2013 has been the year I have properly started to get to grips with social media. A bit late to the party maybe – but with Google making changes to how their search works together with the realisation that solely relying on one source for our web traffic was both naïve and poor business management, prompted me to get into action! I am of course no expert, but I thought I would share six things I have learned along the journey, that might help any other mums starting out who want to harness the power of this effective online business strategy..
1: Pick which platforms you want to work with and use them consistently and regularly
If at first you feel you can only cope with one – choose the one you are most comfortable with and work with that. You can add others as you become more confident and efficient with your time. I use Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and am just starting to use Google+. I get different benefits from each one – so all are worth considering.
2: Social media is just that – be SOCIAL!
Share relevant articles, other people’s businesses, current news stories relevant to your industry, tips, other sites of interest for your audience and you will find that people will do the same for you. I was told at a recent “Twitter for Business” workshop I attended, that your tweets should only be about 2/10 sales and promotion versus info/sharing/retweets etc. Be a nice person – it will pay dividends!
3: Educate yourself
Social media channels come and go and the algorithms change every few months or so. You need to keep up to date witht he latesrt practices on your favourite social media channels.
New Ebook: Mum’s the Boss Guide to Social Media Success
This book is not your average list of hooks and captions, and won’t give you 365 ideas to post on each platform, that actually have nothing to do with your business.
Instead it takes you back to the beginning and gives you prompts to rediscover your passion, your mission, your message and your people, then shows you how you can communicate with confidence and authenticity on the channels you love, to attract your chosen prospects and clients.
If your social media isn’t converting as well as you’d like right now, then click the image below and take a look.
4: Facebook
Facebook is a great place to share photos, special offers, and promote competitions (be careful to check Facebook’s policy on competitions first). I recently held a sale on Facebook of some old stock we were discontinuing. I set up a photo album showing what was available together with prices and within an hour of posting, every last item was sold!
5: Pinterest
Pinterest is a great platform if you have a very visual business. We have seen our traffic from this source rapidly increase over the last six months and compared to Twitter or Facebook, it is a lot less time-consuming.
6: Scheduling
Use scheduling and tools (there are tons – but this would be a whole new post!) to help you manage your social media campaigns. It allows you to be consistent without spending all day on social networking. HOWEVER, use them sensibly – I refer back to point 2 – it is very obvious who is just using scheduling and who is actually online and joining in the chat.
So there you have it –these tips are only scratching the surface of this massive topic but I hope they will give you a good starting point in this fast growing area of business promotion.
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