For some entrepreneurs, getting involved on social media like facebook or twitter is second nature. If you’re the kind of person for whom sharing across platforms and engaging others in conversations on social media is one of the most fun parts of running your business, then here’s some homework for you: come up with a plan. How can you leverage your connections and your natural talents to meet your business goals? It’s all too easy to get into a pattern where you’re spending a lot of time engaging in social media, and you’re making a lot of what seem like good connections, but it’s not doing anything for your sales. What are you doing wrong?
Start to focus on process
Often, the sales process is a complex one. There aren’t just the two steps of “someone finds you, then they purchase your product.” (If only it were that simple.) You need to think through what the sales process is for your particular product, and how your marketing and social media endeavors are feeding in to that process. Unfortunately, you may find that the two aren’t at all related, in which case you’re going to need to make some serious adjustments, in order to make your social media interactions worthwhile.
Be realistic - use numbers!
If your social media interactions aren’t leading directly to sales, that’s not necessarily a reason to switch things up, but you have to know what you’re actually doing. From an SEO standpoint, your conversations could be driving traffic, which could in turn lead to increased visibility on search engines, but you need to either have the expertise to track these connections, or hire someone who does. At Find it Local 411, our SEO services help to track what is considered a “conversion” or a successful interaction, and to distinguish that from a social media profile which just generates noise, and develop strategies to optimize your processes.
The difference between a useful conversation and noise is all the difference in the world.
3. Make it fun. People have their social media accounts for fun. Sure, they might do business through them in some ways, but they still expect it to be an enjoyable experience, and they should. This can be helpful for you, too, because running a business can be stressful. Let running your social media account be fun for you, too. While this can be helpful for you, it can also make great business sense. Customers like dealing with people, even electronically. They respond to being treated genuinely, and with respect.