There is no doubting that social media has become a vital tool to reach audiences for businesses and entrepreneurs but to effectively use social media, what should businesses be thinking about? What are the long-term trends that businesses can feel good about investing in? What makes for truly good social media content? Here are some tips to effectively use social media for business and entrepreneurship
1. Make a commitment to social media
The first thing that businesses and entrepreneurs can do to find success is make a commitment to social media.
Like any other form of marketing, social media for businesses can be a challenge. It’s hard to grow an audience, create great content, and increase engagement. All too often we see brands giving up on social media after just a few months.
It takes about eight months to one year to really get the hang of social media usage. Not only to get a consistent stream going, but also to figure out what your audience resonates with and what they don’t.
It all starts with planning. Create a social media strategy and write it down in order to hold your business accountable. Your strategy should include a basic company mission statement, content plans and goals. And most importantly, a powerful statement on “why” people would follow you on social media, what kind of content you plan on creating and posting, and what you hope to achieve.
2. Show off your personality
The second social media tip for businesses and entrepreneurs is to always be authentic on social media.
Take a second to think about the brands that you follow on social media. What makes them special? What makes you follow them?
Chances are that there is something special about the content they post or the way in which they post it. We’re guessing they have personality and aren’t just brand robots pushing out content.
Creating a great social media presence isn’t only about showing the value of your product or service to your audience. It’s about connection and experiences. The best brands out there share a common point of view with their fans.
3. Listen to customers rather than promote
Third tip is that great social media programs are built around listening to customers, not promoting to them.
The way we like to think about it is that social media offers an incredible, open-ended platform that businesses can use to communicate and engage with customers. That’s why we recommend using it that way!
Social media is gradually becoming a customer service platform and people are coming to expect it. The tricky part is, the better you get at social the more engagement you’ll get, and in turn, the more comments. So be prepared for an influx of love from your fans!
The other side is that your customers are the best source of inspiration for content. Lots of businesses are sitting on a never-ending gold mine of content ideas by simply looking at their frequently asked questions, or what people are asking on social media. If you’re stuck on what to post, look to your customers first for ideas before anything else.
You can also listen to competitor’s customers as well, as funny as that sounds. Tools like Twitter Lists, BuzzSumo, facebook pages to watch, Google Keyword Planner, and Youtube are all great places to find what’s working in your industry.
4. Focus your efforts on a select networks
Social media networks are like shiny new objects. We want to be everywhere at once and try everything because we’re sure that this network will be the one for us. But the fact is we’re all strapped for resources. So if you try to focus on lots of social networks then you’re setting yourself up for a long road ahead.
It may seem counterintuitive, but its best focusing all your efforts on the two to three platforms which give you the best return on investment. Crafting content unique to each platform is critical.
For example, if you write a blog post about social media marketing. Writing the copy that will get attention and clicks on LinkedIn is much different than what works on Facebook, which is dramatically different than what works on Instagram, Snapchat, or Twitter.
It’s an obsession-like focus on a particular platform that allows you to hone in on successful tactics.
5. Remember that success follows passion
Lastly on the “strategy” side of social media for businesses and entrepreneurs is to remember that passion helps generate truly great and memorable content.
Success on social media is a long road.
The only way to ensure long term commitment and make sure that social media doesn’t become a burden is to follow your passion. The nice thing about social media is that your content doesn’t have to be directly related to your brand or industry. Meaning it doesn’t have to be what everyone else is doing.
We suggest that as business owners or entrepreneurs you pick a topic that you love and are truly passionate about and start writing your own social media story whilst you find ways to get your audiences hooked as you move along.
