Spotlight on Social Media
Click Unto Others
A couple of weeks ago I shared with you my big walk-aways from a recent Small Business Show. Besides the impracticability of all of us becoming social media mega-influencers, I pointed out four things which make social media effective for a business:
Consistency
Engagement
Relationship
Authenticity
I'd like to expand on that a little bit, beginning with consistency.
Consistency
If your desire is to become one of those mega influencers, unless you are already a huge celebrity with millions of followers, then consistency might be your biggest challenge. The really big players post all day long, every day. They post several times a day to their newsfeed and they also add video stories with great frequency. In case you can't tell, that's a big job, not to mention keeping up with all the liking and commenting needed to fuel these online relationships.
For the rest of us, one business post a day is a more realistic goal to set. That shouldn't keep you from having more than one post a day, if you have things to share, but you shouldn't let a day pass without reminding your audience you are alive. This is where I can help some of you. I can create and post daily for you, leaving you free to focus on other things. The price is very affordable, but your individual price will depend on how many sites, what types of posts you want and how much hashtag research will need to be done.
Engagement
Clicks, likes, comments and shares are the measure of engagement. If you have the most beautiful, creative and informative posts in the whole wide world, but no one ever hits the like button, clicks on a link, has a comment or shares the posts, then to a certain extent you are wasting your time. Sure, there are a lot of people on social media who are merely observers. These observers may benefit from your posts and you might be the very one they would call if they needed someone to provide your service, but you can't measure that connection.
Each social media site has its own algorithms, but regardless of the number of people who might see your post, it's the engagements your posts receive which will determine your reach. So, engagement is an important goal. Consistency helps boost engagement, but relationship really ramps up the possibility of engagement.
Relationship
The more of a relationship you have with someone, the more likely you are to get engagement from them. You can build online relationships by engaging with others. To a certain extent, the old golden rule applies - Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you want likes, like other peoples' posts. If you want comments, then comment. If you are clicking on links people post and making comments responding to the linked article, then they are more likely to respond in kind. If you really want to be a hero, share the posts of others. That's the ultimate engagement!
Consistency, engagement and relationship really go hand-in-hand. If you are consistent in your posting, then there's more of a chance for people to engage with your posts. If you engage others and respond when they engage with your posts, then you are going to build relationships. When you master these key factors of social media, then you are well on your way to being a social media maven.
Authenticity
Authenticity is the glue that holds all of this together. You have to be willing to open up online and be sociable to be effective. If you post four times a day, but every post is "BUY MY STUFF," your followers will ignore you at best, but they are more likely to hide, unfollow or unfriend, if that is all they see.
Authenticity is not airing all of your dirty laundry, but it is about being real. One of the most frequent complaints about social media is how fake it can be. Everyone is always fine, their spouse is always perfect, their kids provide one success story after another, their pets never need grooming and their business is always succeeding. Yeah, right!
Sharing things that frustrate you, scare you, excite you, gratify you and make your day, gives you authenticity. It's not that you can't brag when your kid wins a swim tournament, it's just that you should also admit that you fell into the pool as you left the natatorium. You become more real to people and they feel as if you are more authentic. They are more willing to share you with other people.
If you're wondering how to make these things happen on your social media site, let's talk. I'll help you develop a plan to get your message out there.