So many of our clients and business owners that we speak to feel that social media burns a hole in the back of their brain. It’s no wonder when we are all so attached to our phones and screens, we are the perfect target for marketing – a captive audience! Social media is a relatively new marketing tool for your business that can be time consuming, incredibly stressful but also valuable too. You KNOW you need to be present on there but you just don’t have the time, content or patience. We’ve all been there, “I’ll just check this one thing on (insert favoured platform here) then I will get back to it.” FIVE HOURS later we appear from a social media hole that, to be perfectly honest, isn’t good for the soul.
Lead generation, advertising, interactive posting, vloggers, influencers, competitions, collaborations, tagging, hashtagging, being funny, being engaging, being professional, BOOSTING, the list is endless. The platforms encourage us to constantly be active too which only fuels the brain burn. We are caught up in a whirlwind of being authentic versus staying active whilst the day to day pressure of running a business continues. But how can you use social media to benefit your business?
As we have said, many times before, marketing is any time your brand is engaging with your audience, client or customer. Which means we need to accept that social media is part of your marketing. It is how you portray your business to the world and also how your clients can ultimately, make a decision about whether to buy a product or service from you. Having said that, there is a fine balance to strike.
Wild Bird’s approach is all about the right strategy for your business. The questions that we would ask are: Do your clients currently find you via your social media channels? How often do you use social media? Do you enjoy using it (after all, we all need to be doing more of what we love, right?) Alongside research into the content you are posting and what your competition is up to.
Staying active for your business is key, but active is subjective…my active could mean once per week versus your every day! Our top tips are:
- Take a look around you, what are other businesses like yours up to?
- Test a few different things out, find out what works and what doesn’t. Social media is excellent for nailing a strategy as it is so reactive, use that to it’s advantage.
- Plan and schedule! Take the weight off by creating a plan/strategy for the next month and schedule as much content as you can. You won’t believe the pressure it will relieve.
- Be authentic – your business needs to reflect it’s own values and personality on social media in order to resonate with your audience.
- Avoid the boost button. Controversial we know but, if you are going to pay for advertising we would suggest a targeted campaign as opposed to boosting.
- Talk to other business owners, see what everyone is up to. No amount of researching online can beat having a chat with another human being.
- Finally, go easy on yourself. You are doing a great job as you are, try not to let the brain burn get to you!
If you would like any help with your social media strategy, please get in touch.