If you're still struggling with why and how to use social media for your business, then here are 5 easy steps to help you make sense of social.
First of all, why do you need to make the effort with social media? The main reason? To drive more traffic to your website.
You will get more visits to your website if you participate in social media. If you get more visits to your website, your website will appear higher in the search results on Google or Bing.
Everyone uses the web these days. They order online. They do their research online. So even if you don't sell online, you still want to be amongst the businesses that your customers include in their research. The only way to do this is to get your company to the top of the search results. The best way to get more traffic to your website is to boost it up to near the top of the Search Engine rankings. And social is a great way of helping to get more visits to your website.
Social doesn't have to be hard. Here are 5 easy steps.
1. Connect - with as many of your customers and potential customers as you can, on Twitter, on LinkedIn, on Facebook, on Pinterest, on Instagram. If you download the app onto your mobile phone then it will make suggestions based on your contacts list. I found all sorts of people I didn't realise were on social. It's not about spamming people. It's about offering them the opportunity to connect and receive interesting content.
2. Create or find relevant content - to share with your audience. If blogging is a bit beyond you at the moment, then find relevant articles on the web that you think your audience will enjoy. It will help you to learn more about your area of expertise, and your tweet history will also act as a great place for your own future reference. Start with creating or finding one piece of content that you can share every day. You want to look for what is popular right now. You can use sites like Buzzsumo, just put in your subject area and see what has been most popular recently. You can then share this content or you can use it as inspiration to create your own improved version.
3. Share this content on all of your social media channels - you should choose appropriate channels based on your business (contact me if you want some advice on this). Take your one piece of content and share it on all of your channels. This will create a bigger impact than just sharing on one of your channels.
4. Measure - Each of your social media channels will show you the stats of how successful or unsuccessful your piece of content has been. From this you will be able to identify what works best for your audience. You can also use Buffer or a similar app to share content across all your channels and analyse how each post has performed.
5. Nurture - stay in contact with your audience by sharing more relevant content. Also, consider doing one-to-one posts, share content with just one person, content that is particularly relevant for them. It will make them feel special and help them to love your brand more.
Here's some interesting articles on Social that might help you.
- How to write a tweet, 8 formulas to get you started via @HubSpot bit.ly/1r2ppbw
- No One Is Reading Your Blog mediatwente.com/one-reading-bl… via @MediaTwente
- 50 ideas on what to share on your social media channels lnkd.in/bKaGMRe
- How to Sell Online: The Single Best Pieces of Advice From 41 Successful Ecommerce Entrepreneurs bit.ly/1jt9j60
Tara Wrigley is a Consultant at Olympic Software NZ Ltd. Tara has a degree in Electronic Commerce from The University of Waikato and is currently working towards her Masters. Her field of interest is Social Business and understanding how to increase engagement with customers and staff to improve business outcomes. Tara works with the management team at Olympic to develop new Social Business strategies and initiatives. Follow her progress on Twitter @tswrigley, connect with her on LinkedIn, read about her social business journey in her blog articles or email her at taraw@olympic.co.nz.
