Are you using social media for your business?

If not, why not?

If so, how well are you doing with it?

If you’re not doing too well with it, you’re not alone. A 2018 survey from The Manifest and Smart Insights suggests that,

The biggest challenges businesses face with social media
are lack of resources, no formal strategy,
building a community of followers, and tracking results. 

The task of creating a ‘formal’ social media strategy isn’t an overnighter, but it needs to be done. You know, like cooking. Finding the right ingredients and making dinner takes time, but we do need to eat after all.

Here’s good news, though. Building a digital strategy isn’t as technical as it sounds…at least not in the beginning. We’ve got to start somewhere.

Somewhere is here. Start here.

1. Write down a list of your keywords.

For example, if you’re in the business of teaching photography, which words would you use to find yourself, say, in Google?

List as many as you can.

2. Play a game of connect-the-dots.

Let’s pretend that on your list is the word “capture”.

What do you like to capture?

Let’s say your forte is “portrait” photography so you capture “faces”.

What do you want from these faces?

Let’s say you want “flattering” “images”.

How do you achieve that?

Let’s say through “angles” or “lighting”…you name it.

Now try to string those keywords together to create a blog post title. Here’s what I came up with:

📸   Capture Flattering Portraits With These Angles
📸   Want To Capture Flattering Portraits? Try These Angles.
📸   How To Capture Flattering Images From Three Different Angles
📸   Flattering Portraits: A Crash Course in Face Photography

Swap the words around, ask your friends which one they’d click on.

Do the same exercise with your other keywords.

3. Organise your topic list in an editorial calendar.

Now that you have a list of articles for your blog and/or social posts, it’s time to organise them in a calendar. Marketers call this a content calendar. Writers call it an editorial calendar.

Mark dates to track which post goes live when, and on which platform.

I’ll let you in on a(nother) secret: Look for bizarre holidays and festivities.

Here’s two.

The first Friday of August is International Beer Day. Surprise, surprise, the first Saturday of August – the day after, is International Hangover Day.

Can you tie-in these events with your business?

Let’s say you’re in the food industry. Chips, in particular. You can say something like:

We just launched our new jalapeño-flavoured chips (yum!) and it goes well with zippy beers..and miserable hangovers. #internationalbeerday #internationalhangoverday

PRO TIP: Don’t be scared to say ridiculous things, but stay on-brand. I mean, would you rather have coffee with someone funny, or someone dry?

4. Practice frequency and timing.

One blog post per month or one social media post per week isn’t going to do you or your business any favour. I know this from experience.

Social media algorithms change frequently, and so there isn’t a clear cut formula on how often we should post on their platforms.

But one thing is for sure: The more our audience see our digital activities, the more memorable we become. Just be sure to be memorable for the right reasons — no one likes to follow an attention seeker who lives purely online.

Find out the best times to publish your blog or social posts.

Very few people will read your blog post on Friday between 5pm to midnight, for instance, because they’re out celebrating the beginning of the weekend. Always helps to know what your audience get up to.

5. Support every article or social copy you write.

Everything you publish on our website or social networks should support each other.

You can do this by linking previous articles to current ones. See what I did there?

Did you find this article helpful?
Get drips of hot tips on my social networks.

Follow my Facebook Page: Hey Megan, or
Connect with me on LinkedIn.

✨
Say hello at mailbox.megan@gmail.com

[ BACK ]