The Truth About Social Media for Business

Social media isn’t for sissies. There’s a lot of competition to get your voice heard.

The truth about social media for business is that you need an executable plan to make it worth your time, effort, and resources.

Be clear about why you’re on social media, who you want to reach, and the message you want communicated about your brand. Most importantly, you must be consistent.

Here’s the truth about social media for business.

You need to identify your target market. Choose social media platforms where you are most likely to find your target market. Just because everyone is talking about Instagram, it doesn’t mean you need to be there. If your target market is 18-34 years old, you need Instagram for your brand. Otherwise, stay away.

You must choose your social media platforms wisely. You cannot effectively manage a social presence on every site or even the main sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Social media consultant and fellow badass Stacey Harris suggests (and I agree) that time is best spent on two primary and two secondary sites. Facebook and LinkedIn as primary and Twitter and Pinterest as secondary, for example. Spend a few minutes each day on your primary platforms and once a week on the others. If you don’t have the time, hire a social media manager to help you provide consistent messaging and relevant content to your community.

You must have a consistent social media presence. Posting only when you have a house for sale or a special isn’t going to get you the traction you want. You’re just spinning your wheels and should quit or hire someone to help you. Services like $99 Social are affordable and can give your brand the consistency it needs. You should post when you can in addition to having the service so that your social presence is personal and engaging.

You must have a social media strategy. Back in 2010 when I started in social media, the strategy was “have a presence” but oh how times have changed. If your messaging isn’t focused, you won’t see the same results as when you focus on your target market and social media strategy.

You should be concerned about social media engagement not the number of followers. No one and I mean no one should be buying followers. That’s so 2010. Social media is about meeting your community and letting your online community get to know your brand. Trust me when I say that you’d rather have 1,000 followers and engagement than 10,000 followers and no engagement.

You must create and share your own content to share on social media. If you’re not creating your own content, then why are you on social media? Sharing other people’s content is good but to build a community, you have to establish yourself as the expert by creating content on your own blog and as a guest blogger on other people’s blogs.

If you’re struggling to find time or develop ideas for your blog, I invite you to join the 3-Day Business Blogging Badass Challenge where I will be sharing my blogging process. Register