Three Tips for Better Engagement
Three Tips for better engagement on your social media.
Hi there! It is almost the end of a busy week and today I had the opportunity to present to an awesome networking group that I am a part of. I was about to talk a little about who I am and why I enjoy what I do but more importantly, I shared three simple but powerful social media engagement tips.
Let me tell you something, I hate presenting, my mouth got so dry my young was stinking to the roof of my mouth and I had to stop talking to take a sip of wanted before I couldn't open my mouth again. No joke! If I am being completely real the idea of hitting the leave meeting button "by mistake" crossed my mind more then once before I got started.
I had to remind myself to put on my big girl panties and just do it. I kept thinking to myself,
"I mean come on Sam, if you can not present to a group of people you know, how can you ever speak to a large group of people you don't know. Besides that this is just a Zoom call, so you don't even have to stand up. Suck it up buttercup!"
You may think that I was being too hard on myself. I know you are right but at least I didn't run out of that zoom room to hind in a corner somewhere. Anyway, the point is I am proud of myself. I felt it went pretty well.
As a small business owner in the world of marketing, I know we all tend to spend a lot of time and money on our marketing. It is so ridiculously unfair how often those efforts seem to go unrewarded. So here is to spreading some good vibes and hopefully motivating you to improve your social media marketing game.
Tip One: Create Real Connections
This can be the hardest part but if you don’t do it then you are just wasting your time.
You may have heard me or maybe someone else say this before but if you are using social media for your business you need to think of it sort of like a cocktail party. You wouldn't walk into a cocktail party and start passing out coupons, sales flyers, and showing off new product videos, would you? If you think about it, social media is where many people go now to socialize, to stay connected, and maybe even be a little entertained, like a party. They do not get on social media thinking, “hmmm let me see how much money I can spend today?”, that is what Amazon is for.
So be real, show up consistently, and act like you would at a work-related social event. Comment on posts, ask questions, engage with your potential clients, and biz partners daily & intentionally.
Not only will it help the know-like & trust factor but the platform's algorithm likes it a lot and it will think the people you are engaging with want to see what you are posting too. Guess what the best part is, they will see your post more often.
Tip Two: Use unique and personal images.
This means photos, graphics, and videos. Why? Well, you might have guessed this is my favorite part. Imagery is powerful. Photos can tell a story, they can evoke emotions, and most importantly create brand awareness.
Stock photos while they have their place and can be very useful they can also be dangerous for your brand recognition. When you use a similar look, feel and color tone in your images it shows your audience you are dependable, consistent, and trustworthy.
So stock photos may be tempting to use but no matter how professional they look, they will not show what makes you unique, they will not tell your brand story, and they will do nothing to help anyone recognize you.
Not sure you believe me? Let me ask you this. Can you think of a brand that you follow that you could recognize in your feed solely by the image that you see alone before you even read the caption or noticed who posted it? Off the top of my head, I am thinking Starbucks but I am sure there are many more. Try it next time you are scrolling through Instagram or Facebook and see if you can recognize anyone. If so, they are doing something right.
This, my friends, is where brand photography comes into play. When you have a collection of images all with a similar tone and feel based on your brand you can create marketing pieces, websites, and social media profiles that have a consistent look. You can tell your audience why you are unique and that is why they will follow you, how they will recognize you and why they will want to buy from you.
That being said, don’t freak out if you can not afford to have a brand photographer on retainer, you could take many of these with your smartphone if you wanted to. Don't worry I will have some new blog posts coming soon with tips on taking product and lifestyle images on your own.
Tip Three! Have a plan.
Once you are engaging and getting people to stop scrolling you need to keep them interested. The key to getting your content in front of the right people is having a plan that creates consistency.
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Plan out your month in advance.- I find I am most effective if I know what I need to post each day. Having a plan ensures you will not forget to post about your upcoming specials, it also takes the guesswork out of what to post each day.
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Know WHO your dream client is.- It will be very hard to get anyone to pay attention to you if you don’t know who you are talking to because trust me if you don’t know then no one else does either.
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Understand your goals. What do you want social media to accomplish for you? Know it so you can track your progress and so your CTA’S REFLECT what you want to receive. Connections, sales, community, website traffic, collaborations? It will also help you determine the type of content you want to share.
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Review your successes and failures each month. - Platforms like Facebook and Instagram offer to report (insights) to show you how your posts have performed. Take a few minutes to consider what content did well AND what time you posted it. This can help you understand what content your audience wants to see from you and when the best times to post are.
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Batch your content. - Creating specific content in one sitting is a time saver and a brain saver too. I do this for posts like quotes, tips, and client testimonials. I call these posts "FILLER POSTS". Why? Because they don't take a huge amount of time to create, and they provide value to my dream clients in the form of inspiration, motivation, or social proof that following me is a good idea.
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Schedule posts. - I like to do mine once a week, with the exception of FILLER Posts which I might do for a few months in advance. I may do some spontaneously too if I am at an event or a whim hits me.
Those are the three tips that I shared today, if you want more, check out this blog post I did over the summer: Social Media Management that captures your audience.
I would love to hear from you, please feel free to leave a comment.
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Did you know I do a monthly social media posting caboodle each month? That's a blog post packed full of tips tricks and awesome suggestions for your social media. You can count on 30 or more post ideas each month. Not to mention a printable calendar so if you don't have the time to plan out your month it will be a huge help! Look at the list of most recent blog posts and you can click right over to the most recent posting caboodle.
If you want tools to create a customized and personalized content calendar, I suggest you head on over to MORE THAN SERENDIPITY where I keep all the amazing social media marketing tools you need to really leverage social media for your business. There are DIY guides, a simple but outstanding calendar, training and so much more. I want your success to be planned and not just a happy accident.