I speak with a lot of business owners and managers as I travel to present seminars on using Email and Social Media to grow your business. The largest contributor to failed Social Media efforts is their LACK of establishing measurable goals and objectives. This is the foundation of using any Social Media channel (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.) successfully.
It does not matter if you have been using a Social Channel for years, just created one and are not happy, or have finally decided to take the plunge and join the digital world. Let’s go through the first foundational steps to create a successful Social Media presence.
Step one. Establish your goal(s) and objective(s). Do you want more customers? More leads? More donations? More people to attend your next event? Better customer service? These are GOALS and they are important, but we need to get a little closer and more specific. We need OBJECTIVES. And objectives are specific and measurable over a fixed time period. The more specific the better. 20{a693e3da8ed473a832134816c07ef76fbff43db3efb90ebffcf0f1dc571402e9} more attendance at the next pancake breakfast. 15{a693e3da8ed473a832134816c07ef76fbff43db3efb90ebffcf0f1dc571402e9} more leads from the LinkedIn account. Raise 50{a693e3da8ed473a832134816c07ef76fbff43db3efb90ebffcf0f1dc571402e9} more donations to the house project over the next three months. The more specific, the better. This is the beginning of your strategy and every business should have a well-developed Social Media strategy.
Step two. Decide on what you want the person on the other side of the internet to do. This is the specific call to action. In a lot of cases, you will need to TELL the person what to do. The call to action you want to contribute directly to the objectives that you already established.
Okay. Now you can decide on Step 3. Which Social Channel(s) you should be using. The short answer is, be where your customers/prospects are.
Now the buzz word. Engagement. Ugh! I hate the word, it is so over-used now. But the concept is important. Be active on the channel(s) that you choose to use. And be patient. It’s going to take a while to see results. 6-12 months of patience.
And through all of this, you need to be continually monitoring and managing your time. There are a lot of tools available such as Google Alerts, HootSuite, etc. Here is a list of tools I recommend.
The size of your business does not matter. The traditional marketing rules still applies for all your Social Media efforts. Every business should spend some time developing their Social Media plan and then implement it. Remember. . . Social Media, properly done, will definitely benefit your business. Social Media done wrong, can also damage your business. Take the time to do it right.
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