Be a rock in the sand: 4 easy steps to make social media a key part of your business marketing
The next time you’re relaxing on the beach, take a second to watch the shoreline and pay attention to what is taking place. The water pours up onto the sand as the waves crash onto the shore, and then roll back down into the sea. As this is happening, watch how the grains of sand move with the wave, many being pulled out to sea. But then there are the rocks in the sand, big and small, barely moving, almost unaffected by the waves.
Now, picture your business (and all other businesses for that matter) being a grain of sand; the water being your industry. The industry, much like the waves, is constantly fluctuating, while businesses are forced to react. Some grains of sand move a little while others move a lot, but the rocks almost always stay put.
Over the last few years, businesses have had to adapt to the waves that are social media and, with it, instant communication. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs, FourSquare, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. have brought new responsibilities to a business’ marketing demands and while these tools have become necessities for some businesses, many are still trying to understand what exactly they mean for them.
I’m here to tell you that, if you follow these four steps, you can take advantage of social media and help turn your business into a rock in the sand.
- Understand your business
Before you start to look at social media, make sure you understand your business’s most important messages. What is your brand message? Who is your target market? What sets your business apart from the competition? What are you best at? What are you worst at? Where are you failing and how can you fix it?
If you can answer these questions clearly, then you have a strong foundation from which to work and should be able to easily determine what message(s) you should be sharing. If you don’t know the answers to these types of questions, social media is only going to add clutter to your business and take you out to sea.
- Pick the right tools
Plain and simple, not every social media channel is right for your business. Posting a message on Facebook won’t always translate to Twitter, and vice versa. But if you understand the differences between each form of social media and which ones are relevant and useful for your business, you can start towards creating a plan for social media success. Whether it’s to manage your online reputation, generate leads and find new business prospects, build awareness, improve your SEO, or to express your company’s personality, understand which tool is right for you.
- Have a plan
It is one thing to be posting useful information on social media, but it’s a whole other to post relevant information on a regular basis. To keep your social media endeavours from being washed away, use a social media calendar to keep you on track and prepare your messaging. By predetermining what you’re going to talk about weeks or even months in advance, it gives you plenty of time to gather content and reach your goals.
As part of your plan, make sure you’re tracking results on a regular basis to determine what’s working and what isn’t, so you can assess what needs to be changed.
- Stick to it
You already have the plan in place, now you just need to stick to it. Everyone misses deadlines once and a while, but if you weather the storm and stick to the plan you’ll find that social media has become an important staple to your business, leaving you with one less wave in the sea to manage.
Although there are other waves to worry about aside from social media, following these four steps will help you better position your business for future success while also implementing new and important tools in your repertoire. The rock may still move in the water (occasionally) but you will be solidly planted.
For help on how you can implement these four steps, or for more information, please contact info@akbsmallbusinessmarketing.com or call us at 647 449 6760.
