I talk to business owners and executives every day and realize that businesses of all sizes share one important thing: They all read the same social media advice. There is no shortage of social media advice available for businesses and executives today, yet many businesses still struggle to get results.
Let's forget the deluge of advice for now. It can be incredibly overwhelming and technical if you're not a marketer (and let's face it, most people aren't). Instead, let's focus on three steps you can take to improve your social media presence right now (as in, right after you finish reading this article).
1. Turn off automatic feeds from your other social profiles.
This can seem like a great time saver - you sign up for Twitter and it asks you if you want to connect to Facebook. What a great idea! Except that by connecting to Facebook, you're telling people who connect with you on Twitter that they don't matter. You're telling them not to expect any type of engagement or response, and that as an audience, creating original, relevant content specifically for them isn't a priority for your organization.
Using tools like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule your posts can be a great time saver and can help ensure you're consistently posting great content. Using these tools is completely separate from the automatic feeds being referenced. If your profiles are set up for automatic feeds, you likely set them up that way when first establishing your profiles (possibly years ago). Another automatic feed you should check is job postings. Many applicant tracking systems automatically post job openings to Twitter, spamming your followers. Manually posting your jobs instead allows you to best position them and engage your followers.
2. Take a long look at the social media presence for your business, then, hack it to pieces.
Your business probably has at least three or four different social media pages. These likely include Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and possibly Pinterest and Instagram as well. These sites can all be excellent tools for reaching and engaging customers, but they're probably not all a fit for your business. Unless you're paying five or six figures for a strategic marketing firm to devise and implement a social strategy or you're paying multiple six figures for an internal team of experienced digital marketers, you should focus your energies on one (possibly two) social sites to give your business the best ROI.
If you're not sure which sites to choose, visit your Google Analytics dashboard and see which social media site is sending the most traffic to your website. Identify which social site is getting the most engagement on posts (eg. likes, comments, shares, etcetera). Spreading yourself too thin on multiple pages means you're not getting the best results out of any of them. Hit a home run on one social media site, though, and you are more likely to see real results.
3. Log in and check your messages right now.
When customers and prospects log in to their social media profiles to talk and interact with your business, it provides you with an incredible opportunity to get personal with them. Think about it - what is in your Facebook feed? In all likelihood, it is filled with friends and family members sharing news about marriages, babies, happy news, sad news. In other words, you log into Facebook for memes and videos (we all do!), but also to stay connected with the people and news that matters most.
Think about how you use Facebook and apply the same ideas to your customers. Think about what it means for them to hit that 'like" button for your business. It means they are inviting you in to that personal, important feed.
When customers send you a message, post feedback on your wall or ask a question, expect them to be offended if you don't respond in a timely manner. "Timely manner" can mean anywhere from an hour to a day, but could vary depending on your business or industry.
While Facebook is the most personal, LinkedIn messages are also crucial. Two years ago when I was planning my wedding, I sent a LinkedIn message to one of my connections who owned a catering company. He replied...six months later! By ignoring his social media messages, this business owner lost a potential sale. Avoid losing sales or violating the personal trust of your customers. Check your messages.
Don't get lost in a sea of social media advice. Take a few simple steps now to move things in the right direction.
Photo Credit: Flickr/Animated Heaven