(ThyBlackMan.com) Dream of scaling your small business like Rick Schaden has helped so many people do? You’ll need to become a pro at social media marketing. The key to promoting your business on social media is to do it as efficiently as possible. Otherwise, you could waste an entire day on Twitter alone! Here are five time-saving social media tips you’ll need to learn in order to get started.
1. Get organized. You shouldn’t embark on any social media strategy without first getting everything collected and organized. This will take some time now, but it will save you a ton of time in the future. Plus, this step is completely free!
Figure out what you want to achieve from social media. Are you trying to attract new customers or do you simply want to increase brand awareness? Do you want to showcase your niche expertise? Are you hoping to get more people to sign up for your mailing list? Your goals will morph and change as time goes on, but you have to start somewhere.
Not sure how to create a social media strategy? Hire a professional to get you started. You may even want to keep that person on to manage your social media marketing from beginning to end.
2. There are so many social media channels out there, even if you only pick from the most popular ones. Do you need profiles on each and every platform? Not at all! To start, pick two or three social media channels that you want to use. If you’re going to devote a chunk of money to advertising, Facebook is a great choice. If you have an image-heavy business, don’t leave out Instagram or Pinterest. If you need to connect with other influencers in your niche, Twitter should be your top priority. Stick to fewer channels so that your efforts don’t get spread too thin.
3. You may have a strategy down pat, but what about a process? You can’t realize your strategy without a process. Figure out when you’ll be scheduling social media posts, pick the days and times when you’ll be responding to customers, and figure out when you’ll be able to hunt for shareable content. Carve out a bit of time every day to work on some aspect of your social media efforts. Create a checklist so that you can easily move from one task to the next. Ideally, get things done ahead of time so that you never feel behind.
4. Learn about social media tools. There are a ton of resources out there to help you with your social media marketing. Google Alerts will send you headlines about news in your niche or brand mentions. Creative Commons is great for looking for royalty-free images. Buffer and Hootsuite let you schedule social media posts ahead of time. Iconosquare gives you excellent information about how well your Instagram account is performing.
5. If you won’t have time to stay on top of your social media, hire a professional to manage everything. Far too often, business owners let their online marketing fall by the wayside because they try to handle everything themselves. If you want to make sure you don’t make a major social media faux pas, or if you simply don’t have the time or interest in running your social platforms, hire a contractor. Keep in mind that you’ll probably need to have a lot of communication with whoever you hire. They may know all about social media, but they’ll need to be updated about your business, products, and services.
Social media is never-ending. However, that doesn’t mean you have to invest every waking minute to promoting your business on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. Instead, automate as much as possible, come up with systems for tracking brand mentions, engage with your audience, and then move on with the rest of your work.
Staff Writer; Michael Brown
