IF YOU’VE GOT WIFI AND A PHONE – YOU CAN RUN A BUSINESS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA!

Here are a few quick tips to consider when using social media

A social media plan needs a strategy. That strategy should be determined by your goals and long term vision. Consider a ‘strategy’ your road map – knowing where you’re going and how you’re going to get there.

• Consider your brand; dig deep. The more you reveal about your business, the more refined and targeted you will be. What does your brand represent? How does it look? How does it make people feel? Does it truly excite YOU and set your soul on fire? The way you feel about your brand will flow through to your customers.
• Know your key market. The more clearly you can define your ‘customers’ – the easier it will become to determine your key messages. Dig deep, know who your customer is, what they’re interested in, what age they might be, why would they be interested in your business and what is valuable to them? Sneaky tip – if you’re in a relationships based business – your customer is often very similar to YOU! You’ll attract like-minded peeps!
• What are your key messages? How can you deliver them? Get precise. You don’t need 50 different messages, you need 3-5 key points. These messages don’t need to change every week, the way you communicate them will -but the core of their essence will stay the same.

Once you understand your road map, your market and your messaging – knowing ‘what to post about’ will become clearer. Lead with value, personality and authenticity. Aim for 90% insight/value posts and 10% straight sales approach. Stories sell, facts tell.

Even though in essence you are ‘selling something’ through a business, the key to success when using social media is to cleverly weave in your key messages in a subtle, softer, more social tone and simply put, is just about creating some curiosity.

• Understand the funnel of social media; it’s about a CATCH, CONNECT & CONVERT functionality. Those three phases should be weaved into your strategy.
• Delivery and execution. Allocate time to plan your social media content. Don’t go into a post rushing for the sake of ‘getting something up’. Quality over quantity. When you do a post on social media, you are marketing your shop front. Your followers/potential customers can tell if you’re giving them your time. They can see if the post is well-written, heart-driven, authentic and valuable. They feel a level of customer service from you.
• Be consistent, a minimum of 3 posts per week if you’re starting out is a good goal. Daily for those wishing to build momentum + 3-4 stories. This will depend on your actual business and social outlets.
• Content is king. Your words, videos, lives and images count. Go into them with an outcome and ensure you reach that outcome. Get to the point. But be real, be raw, be social and have FUN. People don’t want perfection – yes, they want VALUE – but they want to connect with you first and foremost before they’ll listen to the value.With consistent posts that offer ‘value’ – mixed with some personality and fun, comes a level of trust and brand awareness. And, the consumer will then subconsciously keep your business in mind when it comes to a decision making process. It can also prompt the consumer to speed up that ‘sales’ decision if they’ve been thinking about it. Have patience. You’re planting seeds for your sales funnel.
• Discipline your disappointments. Getting caught up in likes, followers, comments on every single post is the first way you’ll self-sabotage your business. It takes on average 16 times for someone to see your content – before they will take action on your page and like or comment. They are watching you and the business who consistently keeps going with ease, grace and flow will reap the benefits.
• Use social media mindfully when running a business through it. Go in and do your posts FIRST – before getting caught up in scrolling, looking at other pages and reading other comments etc. This will side-track you and it’s the fastest way to steer you away from your strategy. Stay in your own lane. Do your post, then focus on connecting and engaging with your customers and potential new ones. Then jump off.
• Grow your page organically. Like attracts like. Actively make an effort to follow and engage with ten new potential customers each day. That takes less than five minutes. Search hashtags, jump into private groups of like-minded people, follow friends of your customers, the more you give out, the more you’ll get back. Do that with no expectations – it’s called networking.
• Use hashtags – 3 or 4 in the post, the rest in a comment on your post. Hashtags that represent your profession, your goal and your business.
• Be authentically YOU. Yes, there are literally millions of images that you can freely use with correct credits on social media. Use some of them in your ‘shop front’ and be resourceful selecting ones that fit your brand – but remember, customers these days want to connect with a person, a story, a moment. That is best reflected by the people in the business. Every one has a story to tell, it’s knowing how to tell it that is fundamental. Bring yourself to the forefront.
• As you grow, your business will grow. Particularly in a relationships based business. Allocate time to personal growth, as your confidence, creativity and clarity will beam out loud and clear! As we grow individually, so do our relationships + connections and in turn our business.