Starting out on social media is overwhelming and intimidating but is also very exciting and full of opportunities for businesses to grow their audiences and subsequently their revenue.
This article is here to help business owners, seasoned or entrepreneurs who are new to the game, as well as marketing professionals who are looking to navigate the social media world and do well! We will look at getting started on social and explore 5 steps to succeeding with your social media effort, so buckle up and let's get going!!
Getting started
Everyone is trying to 'win' on social media but this is why so many lose. Social media is dying from people who forget what it is all about, platforms were created to connect people and develop an online space to interact with each other. If you look at the most successful people or companies on any social platform then you will see how they engage with their audience, interact personally and provide real value consistently. This desire to connect beats the craving of 'winning' every time and by a long way, so before you start, ask yourself 'why does our business want to be on social media?'
The answer you come back with will shape your whole social media marketing efforts. It could be to increase your brand awareness by building an audience, improve revenue by introducing social selling (social commerce) or generate more website traffic.
These are the key questions to answer before going any further:
- Why does our business want to be social media? Our goals
- Who are we trying to reach for our audience?
- What will our audience find helpful from us?
- Why would they follow us?
- How will we stand out?
These are more business questions than social media but will bring so much clarity and improve your social media experience for both you and your audience.
5 steps to success
You've got started and answered the key questions above so we can get into what we are all here for, steps to success on social media:
Step 1: Write a rough strategy
A strategy is a master plan to outline what you want to achieve and your roadmap to how you'll do it. This makes it the ideal task for step one, you want to ensure it is clear, actionable and easily communicated so that you can refer back to it easily as well as share it effortlessly.
The key ingredients to put into a social media strategy are:
- Business goals - social media goals and success metrics that align with your goals, measure what matters
- Target audience profile - include your buyer persona to gain clarity on this. If you need to create a persona then here's a template to help, buyer persona template
- Business overview - who you are, your mission and team
- An overview social strategy - which platforms you're going to use, goals, metrics to measure, any topics to avoid, any processes/systems or tools you'll use and a clear mission statement. Steal our mission statement template - We create (what content do you share) for (insert who your audience is) to help (insert goals or pain points you're helping with)
- Your content outlined - what topics will your posts cover? (these are content pillars), what value will your content bring? (educational, inspirational or entertainment) How often will you post? (this will change over time when you see what works)
Step 2: Set up profiles and analytics properly
Starting off on the right foot is so important because you're as soon as you go live you will begin building your audience and therefore establishing trust and relationships, this doesn't mean everything has to be perfect but good enough!
These are the must-haves:
- Accounts created with the same handle (@name)
- Profiles completed fully with bio's, branded with your logo and messaging
- If using Meta, Facebook or Instagram, set up Meta business manager/suite
- Add social link icons to your website's footer
Step 3: Start posting
You know what you want to post from step one so now you can get creating and sharing valuable content with your audience.
Step 4: Measure what matters
Remember those success metrics you came up with in step one? Well, they're what you want to be tracking here, it is easy to get lost in the data on social media so that's why we use the phrase 'measure what matters.' For example, if revenue is important to you then measure the number of sales and generated revenue from socials.
Step 5: Be social and human
We've already mentioned the importance of interacting and connecting with people socially on these platforms and so get to it. Be human and reach out to new people, engaging with them to build relationships and your audience will grow as a result
Wrapping it up
It is simple as those five steps, so if you're looking to supercharge your social media efforts or just looking to get started then you're ready to attack it at full speed. Remember to stay social and be human in your interactions, you're out there to help people so approach it like that.
Social media can still be a scary place, therefore don't hesitate to reach out and ask any questions. Below is a Q&A with me from our latest podcast where we talk social - give it a listen, it's short and sweet!
Q1: What is the most popular social media??
So popular in terms of sheer numbers is just Facebook with 2.4 billion users
Q2: What does short-form video mean?
Short-form video is quick digestible video that is normally anywhere between 15 and 60 seconds, and it can be a range of stuff like other content types. So it can be educational, it can be inspiring, it can be entertaining, I’m sure you’ve seen the funny cat videos, I’m sure you’ve seen the dancing trends.
Q3: What’s the best time to post on social media
This is one of the common ones. It’s a case of how long’s a piece of string, you’re going to have to test it! Social media is a very personalised experience. It’s what these platforms pride themselves on. So, test it, But also consider where your audience, who you’re trying to attract, their patterns, their behaviours.
