5 Things You Need To Do Before You Even Think About Posting On Social Media

Blog

Sep 1

Do you have a small business you want to grow online but are struggling to get found by your ideal audience?

Are you confused by social media? Do you post and post on social media but find that only a small group of the same people, mostly family and friends, are engaging with your content?

Before you jump into all things social media, we need to start with the foundation of all marketing, no matter what the platform.

Step 1 Understand Your Brand

Before you start marketing your business online, get out a pen and paper and write down some business branding basics. This might seem trivial but, trust me, when it comes to messaging, it is so much easier to create content and so much clearer to communicate your message when you are coming from the right place.

What is the mission of your business? What are the business values? If your audience could summarize how they feel about your company, what would they say currently? What do you want them to say about your company?

Write down some adjectives that you want your company to be seen as “relatable, professional, trust-worthy, bold, fun, out-of-the-box, creative, innovative, stable, etc.”

Keeping these values, keywords, and mission front of mind will help you stay clear and focused on what content you create for your brand.

Step 2 Understand Your Audience

Before marketing your business it is vital to understand your unique audience. This can be referred to as your ideal client or ideal audience. Businesses that try to reach everyone fail to reach the individual. You want to communicate to the heart of the individual person to make that emotional connection.

Get really specific with the small group of people you help.

Step 3 Give People A Reason To Follow You

When creating content, remember to keep your ideal audience in mind. Create content that brings them value. This is where knowing your audience's pain points and what they are looking for help in your marketing.

You can be entertaining, informative, inspiring, educational, funny, smart, artistic, and inspirational.

Step 4 Start A Blog

Think of social media as your advertising strategy but you need a home for your leads to come to where they can find more information and actually purchase from you. A blog on your own website will allow you to create content that can get found in Google Search. You’ll build authority with your audience with a blog and be seen as an expert as well as gain authority with Google.

Your blog is also where you can grow your audience by capturing them onto an email list. You don’t want your leads to visit once and never come back again. An email list allows you to stay in contact with your leads. Studies show that conversion rates on emails are around 3% whereas social media has about a .5% conversion rate. So, your blog and email system is a priority to set up before you start bringing in leads via social media.

Step 5 Know How Each Social Media Platform works

Social media is not a one-size fits all solution. Each platform has a different culture and different algorithm. Find out where your ideal audience hangs out and focus on that one platform. You don’t need to be on all of them.

Facebook is ideal for building relationships, ideally within groups. You can generate leads by building relationships in these groups or creating your own group.
Instagram is great for inspiration, education, and entertainment. It’s a little harder to build relationships on Instagram but great to get found by new leads.
LinkedIn is perfect for B2B (Business to Business) relationships and making business connections.
TikTok is no longer the dancing app from 2020. TikTok is quickly becoming a great way for businesses to find new leads and build relationships at the same time.