Yeah I said it. If you’re social media-ing for business, it’s time to face reality. Your weak posts about random awesome things you do are falling on deaf ears (I don’t care how many friends “like” it.)
Posting for the sake of posting because someone told you you should be on Facebook is not effective, and posts that say “check this out” have low-to-no ROI, even if your investment is just your time.
Do you think social media is for selling? Those kinds of posts are not going to sell anything. Better to not do it at all.
If any of the above resonates, you can stop wasting your time on social media.
If you want to do it effectively, on the other hand, then you need a plan with purpose. Social media can be a vital part of your marketing efforts, if you do it right. And the point is not about direct sales, but to prove build your brand's personality and develop relationships with future clients.
6 Questions you must answer to do social media right:
1. Who is your audience?
Who are they, what do they care about, and what else do they like that you can tap into? What tone and voice would resonate best with them?
2. Where is your audience?
Different demographics use different platforms for different reasons. Are you on the right platforms for your target market? Are you using that platform as it is meant to be used?
3. What valuable info do you have that your audience wants?
I know it's your company's social media page, but it's really not about you. Do you like and follow a brand because you want to hear about their latest project or award? No, you follow them because they have articles that are of interest to you, snappy headlines, discounts to followers, etc... all of that is valuable to you, and means that you want it coming up in your feed.
If you want your social presence to truly engage people and turn them into loyal followers, think about what would make you like your page, and create and share that content. Information is the most valuable commodity of our time, and you probably have a lot of it that's worth sharing. Your people will thank you for it by following, liking, reading, and sharing!
4. Do you have a different strategy for each platform?
If someone follows you on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter, are they getting bombarded by the same content from you 4x every time you post?
If you develop a strategy, you should have different kinds of content for each platform. This gives people a reason to follow you on all of them. It also makes your content more engaging and not redundant.
Each platform is also viewed and used differently by customers. For example, it's not very effective to put a photo on Instagram that has a lot of text on it, and a link to an article on Facebook without a great headline will likely result in no clicks.
5. Do you know how to measure your successes (and failures)?
It’s not just about likes and followers, but the quality of those likes and followers. Do you know how to measure that quality? It does you no good if 1,000 people like your page and none of them are likely to buy your goods!
6. Do you have a plan on your calendar?
Consistency is key, so don’t limp in with random posts here and there. Commit or spend your time doing something more valuable.
IMPLEMENT THESE SIX SIMPLE (BUT NOT EASY!) STRATEGIES AND YOU'LL BE AHEAD OF 95% OF SOCIAL MEDIA USERS!