The number one lesson most Social Media users need to learn is that simply being on social media is not enough. The election candidate I saw most from on social media, was the guy who came in last in his constituency. Yet he was very active on social media for months in the run up to voting.
Figures from SocialMediaExaminer.com this year, showed that Social Media gives increased exposure for 92% of business users, but the same research shows that it gives an increase in sales in only 50% of cases.
That, put simply, tells us that half of all people trying to grow their businesses on social media fail to increase sales! That’s an astounding figure.
So, why is that?
There are two big culprits:
Putting effort into the wrong social media outlets.
And
Putting out the wrong message.
Before you commit to any effort online you should make a plan.
Here are some questions to help with that:
- How much time per week are you going to spend on social media? (You can do lots with more time and less money, or with less time and more money spent)
- Who are your ideal clients? (age, profession, gender at a minimum)
- Where do they hang out on social media?
- Did you know many professionals have their own social media platforms? For example: http://architizer.com/ for architects.
- What do you do that they want?
- Is that a short message or do you need a long message to reach them?
- Can you get that message out on the social media you’ve chosen? (Does it allow enough space per message?)
- Can your client recognise themselves in your message?
- Does it touch them and their needs? Can they realise your service addresses their needs?
So, identify who needs your help, what message will connect to them, and select the right social media platforms to get that out.
Keep spreading your help!