Do you get confused when posting on social media. Are you unsure where, when and what to post. Follow these simple tips to make it all a lot easier.
Where to post
Before blindly following the crowd and using the same social media channels as everyone else, stop and think. Which channels are going to work best for YOUR business?
Who is your ideal client and where do they hang out?
Firstly, you need to be clear on who is your ideal client. You need to know who they are, what their
interests are and where they go online to ask questions and find answers to their
problems. When you know this, you will
have a better understanding of where they hang out online.
Facebook is still currently the biggest social media platform
but that doesn’t mean it is the best for your business. If you have a B2B business you could be
better placed using LinkedIn.
If your business is highly visual Pinterest or Instagram could
be the place to hang out.
Instagram has rapidly gained popularity particularly with a
younger audience, but still has to catch on with the older generation. Therefore, if you are looking to gain elderly
clients for arthritic massage sessions, Instagram may not be the best place to
spend your time.
One or two channels can be better than the whole caboodle
To avoid overwhelm, don’t go trying to post on every social
media channel going. It will simply
become too time consuming and confusing.
Choose two channels and become really good at these rather than spreading
yourself too thinly.
When to post
When planning when to post take into consideration what time
zone your ideal client is in and when are they most likely to be active online.
If your target audience is young mums,
they are unlikely to be online when it’s the early morning school run or pick
up. You may be better posting when they
have put the kids to be and are settling down in the evening.
What to post
You want to create a mix of posts both in type and content,
but to attract your ideal client you need to posting what they want to hear
about.
Get social yourself.
Join groups where your ideal client hangs out. What questions are they asking? What are the hot topics? What frustrations are they talking
about? Use this information to create
posts that help solve their problems or give tips to help them towards gaining
solutions for their problems.
Listen to the words and phrases that your ideal clients are
using. Replicate these words in your
posts. If you hear people complaining
and asking for tips on how to get their child to sleep through nightmares,
start your post off with ‘top tip to help your child sleep through a nightmare’. Keep it simple and don’t get so creative with
your words that you lose your target audience.
Look at the interaction within these groups and also watch your competitors. What type of posts get the most response? Is it quotes, pictures, questions or top tips? Replicate these types of posts on your own chosen channel.
P.S. Would you like help planning your social media to help increase your reach to gain more clients and make more money? Join my member’s club for a step-by-step guide. You’ll love it and start to get the results you want. Find out more here.
I was given a challenge recently by my own mentor to do a series of Facebook Live videos to help build my profile. Now, I have done many of these in the past so this didn’t bother me at all but I had forgotten a few simple tricks that can make the process less daunting and far more successful.
And I’m going to share them here with you.
Top Tips How To Do A Successful Facebook Live
PREPARE YOUR CONTENT
Don’t just start recording without at least a few minutes of thought.
What’s your subject going to be about?
Yes, that’s obvious, I hear you say but so many go off track and totally forget what they were supposed to be talking about when caught up in the live moment.
What’s your objective?
Do you want to raise your visibility or gain more subscribers to your mailing list? Or are you using this as a lead into a paid product? Decide this in advance as it will determine your call to action at the end of your Facebook Live recording.
Create your content
Write your intro and what you are going to be talking about
Create a catchy heading to give to the Facebook Live video
Prepare some bullet points for the main content. You need to be looking at the camera so don’t read off a full script. Just a few simple bullet points will keep you on track.
Jot down a short, simple call to action. Tell viewers what you want them to do next. Do you want them to call you, email you, visit your website or something else?
GAIN PRIOR INTEREST
Post in advance and let followers know what date and time you are going live and what the subject is going to be.
Encourage them to be there live for a special offer (if you have one)
FINAL CHECKLIST
Microphone turned on
Wi-Fi connected (if live)
Battery fully charged on recording equipment or connected to a power source
Lighting correct. Use natural daylight if possible but beware of shadows across your face or sunlight in your eyes. Buy an anglepoise light with a daylight bulb if you are in a dimly lit room.
Non-distracting background. Check your background. Keep it simple and uncluttered. You don’t want people being distracted by what’s going on behind you and a busy or messy background will do just that.
Phone turned off. Don’t forget to turn off the sound on your landline if that is in earshot. (Remember to turn it back on again after!)
Computer notifications turned off
Children and animals out of earshot
Lift your chin and look up to the camera. If you have the camera too low and look down to it viewers will be staring up your nose – not the best view!
Check your appearance. Do your clothes look ok and are your teeth clean? You don’t want spinach from your lunch causing more conversation than what you are talking about. Double check hair and makeup.
Have your bullet point prompts near to hand
Keep pen and paper near to hand (make notes of any follow-ups to questions required)
Have a flash card with your contact details (useful to hold up at the end of the video for people to know how to contact you.
A glass of water (useful if your throat gets dry or for coughing fits)
Smile – and have fun!
GO LIVE
Give housekeeping tips.
Do you want people to ask questions as you go along, or do you want them to wait until you have finished? Tell people watching on replay to post their comments and use the like/love buttons.
Ask for interaction.
Tell people constantly to give you a thumbs up or a heart as you go along. Ask them to give a thumbs up if they understand what you are talking about. Ask them to give you a heart if they love what you are saying.
Be responsive to messages.
Make sure you answer messages. Thank people if they leave a message. Respond quickly if viewers ask questions.
Be yourself.
Smile and have fun. People want to see the real you. Don’t worry if it doesn’t all go to plan. Viewers will see that you are human after all and will be able to relate to you so much better.
AFTER
Keep checking in
Go back and check for any messages. Go back over the next couple of days and check if any new comments or messages have come in. Respond to these.
Share your video
Share your Facebook Live video using the specific link. All you need to do is right-click on the video once it is finished and, on your page, and copy the URL. Take this link and share it in your blog and newsletters. Get your message out to as many other people as you can.
If you do any form of social media marketing (and I sincerely hope you do), you will more than likely come across suitable groups and/or pages that allow you to promote your business or special offers.
The sad thing is that all too often I see people wasting a valuable opportunity here by not making it easy enough for interested prospects to find out more about them.
There are some great posts out there that are really engaging but when I go to find out more information or how to book/get in contact, it is so difficult to find where I need to go that I give up.
Please, if you ever post out your offerings on social media, grab a coffee and watch this short (7-minute video) that will hopefully help you to make the path far easier for those valuable prospects to find you.
What everybody ought to know about using a personal page for promoting their business on Facebook
Are you still using your personal Facebook page for promoting your business? If you are, stop right now!
Facebook may remove it
I see so many of these so just have to share some words of warning about using your personal page for business use. Facebook frowns upon using a personal profile for business use and I have known a few people who have had their pages removed for doing this. They had built up a significant following but had their business name on the page rather than just their own name which got flagged up to the powers that be at Facebook ivory towers. I only know of one lady who had a polite warning and told to change it but I know of two others whose pages just disappeared! All their Facebook contacts gone and nothing they could do about it.
Keep your personal and business life separate
Aside from this, you really want to try and keep your personal and business persona’s separate. You may have just started up a small business which you promoted to your inner circle of family and friends but as your business grows you will want to widen this audience. Do you really want strangers seeing photos of you on a night out? Is this giving a professional image to your business? And even if you don’t have the tendency to go out on a Saturday night and roll around the floor drunk, are you comfortable with potential clients seeing your innermost personal conversations with friends and family? And again, even if you don’t post much personal information on your page, you have no control over what your darling friends may post on your wall that has the danger of causing embarrassment.
You will lose potential followers
Another significant problem with using a personal page is that people who don’t know you can’t ‘follow’ or ‘like’ you as a business. They have to add you as a friend which then in turn allows you to see all of their personal information on their Facebook page. People who don’t know you are unlikely to be comfortable doing this and you will miss out on an opportunity to connect with people outside of your circle of friends.
If you are using a personal page to market your business on Facebook, go change it now and invite your friends across to like it. Even easier than that, Facebook has made it easier to migrate your personal page to a business page if you wish and they have an easy to follow guide here.
And once you have your new Facebook page set up, pop over to The Small Business Kit and share it for others to see.
*If you would like to know more in depth detail about Facebook marketing and how to make it work for your business visit The Small Business Kit and become a member today, all for less than your weekly vanilla latte!
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