that you get a
much higher response rate talking to individuals as opposed to brands
that have a zillion followers.
Use a tool like SocialBro to measure your best times for posting online and import it (they do this seamlessly) to Buffer App. Then when you're browsing through your RSS reader, you can throw new content into the Buffer to be posted throughout the day.
3. Comment On Articles You Like
If
there are less than 5 comments (this way you will get in front of more
eyeballs at the bottom of the article). Don't just post "good article"
but a thought out response commending or adding your thoughts to the
article.
4. Schedule Your Own New Content To Be Posted
When
you post new content to your own site, add it to your Buffer App so
that it gets posted at a time when more of your followers are online.
5.
Monitor a pain point keyword and reply to people with a link to a
useful resource (on your site if possible, on another if not - and/or
create content quickly to reply with)
Your job
is to solve your customers problems. Think about what they complain
about and set up a Twitter search for those issues. When you see someone
you can help, shoot them a link to a useful resource. If you have your
own content, it's a great way to get them on your site. If you know of a
better place for them to get help for that specific problem, send them
there. They will thank you and keep you in mind as a trustworthy source
of information in your market.
6. Connect On LinkedIn
If
you want to really gain business, why wouldn't you be trying to connect
on the professional social network? Join groups on LinkedIn where your
customers are going to be looking for information and post new content
to those groups with brief commentary on why they should read the
article or what they will learn in it.
What Steps Are In Your Social Media Action List?
There
are an infinite number of ways to use the web to help build your
business. What are some actionable items you take on a regular basis to
market your business with social media?
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