Social networks are here to stay. As an entrepreneur or small business owner, if you’re not using it to grow your business, you’re missing out. I’m sure you’ve already seen the statistics. In 2015, 73 percent of Americans had a profile on a social network, representing a growth of six percent compared to the previous year according to Statista. The numbers don’t lie. Social media is a way of life all over the world.
As an entrepreneur or small business owner, if you’re not using your online social presence to grow your business, you’re missing out. By 2017, the global social media audience will reach 2.55 billion, according to Emarketer.
Below I’ve listed my simple 5-step process for developing a social media marketing strategy.
1. Identify your goals.
For each company there must be a mission. Your company’s mission should have a mission statement. For every mission there must be a goal. What is the positive outcome or end goal you want to achieve? You may want to become internet famous, get featured, promote a book or training program, or just want more clients. Whatever it is, you should write down your goals and the logic behind them. Understanding where you want to go and how you are going to get there will help you define the best plan and the best route to take.
2. Get brand clarity.
Be clear about your brand before publishing. Answer these 3 important questions. What do you do for a living? Who are you helping? What do you want to be known for? Once you can clearly articulate the answers to these questions, you can communicate it on social media or in front of anyone. You need to be able to clearly and succinctly say in one sentence what you are about and describe your business model in a way that makes sense.
3. Master the art of Pull Marketing.
Pull marketing is all about attracting customers. When you create core messages with strong call-to-action statements, you’re setting the stage for people in your target audience to rate themselves and respond with “me too” or “I need that” or “where can I get more information?” Your goal is to have ideal prospects capable of seeing themselves clearly in your business model. They need to be able to see that your company offers exactly what they have been looking for.
Social platforms are a great tool to use pull marketing tactics. Whether you run ads or create a poll, survey, or contest, you can get targeted leads using advertising and messaging on social media. The key is to craft messages that your target market will respond to.
4. Connect and build relationships.
To sell anything to anyone, you must have a trust relationship. This concept is also valid online. You really need to connect, chat, and interact with people on social media before they start to trust you. One of the best ways to engage with people is by using groups within social media platforms like Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. In these groups you can talk and have electronic conversations with people and demonstrate your experience. On social sites like Instagram and Pinterest, you should use hashtags. On Twitter, use hashtags and lists to interact with others.
No matter what platform you’re on, make sure to showcase what’s unique about you. You must be able to clearly articulate your unique selling proposition. When people don’t understand what’s different about you, they lower the price of your product or service.
Another great way to build relationships with people on social media is to follow, comment, and share their content. On every social media platform, there is an opportunity to provide feedback by sharing, commenting, or clicking a button to like the message. When you appear on that person’s social media page, you’re sure to be noticed sooner or later.
5. Create a content marketing action plan and calendar.
Using social media can be overwhelming. This is precisely why you need a social media action plan and content marketing calendar. How will you blend social media into your overall marketing strategy? You need to understand that marketing works best when you have a few strategies that complement each other and work together.
The number one reason you need to put together an action plan is because your ideal clients are looking for you online. For example: You are a health and wellness life coach who specializes in nutrition and teaches people how to lose weight without dieting and have a better relationship with food. Your prospect is online searching for keywords like weight loss, healthy food, life coach, diet and wellness. As an entrepreneur in that space, you need to appear in search when prospects go looking for a solution to their problems.
For every industry, there are people looking for answers to specific problems. You should create messages for each problem that people in your target market have. Social media gives you a unique opportunity to communicate frequently with your target market on a wide variety of topics.
As you can see, using social media as a method to grow your business requires you to go back to basics and understand marketing 101. Once you complete each of the steps above, you’ll have a better idea of how to incorporate social media to grow your business.
