A social media strategy is the secret ingredient
Is your traffic from social media through the roof? Congratulations on a job well done!
If you have decided that social media is not for you, then you are missing massive potential visitors as social media continues to grow, so keep reading.
Now – social media sounds easy doesn’t it, post a few times here and there and the traffic will head your way. The reality is that it is just not that easy and if you are not going to outsource then you need to spend a decent amount of time learning how to do it properly.
Be consistent – I have been saying in all my blogs that you need to be consistent with everything you do and particularly with any type of marketing. Don’t wait until your business gets a little quiet before you start marketing. You need to market your business consistently through the busy and the quiet times to keep the traction you need.
Create a strategy – Have a plan of which platforms, days/times you will post, what you will post etc. and be as specific as you can and keep reading for some tips.
Why have a strategy
- Consistent traffic
- New and existing relationships
- Customer service, retention & satisfaction
- Consistent results over time
- There is no magic wand – you need to work on your strategy and you will build long-term sustainable traffic to your business.
Who are your ideal clients
You need to answer this question so that you can figure out which of the social media platforms your ideal clients are using. If you have an existing business with traffic you can look at Google Analytics to see your current data.
What are the relevant demographics for your ideal clients?
- Location
- Gender
- Income
- Age
- Education
- Marital status
- Number of children
- Homeownership
What do your ideal clients want?
- How important is (your niche) to their lives
- Why do they want to learn about (your niche)
- What problems do you solve
- What questions do they have
- How much do they know about (your niche)
Choose your channels
Remember that you are creating a long term strategy and you want to have effective and sustainable growth over time. Pick one or two with a maximum of three so that you can get it right and focus your efforts correctly.
These channels will be the ones that your ideal clients are going to be using on a regular basis.
Most business will find that using Facebook & Instagram will be the ideal choices, but you must choose based on your ideal clients.
Content
What are you going to share?
- Blog posts
- Quotes
- Tips and Tricks
- Infographics
- Images
- Videos
- Content from others
Grow your followers
- Never buy followers – having 100 genuine followers is far better than 1000 mystery followers.
- Follow others who will be relevant to your business and many will follow back – don’t unfollow them this is a terrible tactic
- Remain consistent with your posts 5 to 7 times each week and these numbers could be daily if you are using Twitter.
- If you are using Instagram – research hashtags and remember to always use around 25 of them.
- Hashtags can be used on all platforms but stick to 3 or 4 on the other channels
- Paid Ads can be a great way to increase followers on Facebook
Automate
By choosing a platform like Buffer or Hootsuite you can automate your posts to publish at a time and on a day that you prefer. This also makes it easier to change up your descriptions, hashtags and more.
Have a paid strategy
You don’t have to have a paid ad that is running all the time but you should have it as part of your overall strategy. The ad can be to grow your followers, drive traffic to your website, sell a product, capture a lead and much more. Make sure you have a budget to do this.
What should your budget be? This varies depending on your business but usually, a businesses marketing budget runs somewhere between 5 and 10 per cent of your turnover. Generally higher when you are a B2C compared to B2B. So if your monthly income is $20,000 then you should be spending $1000 to $2000 per month marketing your business overall. The percentage of this that goes to social media is of course up to you and your business.
If you need help with any or all these items please get in touch.
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