What A Difference Social Networking Makes!

Are you missing out on the benefits of having a social media presence?   Where do you rank among your competition?  It’s possible that you are losing customers because you are not connecting with your audience.  Do you realize that your company is being ranked, talked about and its services critiqued?   If you’re not speaking directly to your audience through social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, you’re missing out!  Great marketing on social media can bring amazing success to your business and create devoted supporters while driving leads and sales.

Determine what you’re trying to promote:  Think outside of the box.  Social media marketing includes activities like posting text and image updates, videos, and other content that drives audience engagement.   Consider your business’s goals. Here are some questions to ask when defining your social media marketing goals:

• What are you hoping to achieve through social media marketing?
• Who is your target audience?
• Where would your target audience hang out and how would they use social media?
• What message do you want to send to your audience with social media marketing?

Your social media marketing approach should be based upon the type of business you operate.

Use Social Media platforms:  It’s easier than you think.   Facebooks, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube are great tools to connect with your customers and attract a new audience.  If using Facebook, you can either create a business page or ‘create a page’ through your personal account, if your business allows you to do so. Depending on the type of business, one account may be able to serve two purposes: business and personal.  Social media marketing can help with a number of goals, such as:

• Increasing website traffic
• Building conversions
• Raising brand awareness
• Creating a brand identity and positive brand association
• Improving communication and interaction with key audiences

The bigger and more engaged your audience is on social media networks, the easier it will be for you to achieve every other marketing goal on your list!

• Select a Social Media Manager:  Overseeing multiple social networking platforms can be overwhelming. This is why it’s best to use a social media manager such as HootSuite.   The media manager allows you to arrange, manage and schedule post from all of your accounts on one site.   Hootsuite is free!
• Great Social Content: Consider keyword research and competitive research to help suggest content ideas that will interest your target audience. What are other businesses in your industry doing to drive engagement on social media?

The content that you share on your social networks can include social media images, videos and how-to guides and more.

Regularly Update Posts:  Do you have content on your social media pages?  Why should anyone follow you?  Make sure you post regularly and offer valuable information that your devoted customers will find helpful and interesting.  You should supply important information about your business, as well as, photos or videos of people enjoying your business.  If you decide to obtain a YouTube account, post videos of your business, customer experiences and encourage customers to make their own.  You can also ‘favorite’ other YouTube users’ videos and they will end up on your page.  This will add content and variety to your page as well as your other accounts, i.e., Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

FIND FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS: It is easy to find followers on Google+ and Twitter by searching for keywords.  If you’re an actor, for example, search ‘theater, play, scene’ terms.  Search for influential people, bloggers and VIP’s in your area.  Search for the ‘successful players’ in your market and if they share your posts, you have the potential to reach hundreds, if not thousands.  Comment on one of their posts or simply say that you look forward to following their great content.  If you’re following a blogger, give them story ideas and leads that have nothing to do with your business.  Establish a relationship with them.  Facebook, is a good place to start gaining fans with real friends and family.

ENGAGE FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS:  Your focus should be on building relationships with people, not selling your service or product.

Give them story ideas and leads that have nothing to do with your business Compliment their page, products, blog, etc.  Just be friendly and supportive.

Very important: Do not ask for help/favors from people until you’re friends or at least warm associates with them. And the #1 way to become friends is to offer tons of help/favors without expecting anything in return, “Networking is a *long term* activity – it CANNOT be done for short-term results.

STAY CURRENT: Get alerts sent to your phone when folks engage with you via your social networking sites – at least in the beginning – that way you respond quickly.

Still Overwhelmed?  Exousia will be delighted to assist.  Contact us so we can organize and manage your Social Media.  Watch the results!