Social Media for Small Businesses
Social Media is a big boat to try and steer. You are trying to make interesting content that will attract other users, and possibly even drive some sales. It’s a tough ask, especially as, to be honest, accounting software packages (our business) are not particularly interesting to those not involved in accounting. Well, not to the general public at least!
Socially savvy businesses know that it’s all about engaging the right audiences with valuable content (Have a look at the Paddy Power Twitter Account– horrifically offensive most of the time- but huge engagement). The “socialites” have little tolerance for the self-promoters who view social media as a means to free advertising. However, small-business owners face an uphill challenge when it comes to using a social media platform to engage and promote.
For me the use of Social Media comes down to a few simple points:
What Social Media medium do you want to use? I’m going to cover this in more detail in another blog, but bear in mind the following stats:
1 Trillion Google Searches every year
3 Million Monthly Facebook users in Ireland, 2 million logs on daily
900,000 Twitter Users, 350,000 logging on daily
1 Million Instagram Users, 700,000 daily
1 Million Snapchat Users, 600,000 daily
Who will be managing the account? Consistency is key in Social Media Market Share- it’s often quantity over quality in some cases. This can hold you back from making an impact on your chosen medium. To stay focused, it may be helpful to choose someone on your team who has an interest in social media to manage your accounts. An organic social media following doesn’t grow overnight. But with effort, your business will start to make a step forward in the right direction. Be careful not to let your accounts go dormant. Stay consistent and stay engaged and your presence is bound to generate traffic. NB always good to have a social media policy in the house to let everyone know what the message is, and how you would like it portrayed.
What message do you want to get across?– Strategies before you post. Are you hoping to gain brand/ business awareness? Do you want people to click through to your website? Choose your main goal and always keep it in mind when you develop content. And VARY it. No one like a constant bla bla blah on the same subject…
Then find out what your audience is interested in seeing. And if you have no clue, check out the feeds of your followers and competitors. Spend time investigating what they post to see what has people talking and what doesn’t.
And most importantly, log on, follow people and BE SOCIAL. Be the person behind the brand. Remember People buy from People.