Sell Yourself… Through Social Media!

It’s no secret that social media is becoming one of the most influential platforms you can use to directly communicate with customers and increase traffic to your business’s website. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN, and Instagram are sites that your customers are using daily – so why not reach out to them on a platform they’re already familiar with? Maybe you’re worried about the time you’ll have to put in to your social media account or you just aren’t all that social media savvy to begin with. While creating a social media presence for your business can seem like stepping into a strange and unfamiliar land at first, follow these tips and you’ll be commanding your way through the social media realm in no time.

Plan, plan, and plan again.
Your social media presence should be adhering to a social media marketing plan. And just like with any other business plan, social media marketing takes carefully planned and strategized moves to present you with successful results. Before you get tweet happy and start posting uncorrelated images, tweets, and statuses, create an organized social media plan. Set goals for your business that you want to see achieved through social media and plan your posts around these goals.

Be engaged with your followers.
Remember that your followers are also your customers (or potential customers) and you should be giving them top notch customer service even away from your company website. Your engagement with your followers online should be compelling and inviting. A simple shout out thanking your new followers on Twitter goes a long way in showing how much your customers mean to you. And don’t forget your hashtags and emojis!

Know when to post.
Your social media presence won’t be all that helpful if no one is seeing your posts. Know your business’s targeted audience and when they use social media sites the most. Corporate employees check social media at different times than fitness enthusiasts, while young adults check social media pretty much all day long. Is your business a local restaurant? Have some posts go out just before the lunch hour. Scheduling your posts at times when you know your target audience will see them is a foolproof way to make sure your business’s social media voice is being heard.

Try new things.
Social media trends are constantly changing. Things go in and out of style on the web almost weekly. Make sure your social media presence isn’t stagnant, but gives your followers new content to keep them engaged. Often, when consumers unfollow a business on any social media site, it’s because the posts were “boring” and just take up space on their homepage or newsfeed. Don’t let this happen to you! Keep the content refreshing, and learn to sell your business in new and interesting ways that your followers will appreciate.
If managed intelligently, your business’s social media presence can easily reach a wide range of customers and gain you a very loyal following for your product. Social media platforms were created to help people connect and communicate in creative, exciting ways. One final tip: Have fun with it! Generate a social media presence that your followers can be engaged with and enjoy following. Your likes and retweets can only increase from there.