Social media is a key factor in reaching out to your potential customers. the name of the game for outreach right now. Once you get people on your side, you can start to own their experience.
Have them sign up to your email list and they become very valuable to you and more likely to buy from you at some point.
Most businesses have realized that simply having a website isn’t enough to get found anymore, especially for newer companies. Social media can definitely get the word out about your product and company, but it needs to be approached strategically.
Multiple Networks
There are countless networks to choose from. The largest and most talked about are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat. Each of them has their own unique approach and value, which we’ll get into later this month.
All of these networks have something in common, they are social. What does that mean? At their foundation, these networks are meant to connect people and spark a conversation.
This means your social media presence can’t be all about you. While it may not seem like a good idea, you want to share content on these networks that isn’t your own. This doesn’t necessarily have to be from so-called ‘competitors’.
For example, if you are a software company providing booking software to hotels, you could post content related to travelers and their booking patterns. Recent reports on trends in travel and buying behavior works as well.
These articles aren’t necessarily promoting companies that make something similar to you. These articles are, however, making the conversation about your customers, not you. The people buying booking software are interested in improving the booking experience and learning about projected attendance rates for the year.
All of this is known as curated content, and should account for half of what you post to your social networks.
Definition of “Social”
Have you ever seen an old teen movie, where the main character starts out really shy? There’s usually a scene at a dance, and they’re holding up the wall. Someone approaches them and says, “Hey, go be social!”
I want to take a moment and remind everyone of the definition of social. According to Dictionary.com, there are seven definitions, but here’s the most simplistic:
Social: seeking or enjoying the companionship of others
There’s a very important word in this definition: others. You can’t be social with just one person. The same is true about social media.
You are meant to interact with others on social media.
Now, let’s remember that wallflower. Someone might approach them at the party, and start talking. Now they’re both being social. However, that’s only one person who approached the wallflower. There are hundreds of other people at the party.
There’s also a good chance the person who approached you first won’t help you. Remember the social butterfly term? It’s used to describe someone who’s always interacting with someone else. They know everyone. But, because they know everyone, they spend little time interacting with any one person.
If you only interact with those people who visit your Facebook page, LinkedIn company page, or Twitter profile, you’re missing out on a lot of opportunity. Social media isn’t meant to be passive. You can’t just wait for people to come to you.
Your company needs to actively engage other people.
Do more than say “Hi!”
Many think, “If I do something interesting enough, then people will follow me to see more of what I have to say.” Let us look at some numbers.
Facebook has over 1.8 billion users. That’s almost 23% of the entire world population! What does that mean?
When people go searching for content on your subject matter, there are a lot of other options. If you don’t seek out those that might be interested, there’s a good chance they’ll never know about you.
Now, when you join a social media channel, let’s say you do go and interact with 100 people. You start to follow them, and maybe even send a quick message. They follow you back and suddenly, you’ve got a lot of interested people following you. That’s great!
But, let’s go back to our party analogy. If you only say hi and exchange pleasantries when you first arrive and then spend the rest of the night as a wallflower, will anyone remember you? What about all of the people who joined the party later? Did you say hi to them? Did you engage them in conversation?
If not, those first few acquaintances are the only ones who know you’re there. The same is true of social media. If you get a ton of followers through mutual follows, but then do nothing to continue the interaction, they’ll probably forget you. If you don’t continuously reach out to new people, people forget you’re there.
Social media needs to be a place where you actively participate on a regular basis. Once set up, you need to continue to circulate the party.