Are you too busy for social media usage in your organization?
You’re not alone. Let’s face it, this stuff takes time. Time to learn about social media and then more time to actually use it. Time you don’t have. And you may have run a successful business for years without social media, so why start now?
Because even if business is good – it could be better.
In this age of social media, your customers have changed. They want to know more about who they are doing business with, plus they want to see that you care about more than peddling your products or services. They want to see information that helps them.
People want engaging, interesting information.
Use social media to share success stories, tips, interesting facts, positive experiences or photos. Once you start seeing the world through social media eyes, it doesn’t take much time. Think about what your customers want, then deliver that to them via Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterst, a blog or an email blast. They will love you for it. And encourage them to post back their questions or comments. After all, it should be social, right?
Resist the urge to talk about yourself. Don’t focus on being promotional, be personal.
But why? Why take the time?
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Increase awareness of your organization
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Increase traffic to your website (+ your search engine rankings)
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Improve perceptions of your organization
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Monitor what people are saying about you
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Increase new business
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Identify potential new products or services
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Run contests or promotions without added advertising costs
Fine. But how? How do you fit social media updating into your already-packed schedule?
Here are some ideas:
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Hire an intern. Not only are young and spunky interns up on the latest social media platforms, but they are an outsider to your organization. In a good way. They can offer a fresh perspective on what a customer might think or want to learn about your industry because they are in the same boat.
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Delegate. Perhaps you don’t have anyone that can do it all, but is there anyone on your staff that is a talented writer? Or someone who is into making videos? A team member with a passion for photography? Or maybe even someone that is witty and quick on their feet… Having more than one person work on posts can help make it more diverse and fresh as long as they follow the tone you establish for your organization’s communications.
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Use a smart phone. If you have one, smart phones can really make it easy. There are many apps that allow you to snap a photo and post it with a few sentences in less than 60 seconds from a phone. Bam! You’re done.
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Start small. Starting small is better than not starting at all. Choose one social media site to get started with. Choose wisely. If your customers are consumers, Facebook might be best. If you are a B2B, perhaps Linkedin would be better. Then make a plan to post something to your social media of choice once every two weeks. Put it on your calendar. Stick to it like it’s a meeting you can’t reschedule.
If all else fails, you could consider hiring a Content Marketing specialist.
At New Sky Websites, we can help. First we consult with you to find out your story and details about your audience, then we setup a plan to meet your goals and get measureable results.
We can write 2-4 posts for you monthly – all you would need to do is participate in 1-2 conference calls a month for us to gather your input on ideas and goals.
Contact us for more info. Not that we’re trying to sell you something. 🙂
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