Have you started a business Facebook page, but post sporadically and only have a few followers with little engagement? Or have to set up a LinkedIn profile, but haven’t finished filling out all the sections, haven’t bothered to connect with anybody and don’t know anything about group or questions? If the answer these questions is a resounding yes, then read on to find out why your social media content isn’t fruitful.
Do you want your social media content to bring a better ROI?
In order for your social media efforts to bear fruit, you need to be consistent and frequent. You also need to provide some sort of value. In our busy lives, we are bombarded with noise all around us. I get that you don’t want to be just more noise, and neither do I. But, if you want to engage with your customers, and create the KLT Factor (know, like & trust) they need to see you. Picture social media like a stream. If you’re standing by the stream and a leave goes by you will see it. However, if you go for a walk the leaf will still go by, but you won’t see it. The same is true for your social media content. Just because you put it out there, doesn’t mean those who follow you will see it. This is why a certain amount of frequency with your social media content is necessary.
That begs the question of how often? The answer however is not cut and dry. It depends on who your prospective clients are, the platform we’re talking about, and the relationship you have with the followers. Generally speaking for facebook I would recommend at least once a day. A company and a non- profit that do this well, are Nescafe and Feed the Children. If you check out their Facebook pages, you will see they have a posting schedule, they post regularly, and their content provides value and information to their followers. This consistency contributes to the number of likes that they have and engagement that they get. For Linkedin, I recommend posting at least daily and depending on your goals, either interacting in groups or answering questions. Since this is a business/networking social media platform, you also want to be connecting with others on a regular basis, at least weekly, but for better results a few times a week to daily.
Get Help!
If this sounds overwhelming, keep in mind that after you get over the learning curve, and set up routines, some small business owners can do this for themselves. There are also tools available to help with syndication and scheduling. Other options are to hire a marketing person with knowledge of in social media like myself to do it for you. If your marketing budget is small you could also buy the programs I recommend, Lewis Howes’ Linkedinfluence for LinkedIn, or Amy Porterfield’s FBinfluence for Facebook and pay an employee or family member to learn the programs and implement them for you.
So, as you consider implementing social media for your small business and you should if you want to increase sales and stay competitive in today’s market, also figure out who is going to be maintaining it. Type in the comments below if you social media is hit and miss or who is managing or will manage your social media platforms.
