Social media is everywhere, everyone seems to be using it but are you really getting the most out of it?
Of course, that is assuming you’re using it – you are though, aren’t you?
Using social media doesn’t mean simply setting up a Facebook page or Twitter account; anyone can do that. Using these social tools effectively will help you attract followers and, in turn, boost the visibility of your business along with sales.
Yes, it really can do that.
Using social media
The amount of time you can give to social media is going to depend on:
- Your job
- How important you think it is as a marketing tool
- Your motivation
As a freelance copywriter I use social media a lot (especially Twitter – @sallyormond). Because I’m always tweeting and posting on Facebook, people know my name and as a result I have gained a lot of new clients through social media.
See, I told you it was an effective marketing tool.
But I also see a lot of people who have the accounts but aren’t using it as effectively as they could. That inevitably results in them losing faith with it as a marketing tool and giving up before they’ve even got started.
To help you make the most of your social media marketing (and to have fun with it), here are 5 elements that may be causing you to repel more people than you attract.
1. Talking
Most people love to talk and that’s what social media is all about. But that doesn’t mean you can just talk about you – it must be a 2 way conversation. It is not a broadcast channel. It’s not like radio when you can buy an air slot to promote your business. Constant business tweeting will turn people off – why should they listen to a Twitter version of junk mail?
2. Biography
All social media platforms allow you to add a short biography so people can learn a bit about you. If you want to attract followers you must make the most of the words you use. Make sure your keyword is there and make the rest of the text human and not a blatant advert.
Writing it with personality will attract far more people than something contrived and robotic.
3. ‘Social’
There’s nothing like pointing out the obvious but social media is a social activity.
If you constantly send out things about your business and not about you, how will people get to know you? And, as you are well aware, people buy from people. So open up and let them get to know you.
That doesn’t mean you can’t mention your business at all. Of course you can – you can promote offers (but not all the time), draw attention to your latest blog posts etc. But mix them up with tips and chatty conversation.
4. Pied Piper
One mistake many people make on Twitter is they follow these ‘get loads of followers really quickly’ techniques. Why? It’s not a competition. The person with the most followers doesn’t get a prize.
Your Twitter community should be made up of people you know, want to know or find interesting. Just because someone follows you doesn’t mean you have to follow them back.
When someone follows you check out their profile and take a look at their tweets. Are they someone that interests you? Are they in your industry? Do they tweet interesting or useful stuff? Those should be the questions you ask yourself before clicking follow.
5. Wallflower
When you’ve set up your social media accounts, you have to go out there and meet people. If you sit back and wait for them to come to you, you could get very lonely.
Find interesting people and start a conversation with them. Slowly you’ll gather more followers, have more conversations, gather more followers etc. Basically if you want to be part of it you have to join in.
Social media – in all its guises – is a great tool for business but it should also be fun. Through it you can open doors that would normally be firmly shut and interact with people you would never normally meet. So give it a go.