When you launch your small business, one of the first tips people share after you acquire your domain, hosting, and legal entity, is to secure your social media names through sites such as nameck.com or checkusernames.com. Time and time again, I have seen consulting clients wait until the very last moment to get their social media names only to find out they can’t. It can throw a monkey wrench into your plans. You will have to add shop, an underscore, or something of that nature.
What’s worse is when your company jumps on a million platforms and then abandons them. Leaving your target audience guessing what is going on. This is something we did when we jumped onto YouTube then abandoned it weeks later. However, the tips below are tips we are using to help get us back on the platform and you can use them too.
Selection of Social Media Platforms
This is something discussed in various articles on the internet. Marketing gurus or experts will say jump on every platform you don’t want to miss a potential customer, client, or reader. This is great if you have a team of 2 or more who can actually manage your social media. My word of advice is find 3 platforms you personally enjoy using. I personally love using Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest to connect with our audience. By picking only a few you won’t feel overwhelmed by trying to be everywhere. You can focus your energy in the right places.
Research Where Your Audience Is
Where is your audience hanging out online? You probably have not thought about that really but that is rather important. Is your target audience on Snapchat, Ello, or Myspace? This is something you might need to consider. This plays a huge role in your social media strategy. Yes, Myspace is a popular social media platform that music people use and artist are discovered on. It’s great to be on bigger platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google Plus, but if your audience is not hanging out in those platforms you are wasting time. Examine where your potential readers, clients, and customers are at.
Automation
This is a catch 22 to social media when you are running a small business. You cannot evenly distribute your time on every platform. One platform will always outweigh the others. You can automate your social media as we have previously discussed. However, you don’t want your social media timelines full of automated tweets, post, or more. Engagement is why people follow you. It’s best to make sure you are on each platform you pick at least twice a day.
Understanding The Platform
Twitter is for conversations. Instagram and Tumblr are for visuals. Facebook is to share news, stories, as well as a multitude of other things. Every platform has a purpose and you want to make sure you are using it correctly to ensure your users stay engaged and you don’t feel like quitting. Many times during consultations people are like “Tasha this platform is not working for me. No one is following or engaging”. I then examine how they are using the platform, which is normally wrong. If you are constantly selling or posting blurry photos why would anyone support you. Or if someone goes on your page but doesn’t know what your actual business is, these are things to consider when trying to understand why a platform isn’t working for you. Dig deeper into platforms to see how you can use them to help your business.
Social Media abandonment is virtually a cardinal sin for small business owners. You can’t excite customers by entering platforms only to leave them in the dark. What can you do in this moment to make sure you are regularly engaging your audience on the right platforms?
