It’s normal for a business owner to set up their company on different social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter Instagram and LinkedIn. But after you set up, then what? You post an inspirational quote here and there, a random photo of your coffee and caption it “on my way to work” or share a funny video and hopefully, people will react the same way as you did. However,
it’s 2018, and your business needs to have a social media strategy to get your business out there!
What is your objective?
What do you want to happen to your business with social media? Do you want to increase sales? Drive traffic to your website? Increase brand awareness and let people know about your service or products? Whatever it is, you need to think in advance and have a goal.
Focus on what matters
People have this mindset that the more social media platform they are, the better, but sometimes that’s not the case. You have to consider that your target audience may not be active on Twitter or Instagram etc. Remember, time is precious so focus your time and resources on specific online platforms where you are definitely will find your target audience, this is where you need to do your homework and research where your audience hangs out? Where are they primarily active? Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram etc.? What time do they engage with your posts? Morning, after lunch or night time etc.? You’ll then be able to decide where and when to invest your time.
Research
Sometimes having competitors can be annoying because your target audience is being divided, however, when it comes to researching your social media strategy, this is where they come in handy. You can learn from a direct competitor or a group with similar objectives as your business to help with your business strategy. Observe what they are doing and what’s working for them. You’ll be surprised at how much you can take in from your competitors because this will help you save time in having to test everything yourself. Remember, the key is to do something similar but do it better! Be creative and get your business noticed!
Quality over quantity
Always consider what you are posting. If you are posting random photos, links etc. for the same posting then people will not take you seriously. You want to display content that is relevant to your business. Material that will bring people to your website.
Calendar
As we’ve mentioned before, time is precious in any business which is why we suggest you schedule your posts in advance to save time. A social media schedule can sometimes be challenging to commit yourself to entirely, but it is time efficient, and it allows you to publish when your audience is most likely to engage. Always think in advance, consider what will happen in the future and schedule that in. There are many useful social media management tools out there where it allows you to schedule all of your posts on different platforms, and our favourite is HootSuite. Some are free, others are not, but this is where you need to decide on what works best for your company.
Room to improve
You will never have a perfect social media strategy because social media is continuously changing. You need to sit down maybe once a month and keep track of the numbers if your plan is working or not. Go back to your objectives, if it was to increase sales or traffic. Have you seen much difference, go back to the source and see where it came from, whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. Remember, you can’t report success if you don’t know what’s happening.
Our main point is that a social media strategy is more than just posting something for the sake of a new post. It requires time, creativity and work. Take it step by step, and you’ll slowly but gradually find the strategy that will work for your business. If you have any questions about social media strategy, Evolution Digital can help. Be sure to get in touch with us on 01 288 5118 or drop us an email on info@evolutiondigital.ie and we can have a chat!
