Potential customers do check you out online, and one of the places they check is social media. It’s common for businesses, especially smaller businesses, to set up all their social media profiles, perhaps update them a for a few days, weeks or even months and then run out of time and energy.
This leads to a social media presence which is out there but looks abandoned. Potential customers don’t know if the reason is lack of time or if the reason might be that you’ve gone out of business. It would suck to lose business because someone thought you were out of business, so how do you make sure that doesn’t happen to you?
Easy. Only set up one social media presence at a time and have a plan, in advance, on how you’re going to use it and who is going to be responsible for updating it (assuming it’s not you).
How do you know which one to start with? Easy. Go where your customers are most likely to be. Which means if you are a business to business company, Facebook might not be your best choice, even if it’s the one you’re most comfortable with.
Here are some suggestions, based on business type
Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube are all logical places to consider. Potential customers use all of them as a way to research both products and services. Don’t try to set up all of them. Look at your product/service and see which channel seems to be the best fit.
LinkedIn, Twitter and possibly Google+, depending on industry, are the obvious choices here. If time is precious, LinkedIn can be the lightest time commitment. Twitter can take more time, but if you have a good strategy going in, it can be an excellent channel. If your business is in the tech space, Google+ may be something to consider.
Once you’ve decided on your channel, you need to plan your strategy. Come up with a content calendar so you know how often you’re going to post and what you are going to post. Decide on some influencers in your industry to follow to give you a source of good content you don’t have to generate yourself.
If this sounds like more than you want to tackle on your own, give me a call. This is exactly the sort of work I do with my clients. I can guide you in those decisions and help you plan your strategy.
Done right, your presence will be active. No one will think you’re out of business, and you’ll be getting good clients from social media.
Image courtesy of renjith krishnan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net