If you want to sell more, have a bigger reach, and get more subscribers, you have to be everywhere. In today's web, "everywhere" means being present on social media. Social media is so incredibly popular for every niche that it’s extremely important for you to make the best use of it so you can dominate your niche.
If you haven't yet started using social media for your business, you're really missing out. If you have started using it, then you’d better make sure you're utilizing it in the best possible way. That means checking in every day, joining in the conversation, and becoming a leader in the most important communities on the web.
We’re lucky that it's very easy to be visible and build your brand these days. But, you have to be very active and aware of your strategy. Some people just hop on social media sites every day, waste hours at a time, and use it haphazardly. Then they declare that social media “doesn’t work” and “is a waste of time.” If you’ve caught yourself saying these things, it’s time for a reality check.
Just as with anything you do in marketing, you have to be very strategic. That's what the naysayers are missing out on. You have to use social media correctly, with goals and strategies in mind.
Again, it helps to be present on social media just about every day, if not every day. For example, I post a daily topic on my free Facebook group. I share this topic every day and it really gets the conversation going. I share early in the morning so people can comment on it throughout the day. This keeps them present on my community every day, keeps the group active and going, and gives everyone focus. And while they’re there inside the group, many of the members will start threads of their own with questions and insights that are helpful to all.
There are a lot of options as far as what you can focus on when it comes to social media. I personally focus most of my time on Facebook because I get the most benefit out of it and find it easiest to build relationships there. There are certainly many other options out there, including Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and so many more. You can certainly focus on whatever appeals to you the most and gives you the biggest benefit. Which social media site is best is a strategy thing, a niche thing, and a personality thing. Just figure out what works and what you like.
You should pay attention to where your niche tends to congregate. Internet marketers, which is my niche, is all over Twitter and Facebook. But I find that the most networking and partnering gets done on Facebook. This is where the real one-on-one communication can take place, and the real group atmosphere can take place. So I prefer Facebook over Twitter, certainly. But for some niches, Twitter might be the best option to focus on.
What is best for your niche? Figure it out and put your focus on that. It might be that you want to participate evenly across a couple of them until you get a feel for what you prefer and that's totally fine as well. On the other hand, you might immediately find that you prefer one over the other and that's fine as well.
One of the most important things is that you have a plan for what you'll do on social media each day. You can’t get caught in the social media whirlwind where you’re following link after link and it has nothing to do with building your business. It's so easy to start the day on social media and end up there, having gotten nothing done. So many people report that this happens to them day after day. It's really costing you money and it has to stop.
Really, you shouldn't have to spend more than 30 minutes or so each day on social media, perhaps even less. Or more if you're managing a Facebook community or something similar and communicating with members, like I do.
Or, it’s okay to spend more time there if a large part of your business takes place on Facebook, Twitter, or whatever it is. Adjust the timeframe to suit your business needs and goals. Just be realistic about it. Really think about what will work best for you and how much time you really need to spend using social media.
Just don’t spend an unreasonable amount of time watching cat videos or something that isn’t going to do your business any good (unless you’re in the cat niche, of course. J )
It can be very helpful to pay attention to what the social media stars in your niche do. This can give you a great idea of what you might want to do yourself. As with anything, though, it’s important to find your own strategies. You really need to stand out on social media and build your own tribe that follows you. Of course, it's most important to build relationships and get to know others on social media.
It's so important to figure out what your goal is for using social media, moving forward. You want to connect with readers and future customers, of course. You also want to connect with potential JV partners and other heavy hitters in your niche. Social media is one of the best ways to get to know people very quickly. You need to set goals for what you want to happen, and by when. Setting goals will help you figure out the best strategy for you.
One of the best things you can do is start to share a lot of value on your social media accounts. You can’t just post promotion after promotion. That’s one of the biggest problems marketers who fail to use social media successfully have. If you're just linking to your products and sales pages, you are failing at social media-- there are no two ways about it.
Instead, you should be asking questions, sharing concepts, answering questions, and more. If someone needs help, help them. If someone’s having a bad day, share your condolences. If someone’s having a good day, congratulate them. Be present and personable on social media. It's just as if you were meeting someone in person. Share the good and the bad.
Often, this means opening up about what's happening in your life. There have been times where I've had a doctor’s appointment or had to go the hospital and people were worried about me because I'm usually very present on Facebook, always sharing my daily thought, interacting, answering questions, and more. They'd come to expect me as part of their daily routine. It's that human connection that’s so important, once again. It really touched me that people cared so much, but it didn’t surprise me, either, because these people have become true friends.
Share of yourself. Share what's going on in your life and your ups and downs. Share what's working for you and what's not. It's completely fine to share what you're working on. It's also fine to link out to a new product that you’re proud of – it's just not something you want to do all the time.
Tie your social media to your other activities. If you have a new blog post, share it with your social media followers. They’ll be interested in what you're doing, because they'll have gotten to know, like, and trust you. Additionally, you should link them to your squeeze pages, because they’ll probably want to join your list to receive your emails and offers.
If you use social media strategically, you can really build up the frenzy of excitement of what you're working on. This is one of the best ways to pre-sell your content without being overly salesy.
When it comes to social media, you have to make a choice. You have to choose to be strategic and present. You have to choose to attend to it every day, or most days. You have to choose to care about what other people are talking about and sharing, but choose not to get lost clicking links that don't matter. You also have to choose to formulate a plan for how you are using social media not only to build relationships but also to further your business.
Make today the day that you are going to start to dominate social media in your niche to be a better marketer. Again, pay attention to how the most successful people in your niche use social media. It might be the case that they are not using social media effectively at all. In that case, you can easily step in and really stand out. If they are using social media successfully, start to take notes and figure out ways you can do even better.