Five Things You Should Know About…
…Getting Started in Social Media:
1. Watch for a while first – understand how people are communicating in the Social media arena you are considering. What are people really talking about and what are they most interested in?
Watch for a while and then if you see obvious business-building benefits get ready to jump in once you…
2. Determine your niche – decide what your voice will be – choose an area of expertise in which you are comfortable to gradually build your presence as an expert with a consistent voice and regular contribution…
3. Be Sure you are ready to contribute consistently.
If you are willing to be a consistent contributor and approach it with authenticity then you are ready to start. Recognize that it is part of your marketing mix not the magic bullet in itself. Consistent social media contribution like tweeting, or posting on Instagram or facebook to promote your blog posts, show a bit of your personality and demonstrate your expertise all add valuable, relevant, searchable content and allows you to really establish your presence as an expert in your field, build loyalty and trust (and new prospects) and drive traffic to your site raising your rank.
4. It is all good as long as it is all authentic. Choose a very specific voice – your particular are of expertise or passion – and begin. Here is a great example of someone completely self-taught who followed her passion and is doing it extremely well http://solotravelerblog.com/ .
5. Be sure it is right for you – don’t dive in just because “everyone is doing it”. Many small B-to-B companies struggle enough with the resources to truly handle the basics of online marketing well, so spending time and money to “dabble” in social media may not be right for you. Take your time and don’t do it all at once. Take it on one profile at a time. For example if Facebok seems the right place for your audience, work with it for a couple of months and only once you are completely comfortable with it, you might move on to add an Instagram Profile or Twitter.
Before you dedicate resources to social media marketing:
– Clearly define your objectives
– Have a web site that is already your active marketing hub, hosted reliably and built on a platform that you control.
– Learn to edit your site and control your content if you don’t already so it may be a springboard to amplify content you post there on Social Media.
– Put analytics in place, watch activity and understand where your market is coming from, what they are most interested in, and least interested in etc.
– Include Email marketing in the mix. Seize this cost effective vehicle to be top-of-mind with your existing permission based network of prospects, growing your reach and nurturing new customers, building trust and loyalty and generating repeat business.
Otherwise, focus your time and marketing dollars on your Web site, search engine optimization, analytics and email marketing first – build the foundation and then add the community, content and amplification benefits of Social Media to it.
Make the most of your online investment – it can be your most powerful sales and communication tool. Call Boost to help you simplify the process and get started today.