Where, when and what to post on social media

Where, when and what to post on social media

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.

How to increase your reach on Facebook

How to increase your reach on Facebook

Why are your Facebook likes getting less and less

Have you noticed your reach on Facebook is getting less and less?

You are coming up with what you think are fabulously creative posts and yet still there the comments and likes are so intermittent as to be non-existent?

Well, here is the reason why.

Firstly, one of the simplest reasons may be the huge increase in the number of people using the platform.  This means that you are now trying to gain attention from a far larger pot than you were a couple of years ago.  More and pages are being created on a daily basis so you really need to make sure that you know who your ideal client is and post things that are going to captivate your audience.

But the other reason that has cropped up relatively recently is that Facebook surveyed hundreds of thousands of people and the overwhelming response was that they didn’t want to see so much promotional content.  They wanted to see interesting posts.

Facebook is rewarding quality, not quantity

Therefore, Facebook decided to reward those that created quality content that their audience really wanted to hear about rather than the constant promotions and gimmicks that are so frequently posted.

Facebook is less and less likely to show overly promotional posts that use calls to action and push for sales, to enter competitions etc.

Facebook will seek out those posts that gain interactions such as likes, shares and comments which show they are quality, relevant posts and they will help these posts to reach a wider audience.

Overall, the Facebook algorithm is rewarding those pages who post less and focus on quality rather than those which post numerous times each day that is not of much interest to the audience.

Too many people trying to widen their reach when it drops by posting more often (up to 10 times per day), but this is simply going to work against you.

To increase your reach, you need to make sure you write your posts for what your target audience wants to hear and read.  Stop trying to sell so much and concentrate more on giving value and starting to build trust and relationships.

You can still promote your business of course but use your language carefully.

Rather than saying ‘click the link to buy’ try something along the lines of ‘there is something amazing awaiting you on the other side – go check it out’.  Do you see the difference?

A few other tips include:

Schedule posts from Facebook rather than a third party software

Some people believe that third party apps, such as scheduling posts from HootSuite, Buffer or similar, will affect reach.

I have tried to get conclusive answers to this but there is so much conflicting information out there.  If your reach is significantly dropping and you use third party apps, it may be worth trialing using Facebook’s own scheduler for a while and seeing if it makes any difference.  (Do let me know the results in the comments box).

Upload videos directly to Facebook, not via YouTube links

There is numerous research that Facebook favour videos that are uploaded directly to its site rather than via links from YouTube.  According to a study by Loren Baker of Search Engine Journal, they discovered that on average, native videos reach 2.04 times more people, receive 2.38 times more likes, 2.67 times more shares, and 7.43 times more comments.

Quite simply, Facebook does not like anything that drives traffic away from its site to an external source.  Therefore, any post taking the audience away will simply get less reach.

Don’t overuse links to your website.

Leading on from the point above, Facebook wants to keep people on its site, not to take people away to other platforms.  I have seen a few people using a new trick to try and get over this were rather than putting the external link in their main post, they create the post and tell people to look in the comments below for where to go for further information.  They then simply put the link as a comment below.

Aim to gain interaction.

Facebook will increase reach to those posts that get likes, comments and even the amount of time someone spends viewing the post.

So how you can encourage this?

People like to feel good, laugh, know the latest gossip and news and be shocked!  Think how you can use this in your posts.  Use motivational posts, let them in on something funny that has happened in your day, give them the latest hot off the press news.  These can be the type of posts that will gain likes, comments, and shares.  Ask simple but fun questions!

Now for a disclaimer.  At the time of writing, I believe my research and findings to be correct.  But good old Facebook can change its rules and algorithms at any moment so test what works for you best and keep an eye what others are doing that are getting the interaction you so desperately want.

Happy posting.

P.S.  Want a little help getting a post like?  Pop the link in the comments below and I will pop over and take a look and if it’s a good one, may just leave you a like and a comment

P.P.S. Do you get stuck when trying to come up with fresh content to post on social media? Does your mind draw a blank and you get confused as to what to post next? Subscribe now to get immediate access to my simple planner and easily create a whole month’s worth of posts to attract more attention to your business.

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Top Tips How To Do A Successful Facebook Live

Top Tips How To Do A Successful Facebook Live

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.

 

 

Are you in danger of being a social recluse?

Are you in danger of being a social recluse?

Money or memories.  Which is more important to you?

Today, we rely more and more on social media.  We become a social recluse and base our success and popularity by how many followers we have and how many people we have on our mailing lists.

We while away hour after hour sat staring at a screen in a virtual world, feeling ecstatic when someone comments on one of our posts only to return to a feeling of despondency when someone then unsubscribes from our mailing list.

We spend so much time trying to be proactive in these virtual communities that we stand a very real and present danger of alienating ourselves from the real world.  Scary, but true!

While we become a social recluse, we stop seeing what is going on around us.  We stop being present with our friends and family.  Even if we do tear ourselves away from our laptop to go for coffee with a friend, we don’t really hear what they are saying as we are so busy reacting to the ping of a notification on our mobiles just in case we miss something.

Well STOP!!

Life is for living.  Yes, you may want to build a business through online marketing but for goodness sake, don’t miss out on the real life you have here and now.  By the time your business is at the level you want it to be, you may well have lost what is truly priceless in your life – your health, your friends and your family.

 

Learn to switch off and make memories, not just money

 

From today, promise yourself to disconnect for at least an hour a day.  Go meet a friend for coffee with your mobile turned off.  Go visit a family member or give them a call and chat without interruption. See how much better you feel and how much more refreshed you are.

And once you have got the habit of disconnecting for an hour, try a little longer.  Go for a whole evening once per week and if you can bear it, do a whole day at the weekend.

Your business will not suffer.  If it is so fragile that it is in danger of collapse from not being present for an hour or so, you have much bigger problems to worry about.  You are doing something seriously wrong!

Promise me you will take time out to disconnect. Stop being a social recluse and go take part in the real world once again.  Go live life.  Go build memories.  Don’t wait until it is too late.

 

Let me know your thoughts in the comments box below.

Angie x

Are you a social media friend or foe

Are you a social media friend or foe

Social media friend or foe

For those of you who have got to know me, you will be very much aware by now that I am a stickler for social media etiquette as illustrated in many of my previous posts such as ‘A key tactic when your content is shared on social media

In my opinion, far too many lose sight of the word ‘social’ when using social media.  They rely on autoresponders to send messages to followers on Twitter and use auto-scheduling software such as Hootsuite and Buffer to post out messages but then fail to check in to reply to comments or questions.

Well Jeeves, it simply is not good enough.

And now there seems to be another abhorrent trend doing the rounds.  This has become apparent on Facebook where certain people feel the need to send a personal friend request to some poor unsuspecting victim to then, once the friend request has been accepted, automatically add them to a group without their permission only to bombard them with sales messages.

Jolly bad practice!!  And personally, I think Facebook should look into banning it.

I am selective as to who I accept as a friend as I prefer to keep my personal and professional life separate.  But on occasions, where I have built a relationship with someone in a group, then yes, I also will accept them as a friend.

But if they are then so rude as to add me to their group with no explanation or introduction it just illustrates to me what an unprofessional person they are and one that I never want to do business with.  They have used an unscrupulous practice to entice me as a social media friend under false pretences.

Due to my selectiveness with my friends, this has only happened to me on a couple of occasions but I know of others who have been bombarded with newfound ‘friends’ not only adding them to wholly unsuitable groups but also posting on their own personal walls!

This is the height of bad manners and I suspect started from some low-level MLM pundit or desperate business coach (and before you start I am not anti-MLM, far from it as there are a few very good companies out there).  It is exactly the same as me accepting to meet a new friend for a coffee only to be taken completely unexpectedly to a timeshare talk.  Not the way someone should treat a friend in any way, shape or form.

Which are you?  A social media friend or foe?

If you are an offender and guilty of this practice may I suggest you cease it now?  There are far better ways to market your services and this is not one of them.  You will only end up getting yourself a bad name and believe me, bad news travels fast.