Social Media

What is social media?

Social Media is any digital tool that allows users to quickly create and share content with the public.

The most popular platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tik Tok, YouTube and Pinterest (though the latter two platforms are also considered search engines).

 

Why is social media important for your business?

Millions and millions of people, every day, are accessing their social media accounts to interact with their family, friends – and sometimes brands.

Being active on the right social media accounts for your audience ie where your target audience mostly likes to hang out means that you can connect with them in a way that’s quick, timely, authentic and often, free.

*Source: Social Media News Statistics Australia August 2020

Why most people don’t do social media marketing well

The key to being successful on social media is to be social!

Most people know how Facebook or Instagram works in their personal life. You share holiday snaps, interesting articles, funny memes and the likes and comments come flooding in.

That’s because you already have a relationship with the friends and family who engage with you on a personal level.

But when it comes to business – it takes a lot of time and energy to build an audience to the point where they know, like and trust you enough to take the next step and transact with you.

You have to regularly produce and publish useful, engaging and entertaining content.

You have to engage with your audience and potential audience on a regular basis by responding to comments, starting and continuing conversations, commenting on other people’s posts and more.

You first need to be a ‘giver’ within your target audience’s community before you’re able to make an ‘ask’.

When it comes to social media for business, the most common mistake I see from small business owners are those that ‘post and run’. They expect social media to be a one-way conversation where they can just talk, talk, talk about themselves or their business and people will listen/sign up/buy.

That’s not being social! If you did that at a party no one would want to hang around you, right?

 

Why you should care about social media

Let me get this straight. I don’t think social media should be your ONLY or even your MAIN digital marketing channel.

That’s because building your business on social media is like building your business on rented land. You are beholden to and relying on corporations who can change the algorithm at any time so that no one sees your posts, or make you pay to play.

If your Facebook or Instagram account got hacked or closed down tomorrow, would you still be able to run your business?

The 24/7 nature of social media means you can provide real-time updates and be quick to respond to change – but it also means the half-life of any social media post is really short compared to say, an SEO-optimised blog post. So you’ve got to weigh up the return on investment.

Nevertheless, having some social media presence is important for most small businesses. That’s because it’s likely that your target market is hanging out on a social media platform in some way.

And social media is great for brand awareness, building relationships, showing authenticity and giving your audience a behind-the-scenes glimpse of you and your business.

The big disclaimer: do NOT try to be on every social media platform. Choose one, maybe two to really focus on, and let the others take a back seat.

For instance, even though I have claimed all my business name handles on the most popular social media channels, I really only spend time on Facebook, Instagram for my business-to-consumer businesses and LinkedIn for business-to-business marketing and personal profile building.

*Source: Social Media News Statistics Australia August 2020

Are you struggling with managing your social media?

Does any of this sound familiar?

• ‘I post stuff and get no engagement or sales.’
• ‘I don’t have the right photos.’
• ‘I don’t know what to write.’
• ‘I don’t know how frequently I’m meant to post.’
• ‘I never seem to have enough time to think of or publish content.’

If you’re struggling with managing your social media, then it might be time to consider conserving your time and energy and outsourcing this work to an expert.

How I can help you with social media marketing

Producing and publishing social media content, monitoring accounts, managing comments and communities can take up a lot of time.

If you don’t enjoy any or all of those tasks, or if you’re unsure about what you should be posting, when and how on Facebook or Instagram, I’m here to help!

I can teach you how to do social media marketing on Facebook and Instagram so it doesn’t become a huge time suck – or I can do it for you!