MADE EASY

SOCIALMEDIA

My seven steps (and 47 bonustips!) to assist you to igniteyour social media strategy foryour small business

SARAH SLOAN

social mediaSUCCESS

7 steps to

Social media doesn't have to be hard. Nor doesit have to take a lot of your time and effort.

If you set up your social media strategycorrectly from the beginning, it can be a verylow-cost, worthwhile way to build arelationship with your customers.

These seven steps will guide you on how tocreate a social media strategy to help

spread your business like wildfire.

Is it timeyou tookyour socialmediastrategy tothe nextlevel?

The following statisticsshow just how ingrained

social media is in our lives.

If that doesn't convince you toinvest in social media for yourbusiness, consider this....

Your customers are talkingabout you already. Why not

join the conversation?

All good strategies must have aplan. Here are my 7 steps for

social media success.

1. Set goals2. Analyse who you're talking to3. Choose appropriate platforms4. Decide on your overall strategy5. Devise a social media schedule6. Implement daily7. Monitor, evaluate and revise

Social media can be used in a variety ofways, to suit a veriety of businesses. Thisincludes:

step one: set goals

To connect with customersRemind customers that you existProvide extra value to customersAppear approachableGive customers an avenue to contact youAs a form of market research

It's important to remember though, thatsocial media is NOT just for selling, andthere is a need to be SOCIAL on socialmedia. Overall you should give customers aREASON to connect with you on socialmedia.

Bonus tip: Have a ‘voice’ or ‘face’ of the

company. People deal with people. Make

your brand approachable by using pictures

or video of yourself, and sign off each

social media post with your name.

Ensure that the goals you set for yoursocial media strategy adhere to the

SMART principles. In particular, theyshould be measurable, so that you can

track your progress over time.

Be S.M.A.R.T about your goals

Bonus tip: Don't just rely on the ‘insights’

given to you – have your own measures in

place

Consider:

step two: analyse who you'retrying to reach

Who is your ideal customer?Which social media are theymost likely to use?You need to be in front oftheir eyesPut yourself in their shoes

Bonus tip: Don’t try to reach EVERYONE.

Even within Facebook, you can target

advertisements by very specific criteria

(even more than just age, gender,

location).

Now that you understand who you're tryingto reach, you can begin to decide on whichsocial media (or combination of socialmedia) will allow you to meet your goals and reach your ideal customer.

I encourage you to investigate all optionsavailable to you, which could include (butare not limited to):

step three: choose appropriateplatforms

Facebook PagesInstagramSnapchatTwitterLinked In

These are the most popular in Australia forbusiness use, and each will be discussedfurther.

Bonus tip: use www.canva.com (free) tocreate consistent branded images for use asyour profile picture and cover image

Facebook Pages

Post 3 times a day to achieve maximumreachThink about what times of day yourcustomers are most active on socialmediaWhen people first wake up, lunch breaksand 6-8pm are peak times in generalWeekends are peak social media usagetimes, but many small businesses don’tpost thenEnsure you respond ASAP to anycustomer questions or commentsDon’t use hashtagsOrganic video performs better than linksto Youtube

Tips to increaseyour engagement

Instagram

Use a hashtag search tool to see your mentions (or

those of your competitors for market research).

www.tagboard.com is my go­to favourite.

Create your own hashtag – ensure it’s unique first

Have offline posters in­store/menus/business cards

with your hashtag

Give your customers something to photograph and

share

Repost images your customers share using your

hashtag or your handle

Challenge: How can you create

'sharability'?

Give your customers something

(positive) to share, and encourage

them to use your hashtag.

My favourite go­to sites are

Pixabay and Pexels

Very heavy timeinvestment as contentis deleted every 24hoursStories can be picturesor videoLess than 1% ofbusinesses are using it– get the early moveradvantageGreat for generatingbuzz and reveals

Snapchat

Best for professional industries and B2BEnsure you register your ‘handle’ (eg.@Dell) even if you don’t plan to use it yetEasily ‘retweet’ relevent news, stories etcto your customersBest for #hashtag searchesUse multiple hashtags to be found moreeasilyget verified to gain credibility

TwitTwitter

Best for professional industries and B2BEnsure you register your ‘handle’ (@Dell)even if you don’t plan to use it yetEasily ‘retweet’ relevent news, stories etcto your customersBest for #hashtag searchesUse multiple hashtags to be found moreeasily

Linked In

Consider your resources (time and money),goals, who you’re trying to reach, and theplatform/s you’re using

For example, if you’re a medium sizedaccounting business trying to buildclientelle, Linked In may be best.

step four: decide on youroverall strategy

Bonus tips: This is the step where you’dmost benefit from consulting a marketing

expert to assist you in developing a strategythat you can then go on to implement by

yourself

Did you know...

An ad-hoc social media strategy doesn'tcommunicate consistency to yourcustomers. Plan ahead to ensure you haveyour social media strategy firmly in place.

Ensure you're posting enough each day (thisdiffers for each platform).

step five: devise a schedule

Bonus tip:Create your own days of the week

Eg. Meaty Monday for a butcher

Use an excel spreadsheet or Trello tomanage this visuallyThese tools are especially helpful if youwill have a team of people working onyour social mediaPlan ahead – eg. you could do a 12 days ofChristmas giveawayTake into account special days of theyear. Eg. a psychologist might plan aheadfor ‘Mental Health Week’ or ‘RUOK Day’

Bonus tip:Don't forget the weekends - this is whenpeople are most active online

Who will oversee this? (considerpassword management)Have a contingency plan in place fornegative scenariosDon’t forget weekends & after hoursSystemise and write it down

Bonus tips: Consider using a schedulingprogram to minimise the amount of timeneeded to implement this strategy. Someeasy-to-use, low-cost options are Hootsuiteand Buffer are my favourites.

step six: implement daily

Options exist to outsource your socialmediaIf you have the skills and time, I advisekeeping social media in-houseConsider the brand identity – does a 3rdparty know your brand and how you wantto portray it online?Consider your resources – time poor buthave the budget to get someone else to doit?

Should you

outsource?

Test and re-test to see what works anddoesn’tThere is no ‘perfect’ strategy.Evaluate with regard to your goals yousetTake corrective action as needed.

step seven: monitor,evaluate, revise

Bonus tips: Set yourmetrics at the beginning

of your plan. Don’t justrely on ‘Likes’ or ‘shares’ –

as these can be uselessmeasures

1. Set goals2. Analyse who you're talking to3. Choose appropriate platforms4. Decide on your overall strateg5. Devise a social media schedule6. Implement daily7. Monitor, evaluate and revise

7 steps to socialmedia success

In summary

However, if you'd liketo use the benefit ofyears of experienceand knowledge of a

marketing expert , I'mhere to help.

As you can see designing asocial media strategy for yourbusiness doesn't have to bedifficult, timely or costly.

Sarah Sloan

Contact me on 0439 326 272

Connect with me on Linked In

Follow my Facebook Page 'Wildfire Marketing' for easy toimplement

marketing tips daily

No need to hire a full-timemarketing employee. For anaffordable hourly rate, I can

assist you only when youneed it.

I find small businessesopportunities to save time,

save money and gain clients.

suggested resources

The following are tools and websites that I useregularly, and highly recommend.

to create professional looking graphics forsocial media and other promotional materials- www.canva.com (free, some paid options).For free stock images: www.pexels.com andwww.pixabay.com (add your logo over the topin Canva).Hashtag search tool: www.tagboard.comSocial media scheduling: Hootsuite and BufferFor free daily advice on social media,subscribe to www.socialmediaexaminer.comfor a free weekly podcast download ofstrategic marketing advice, includinginterviews with many successfulentrepreneurs - Tim Reid's "Small Business,Big Marketing" on iTunes or his website.for the latest reports on the digital industry,subscribe to www.digitaldoughnut.comJoin the many social marketing Linked Ingroups