"Oh yeah, I saw that on Facebook."
This is a phrase that is used on almost a daily basis. Whether you are talking to your coworkers, spouse, or even on the phone with Grandma, almost everyone talks about the things that they see on social media. So the question is, are they talking about seeing your business? And if they aren't, why not?
Social media is a powerful tool that is at the fingertips of billions of people all over the world. It is where people turn to share their memories, reconnect with old friends, and, more often than not, find services they need. With a virtually unlimited audience to reach, how are you maximizing your social media presence? If you aren't maximizing it, how can you start reaching your social potential today?
Let's take a look at how you can start utilizing social media and grow your business.
Setting Your Goals
The first thing you need to do is answer the question: What are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to build your brand and establish yourself as the leader in your field? Are you trying to drive e-commerce? What about capturing leads? Or maybe you are wanting to push consumers to your website so they can browse your products are services. No matter what your goals are, you have to establish them so you can proceed with the proper strategy to accomplish those end goals.
The process we have at Storm includes the creation of a content calendar to help keep your monthly messages consistent with your goals. This is a good way to have a plan of attack when it comes to posting that monthly content. It also ensures your posts aren't repetitive. Keep in mind that your content calendar can be flexible and updated as needed. If your goal is brand awareness, "About" posts can be a great way to let your followers know who you are and what you're about. Your new product is coming out next month, what better way to promote it than through your social media channels and, even better, push them towards your website so they can purchase your awesome products.
Building A Community
While social media is a great way to promote products, don't forget what social media ultimately is: social. Use your pages to build a community with your followers. Utilizing polls and calls to action, such as "Tell us in the comments", can spark discussion and build up a rapport with your followers. Let them know who you are and what your philosophy is about. Building a good relationship with your followers can increase the likelihood of those followers engaging with your posts, and sharing them among their own followers to spread the word about your business to an even larger audience.
Make sure you are engaging with your followers. Reply to comments, reviews (yes, even the bad ones), and messages you receive on your page as quickly as you can. Customer service is as important on social media as it is in a brick-and-mortar setting. We all know that most people on social media have no filter. All the more reason to keep your followers satisfied and make them feel heard.
Don't get discouraged if you aren't getting the kind of feedback on certain posts that you had hoped. One of the great things about social media is the fact that you can easily change what you are posting. Use it as an experiment. See what works and what doesn't. You'll quickly learn that your followers will let you know what they like and what they don't like.
Moving Forward
Now if your boss just threw the company's social media on your plate and you don't know where to start, don't worry, the Storm team is here for you. We offer several levels of social media management that can help ease the stress of building and maintaining your social presence. If you've been running your social media pages and just can't seem to get over the hump and have run out of ideas, you might want to check out our free Social Media Strategies for Business course.
Social media is a powerful tool. It's also a useful one. It's important for your business to learn how to maximize your online presence. You can do it. And if you need that little shove to get you going, we are always here to help.
Happy Posting!
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