So you have developed your avatar and know who you’re marketing to, just like what we discussed in part 1. Now we need to find out where your audience hangs out. For many companies Facebook, especially if you are selling to consumers, is probably going to be a likely candidate. Once you have identified one social media platform that you are going to use and excel in, you should begin to hone your message. Then look at the view, likes, and response data to understand what your audience is interested in.
After working with many companies one thing is very clear most are not familiar with social media and they don’t have a lot of time to use it. So rather than trying to be everywhere on every social platform, my advice would be to pick the platform that your avatar is most likely already spending time on and focus your marketing efforts there.
Pick A Social Platform and Excel
Although you’ll find most of the time that we will mention three or four social media platforms please realize that there are hundreds that you could choose from and it’s your responsibility to find the ones that best fit your audience.
It’s important to have a well-rounded set of goals when using social media, especially in the beginning. For example, a lot of people have an unreal and unspoken expectation to use social media in the beginning and generate a ton of traffic. Although this is possible, it is not likely and I want to give you an example to compare.
I’ve said this before but rather than think of social media as a billboard, think of it as a building. A lot of planning goes into place when constructing a building for business. You look for prime location, what side of the street how many people pass this area on a daily basis, how much is it going to cost, etc.?
Building a social media platform is really much the same thing. In the first few months, our goals are to build the platform. Rather than setting goals of generating traffic, it might be ideal to look at the data. Don’t overlook that 1st you must have an audience to speak to, building an audience is a goal & strategy in itself.
1st Goal
So our goal for the 1st few weeks is to identify one social media platform that is likely a better fit for your avatar. Build out your page. Each social media platforms have some level of customization they allow. Use your logo, and successful marketing you have previously used in the past, and personalize it. Consumers and businesses connect with humans, not buildings of fancy slogans. They want authenticity.
2nd Goal
Establish goals for followers. Find current clients, past clients, family, & friends. These are the easiest to identify and connect with. Then set goals for new connections for each week. Find people using hashtags, community pages, or find pages similar to yours and see who follows them.
3rd Goal
Have a consistent posting schedule then begin following it. With a little thought, you can pre-schedule a week’s worth of content in about an hour. That’s 15 posts! Then, in a month you can look at the data.
Tips to having great success
Post Frequently
I suggest 4-5 times per week at least and up to 3 times
I suggest 4-5 times per week at least and up to 3 times per day at the most.
Content
- Create a call to action in almost every post.
- Include a picture with almost every post.
Find a star
Who is the one most likely talking?
Content types
- This or That
- Themes to days
- Fan Showcase
- Office Showcase
- Business Shout Outs – Local goodwill
- Caption This
Ideal Post Times (Try to pre-schedule 3 posts a day.)
- 8 AM
- 11 AM
- 4 PM
- 8 PM
If you run your Facebook posting like a business and put it on your schedule you will find time for it. If you follow the plan that I laid out you can eventually learn to create a couple of week’s worth of posting in an hour or two. Then you can just check in daily for a few minutes
to make sure it is operating smoothly, and comment back.
Below I have further explained my content strategy. Use this as a guide to finding content that you can use. Make sure to find content that reflects the personality of your office, but somewhat conforms to the style that I have laid out here.
The last page is an actual content map that you can use to write your “every week” schedule. I have filled out two days as an example. If you take a look at this you will see that every Monday there will be a “Local Business Shout Out” at 8 a.m. ideally it would be great to have three posts a day, but if your time and staff are limited, simply pre-schedule one post a day at different times.
Once you learn this concept well, literally take a 1 or 2-hour block of time each week to schedule this content.
This or That
This could also be A or B or True and False Questions
Themes to Days
Health Tip Tuesday
Game Day Theme
Don’t forget to add a product/service tip of the day!
Client/Fan Show Case
Bring your clients into the story with a gas card giveaway monthly!!
Office Show Case
Help your clients feel like they are a part of your world by highlighting birthdays, milestones, and other major office events.
Business Shout Outs
Highlight other companies and @tag their FB page for exposure.
Caption This
Find funny pictures that people are left to add their imagination and comment.
Monday
- Post 1: Local Business Shout Out 8 am
- Post 2: This or That 11 am
- Post 3: Caption This 4 pm
Tuesday
- Post 1: Themed Day (Health Tip Tuesday) 8 am
- Post 2: Office Showcase 11 am
- Post 3: This or That 4 pm
Simply continue this for the rest of the week; hopefully, you can see that once you have a plan on how to tackle this it can be done well ahead of time with less stress. Good luck! If you are looking for a social media agency to help your business grow, Anthem Software can help you. Contact us now!
