7 tips for turning your 2015 social media resolutions into reality

Monday January 5th was probably the most inspiring and simultaneously disappointing day of 2015 for you.

The inspiration

It was inspiring because it's the day you started work again, following the festive season break and the moment you'd been waiting to implement all kinds of New Year's resolutions, which would leave you feeling motivated and with a huge sense of achievement.

The disappointment

Monday January the 5th was also possibly the most disappointing day of 2015 because mid-way through the morning, as the cold reality of answering emails and dealing with other routine business issues took over and your resolutions became consigned to the office waste paper basket, you suddenly realised that you had no plan to implement them.

Did you intend to market your business better in 2015?

One of your resolutions may have been to market your business better during 2015, to attract more new clients and to do so, you committed to becoming more effective in the way you use social media.

Let's face it, you simply cannot ignore the fact that social media is here to stay - it's an important aspect of your marketing mix, just as anything else you were doing last year. Unfortunately, where you have fallen down previously is that social media was not included as an integral part of your business activity - in short, it was probably an afterthought, something to be done, when time allowed.

7 tips for turning your 2015 social media resolutions into reality.....

If you don't want your competitors to leave you standing then 2015 is the year you need to get serious about using social media in your business. If up until this point you've simply stuck your toe in the water but no more, it can seem a pretty daunting task, so here are my 7 tips to help you get a head start this New Year.

1. Know why? - Why are you in business? When you first started what was your passion, what made you decide to set up the business you have - what difference did you want to make to those who use your services? - Re-assessing the answers to these questions is important and a great way of re-evaluating every aspect of your sales & marketing strategy, this will be important when it comes to communicating who you are and what you do.
2. What outcomes do you deliver? - Look at your social media profiles. Do they simply list who you are, what you do and where you've been? This is not the information that will make a clients want to do business with you. They would rather know how you can solve their problems or help them achieve their business objectives. How well do your LinkedIn or Twitter profiles communicate this?
3. Who is your audience? - Is it time to reassess who your clients are? Are there some who are more profitable for your business, who are easier to deal with - should you be looking for more of these type of clients? Social media sites, such as LinkedIn and Twitter provide free tools to enable you to locate and engage with thousands of potential new clients - you just need to learn how to make best use of these tools.
4. What is your story? - Marketing has changed - the focus now is on building relationships, not driving transactions. Potential clients want to know more about you, your beliefs, attitudes, values, how you've helped others, similar to them, to achieve success - they want to like you and above all trust you. Your job is to share content via social media that has heart, real stories about real people, such as your clients or maybe, your employees. Social media content needs to engage at a human level, it's not simply about sharing corporate sales messages, no one believes these any more. Establish a connection first and clients will buy, you will rarely have to sell to them.
5. It's not just about posting - There is a misconception that if you post sufficient information via LinkedIn status updates, in groups, on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook that eventually you'll attract plenty of new business. Well, you will certainly attract some new business. However, if you're not prepared to engage in dialogue with those who view your profile or respond to your posts - if you're not prepared to engage in discussion forums and Twitter conversations then you're not being 'social'. Engagement is the key to building relationships.
6. Create content that engages - Content is definitely king - when it comes to your use of social media and the information shared on your website. Google takes specific notice of those sites that share great content and that are linked to other sites that also share great content. Your job is to create or curate engaging content (sounds simple doesn't it?). What is great content? It's content that your clients want to read, not what you think they should read. Consider sharing industry trends and updates that are relevant to your clients, be an indispensable resource to them. Share positive stories, where you have had an influence in helping other similar businesses - be cautious of being too overtly salesy though.
7. Don't forget the sales element - In the end though, there is no point making all these connections and attracting many followers and likes and sharing wonderfully useful content with them, if they're not going to visit your website or enquire about your services further - you must put your sales hat on. For example, use Google Analytics to assess which of your website pages visitors land on most frequently and make sure that your social media content includes a link, every time, to these pages. When they land on your page, do you have a capture mechanism, clearly identified, where the visitor can sign up to your newsletter or special offer, so you capture their data? You must consider and include an end-game as far as your social media plans are concerned.

I believe that there is much confusion shared on various sites about linking social media activity with sales and marketing - they are linked, in fact they must be linked, otherwise we are all just being busy fools.

Consistency and patience are the keys

Social media is not silver bullet however, it can bring instant results and certainly I have seen many examples where it has. Patience is key here though, be prepared to put time in and be consistent, measure and assess your progress - what do people respond well to, what isn't working and needs to be changed? Social media is a process, it works for those who apply it with consideration and it's not going away any time soon. Your competitors are using it and winning, so ask yourself a question - is social media simply going to become another broken New Year's resolution or is 2015 the year you intend to plan to make it work for your business.

Have a great rest of your week and I look forward to hearing from you, if you need to increase sales and attract more new clients to your business.

If you liked this post, please would you share it using the social media buttons below.

Steve

PS - Look out for details of our new subscription service the Linked2Success Achievers Club - launching this month. For details - click here

Steve Phillip is Managing Director and co founder of Linked2Success, specialising in measurable social media sales & marketing support for businesses.

Want more tips like this? Sign up to our weekly news-brief here or follow Steve on Twitter @linked2Steve