Participating on social media platforms can present many challenges from knowing when to post, what to post and how to engage.  While we all know that utilizing a variety of channels is important to your marketing funnel, it can be a daunting, time consuming task to establish and grow your community. I hear it every day. My clients can spend 20+ hours a week buried in social media, which also takes them away from their business.

It is a big investment of time and energy. So many individuals or companies will create a profile, upload a few posts and then desert their networks. This action does not translate to results. If you are going to set up shop then you must actively participate to reach out and maximize your opportunities. The data clearly defines social media growth and it will only continue to explode over the coming years. Each platform offers you the digital ease of connecting on an infinite scale if done properly.

Social media success is developed on a solid foundation comprised of several components which help to build your credibility, following, loyalty and thought leadership. It takes time to build a loyal following and that is only achieved through mutual dialog and building relationships. Social media is not just a soapbox to taut your company, yourself or your achievements. The old adage, people buy from people holds steadfast.

Social Media Success via Weigh Your Mind

If you were at a cocktail party, you wouldn’t rush up to someone and abruptly hand them your business card and begin to discharge your elevator speech. Refrain from the same ME ME song on social media. Build relationships with an authentic voice and humanize your brand. I know when I have attended networking events or even establish a new connection with someone and they immediately deluge me with websites, posts, things to download, things to sign up for or I receive unsolicited emails, the “hair goes up on the back my neck.”  Just don’t do it! It is a tremendous turnoff.

Reduce your angst and free up some time by implementing some systems and processes that will work for you. Test them out and create a schedule that you will adhere to. Don’t jump around – stay on task. There are always ways to work smarter and enhance your marketing efforts. These become your everyday routines, part of your calendar to help maintain not only your sanity but streamline your efforts. If you are all over the board, jumping from task to task or briefly stopping in on your networks when you think of it, you are decreasing your efficiency and of course, effectiveness. Always have a plan of attack.

Social media has to be done right. To execute properly, you have to begin strong, know what to do and what to avoid. Brett Relander

Become the Ninja: Simple Social Media Tips

1. Identify your social business goals
2. Learn about metrics
3. Understand ROI
4. Create a social media strategy
5. Perform a social media audit
6. Discover tools to help you search, curate, share and measure
7. Plan your profiles with keywords and custom images
8. Set up alerts for keywords, interests, thought leaders AND competitors
9. Better engage with your influencers by creating lists and columns on your social channels
10. Use and track hashtags
11. Review profiles and websites
12. Get listed on directories
13. Create your content plan with a balance of rich information to share and how you will give back to your community.
14. Be authentic and build relationships
15. Tailor your content for the right network
16. Use humor
17. Compliment others and share their content
18. Create captivating images
19. Post some promotional content
20. Automate and push some relevant content leaving you time to engage
21. Delegate some of your social media management, saving the personal interactions to build your brand

These are just a few of the suggestions I recommend to my clients either for them to implement or to discuss as part of the Ace solutions. If you’d like a few more ideas, click on: 20 Time Saving Tips for Your Social Media Workflow – The key take away is to design a PLAN to implement and stick to in order to save some time and be more efficient with your social media marketing.

Just start somewhere but T H I N K about what you are doing and why. Always, always be real and give back to your audience. It isn’t just about you, it’s about them and creating the kind of relationships that you desire to be a part of.  Yes, of course you need a strategy and tactics. That goes without saying but when you begin from the human standpoint, that is half of the battle to nurture your global network.

 “Humility, gentleness, and helpfulness go so much further and open doors you cannot imagine. Think from a higher level and try to see beyond today. Some hard work and insight will bring you to paths that will reward you so highly, it’ll make the little inconvenience you incurred so worth it.” @AnnTran_

Best of success and please do share your thoughts and tips with us. We value your input.