If you have a business whether it’s been around or brand new it should be on social media. I tell this to many people especially my friends even if it’s just a little hobby they are doing to make some extra cash. The reason behind this is because many people are on social media but they are not on every platform. It is wise to get on as many platforms or at least the main ones and pump out content and engage with your audience. Over the years I have learned how important this is because before I was only on Facebook and Instagram and let me tell you it was terrible. I barely posted content and wasn’t engaging with anybody, sounds lame right?
Engaging
What engaging does is it tells your audience that you are a real person and that you care. Some people sit there and they want comments and likes after a post but want more notifications. How do you want more and you don’t even interact with the ones that engage now? If you engage then they will feel as if they are part of the journey and you want them to feel important because they will eventually become a customer. Ever since I’ve learned this I started to engage with my audience and they are the same ones that leave comments or likes on my post. Sometimes I follow those that liked a post on Instagram and a small percent follow back.
Platforms
I am currently on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, Pintrest and planning on making a podcast. Every single day I try posting on each of these but it’s not easy and some days I lack on some. However every week something goes up unless I am sick as hell in bed. Social media is big and you don’t have to worry about spending large amounts of money like back in the day with television and billboard ads.
On Instagram I have two accounts, my personal one and my business account. I pretty much post the same things on both but on my personal one I do post funny memes and things that I do in my personal life because I have different followers. When it comes to business posts I always use the top hashtags for my field that way my chances are very high for getting viewed. I do my best to post in certain hours of the day when my audience is likely to be on. I’m always testing different posts whether it be a photo, video in the feed, stories or IGTV to see where the most views and likes come from..
On Facebook I usually post my blogs or tutorials and it turns out most of my blog views comes from Facebook. If I post a video I’ll test out if I get more views by a Youtube link or directly uploading it to Facebook. Guess what? I get more views through directly uploading it. Why? Because when somebody likes it other people from their group of friends can see what they liked and then they’ll watch it and somebody else might share it. It’s a ripple effect which can spread out to more people if you do ad spend on the video.
I never use to like or use LinkedIn because in my eyes it wasn’t as easy to use as the others. Until late last year is when I finally took it seriously. When I found out about making connections with prospects and building relationships it really got me thinking. Because on the other two platforms you don’t know the profession of some individuals. It’s very hard to target specifically business owners because when running ads on Facebook for example, they sometimes add or remove options that can help you with marketing. On LinkedIn you see exactly who they are and what they do and if you pay for the premium you can send them in mail even if you aren’t connected. I have been building relationships with many different professionals on LinkedIn and I’m constantly posting videos or blogs. Some have connected me to somebody that can help me and vice versa. Who knows if someone in my contacts might have a friend that can benefit from my services?
Youtube
Youtube is only videos and you have to get creative with it, what do I mean by that? Let’s say you are a dentist and obviously you are very busy with your practice. Between you and your staff if you make videos of day to day moments and post up client testimonials or explainer videos you will eventually build up a following. Youtube is owned by Google and it is the second largest search engine in the world. Let that sink in for a bit. People either want to read or watch something to get their answers and believe me if you rank up high enough in SEO your videos will be popping up. It has to be consistent just like all of the other platforms because posting once or twice a month isn’t cutting it. Not only can you monetize your videos but you can also run ads targeting your ideal clients or customers. When you provide value and info people will build trust and prefer you over others. They need to see a face behind the name. What I do on Youtube is make tutorials and post it because for certain there are many that want to learn filmmaking and photography. All of my links to the other social media platforms and website are at the bottom of every post.
I just started with Pinterest, it hasn’t been a full month yet but I already have some followers and I see through my website that I get some people from there landing on my blogs because of the links that I posted. I recently found out that it’s very big and you can run ads on it as well. So what I do is I post an image with the description and link it back to my blogs or youtube videos. This is important if you have a website because in order to rank high you need backlinks. For those that are not so tech savvy let me explain. Backlinks is when you post a link from your website to your social media platforms whether through a post or the bio. When your different audiences see it and are curious or interested they will click it and all of this data is captured. Google will see all of the different people going to your website from different avenues.
Podcast
Soon I will start a podcast by ripping the audio from my youtube videos. However, I can’t use all of them because most require to be seen since I do visual arts. I do have videos where I am just speaking on experience and giving advice but I will start doing some episodes with my friend who is an actor. This will be revolving around my industry and the struggles that artists go through just to get to our dreams. Believe it or not people listen to podcasts especially during commutes. I stopped listening to music and began listening to podcasts of entrepreneurs and marketers to learn what’s new and what they are doing. You have to stay up to date if not then you will be left behind.
Unfortunately we are quickly approaching 2020 and there are businesses without a website. This is hard for me to wrap my head around and nobody can argue that not all businesses need a website. When its a law or medical practice yes you need one and I’m sure your business isn’t doing too well. If all of the social media platforms were to melt and perish tomorrow you will at least have your website with an email list that you can interact with your clients and customers. If Bill Gates said, “If your business is not on the internet, then your business will be out of business.” then imagine if your business is also without social media.
I wouldn’t recommend sticking to one or two platforms because not everyone is on Facebook or Instagram. But everyone does have Youtube especially if they have kids they’ll have a Youtube account. You want to reach as many people as possible and point them all back to your website. Building your brand on the internet with constant content will grow your business. Remember there is a difference between brand awareness and advertising. You will not buy a brand new drink sitting next to the one you always buy if you have never heard of it before.
