Social media has provided brands, businesses, and companies all over the world with the opportunity to engage with their target market on a scale never before accomplished in the physical world. Even the newest solopreneurs stand to benefit from sound social media strategies, but often the world of digital marketing can seem crowded, flooded with buzzwords, and somewhat confusing for those who don’t spend all their time in front of a computer screen. Fortunately, beginner-level social media strategies can be extremely effective in setting up the online presence of your business, product, or service and will help you to forge connections with your audience on a large scale.
1. Select Your Platforms
As solopreneurs we have limited time and have to be selective as to how we spend it. It is so easy to get caught up in the next big thing and before you know it your spending time where it is not effective. Do your homework and determine where your target market hangs out. It makes no sense to promote your brand where it will not reach your ideal clients. Develop your strategy and plan before moving forward and then you will be able to measure your results and make adjustments when needed. To help in the choosing of platforms you may want to head over to Knowem. Two reasons one you can register your business name across hundreds of networks just to reserve them and ensure someone else does not use your business name. Second, it will allow you to do some research and determine what platforms you may want to play on outside of the top 5 or 6.
2. Listen!
This is great advice in general. [tweet_dis inject=”@donnaamos”]You need to listen to your audience before you build your social media strategy so you know what your goals and targets should be. Find out what they like about you, how you can improve on your service, what unites your customers, and what divides them. There will likely be several different groups within your consumer base who like what you do for different reasons, so be sure to listen to all of them to avoid alienating any segment of your audience. If you are launching a new business then follow your competitors and listen to their audience to help you determine what you should and should not do on social media.
3. Set a Single Realistic Goal
To start off with, you need to clearly and definitively decide what your goal is for your social media strategy. Are you trying to get more traffic to your website? Do you need to make more digital sales of your products, or are you trying to raise awareness and build brand loyalty as a new solopreneur? Choose one goal and decide how you’ll achieve it so you can remain focused and attentive to your goal at all times. This goal must be attainable and measurable so you know when you’ve achieved it.
4. The Indicators of Your Success
The means by which you measure the success of your social media strategy define whether or not you’ll get there. You need an objective measure so you can determine whether or not your social media strategy is making a difference to your business. You can measure sales, content engagement, and “likes” on your Facebook page very easily, and these are all attainable goals with observable benefits to your business. On the other hand, measuring the satisfaction or loyalty of your customers is much harder in the short term, so perhaps you should hold off on that particular goal until you have the means to do so.
5. The Emotional Connection
[tweet_dis inject=”#SMM @donnaamos”]The Ancient Greeks called this pathos, and that word refers to the emotional connection you make with your audience. This is the hinge on which your business’s success swings, and could not be more important. You can create an emotional connection by writing and telling your business’ story. What are your humble beginnings, and why did you decide to do what it is you do? What’s your mission, and why have you chosen it? Creating an emotional connection between your brand and your audience inspires loyalty and humanizes you in their mind’s eye. In the sea of digital marketing, you need to stand out as much as possible, and the creation of an emotional connection is a tragically underused tool in the social media strategist’s toolbox.
Always try to associate your business with positive emotions rather than negative ones. For example, many charities focus on the good they’re doing for disadvantaged communities and individuals rather than the plight of those they’re helping. The human brain, despite all our infinite capacity for thought and reason, is primitive, and will instinctively shy away from anything that it associates with sadness or unpleasant feelings. On the other hand, establishing a connection between your brand and feelings of happiness and satisfaction encourages users to get involved with what you do.
