You don’t have to be super savvy with social media to use it for your business. Many business owners use social media these days to help sell their goods and services. Some have great success using it, while others do not. Most people think it’s because the people having success are super smart when it comes to working with social media but that is not necessarily the case. No matter how much you know about social media, you can start getting clients by following the 5 simple steps below!
Determine what social media platforms your target market is using. It makes zero sense to spend time on Twitter when your target market doesn’t use Twitter. When it comes to social media, we want to work smarter, not harder, so target the platforms your target market is using. Don’t know what type of social media your target marketing is using? Here are some good indicators to help you decide which social media platforms to use in your marketing. Facebook - As of March 2023, the most popular social media app with over 2.75 billion users. Facebook is so widely used if your target market is anyone – male or female, ages 18-65+ they use Facebook. If your target market is a consumer, Facebook will be great for your business! LinkedIn - As of August 2023, 60% of LinkedIn users were between 25-34 years old and primarily used by people with a college education in higher-paying jobs. If your business targets professional business people, then LinkedIn is a great way to network with your target market. Twitter - As of June 2023, there were 353.9 million monthly users. 71.2% male and 28.8% female. Popular among those under 50 with a college education. Instagram - As of 2023, the 4th most popular platform with more than 1 billion users. Most notably women between the ages of 18-34. Pinterest – As of 2023, the 14th most popular platform with over 76% of users being females under the age of 50. Do further research if you need but now you know what social media platforms people are using.
It’s best to do a really good job using only one or two types of social media than to use them all poorly. Focus on one or two social media platforms and post consistently. It takes some time, but eventually, you’ll see the return. Elite Scheduling Services gets a lot of business from LinkedIn whereas a friend of mine who runs a virtual assistant firm gets quite a bit of business from Twitter. These companies have two distinctly different target markets and since we’ve pinpointed where most of our clients are coming from we focus on spending most of our time on those social media platforms.
Schedule posts. You get busy, we all get busy and I get it. The first thing we do when we get busy is forget to post on social media. And this is what happens - You spend several weeks posting on social media, you get a lot of business, you spend time on that business and forget to post, and suddenly you realize business is slow so you start posting on social media again. In order to streamline your marketing and create a steady flow of business you need to post consistently. Put the posts in a calendar, schedule them on the social media you use, use a social media platform to keep track of all social media scheduled posts, or hire someone to take care of your marketing and social media for you. Do your research and find out when the best day and time is to post to get maximum exposure.
Make it fun! People love social media because it’s fun, it’s conversational and it’s a great way to find stuff out! If people do business with you – because you are you – then be yourself on social media. Post things you find fun, interesting, educational, and exciting! People are more drawn to photos and videos. Video is getting a lot bigger, now! Video gives your audience a chance to really get to know you and your personality.
Keep the content flowing with a brainstorming session. Some people don’t have trouble scheduling posts consistently, they have trouble coming up with content. Schedule some time for research and brainstorming. What topics are hot among your target market? What do you enjoy writing about? If all else fails, hire someone to provide the content for you. Keep a file on everything you’ve posted – just like magazines recycle their material you can too. I’m sure if I look back I wrote a post on social media last year or the year before. If it’s something that’s still relevant – you can always repost it. A few weeks ago, I looked back to 2022 and found my most popular post, edited it a bit, and reposted. It works, you just have to be consistent!
- Danae