Social Media Strategies For Beginners
I've built businesses using nearly every marketing strategy and technique known to man. So when a new business owner asks me what the best platform is for growing a business, or they want to know the biggest tip I'd give a beginner, I always emphasize this one fact: If you're not marketing, you are not in business.
Sadly, there are a lot of baloney schemes out there that make it look like you can build a business without spending any money and without marketing. That is such a lie. If you were on the television shows Shark Tank or The Profit and asked these multi-billion dollar experts what you could do for free to grow your buisness they'd ask you to leave their show. Growing a business for free doesn't happen. Period. Sure, you can make a little money here and there for free, but you can't grow a sustainable, profitable business for free.
This is why it's so important to use your time and your assets wisely. Social media is one of the most inexpensive, wrongly-used, but highly valuable marketing platforms available. It's inexpensive to use. It's used in ways that are totally wrong when it comes to direct response marketing…… and it's incredibly valuable! To help you weave your way through the maze of advice out there, I thought I'd create some beginners tips that you can use today.
During the last four years I've grown my social media platforms to connect with more than 1.8 million people, and we have a daily reach of over 1 billion every 6 months.
These tips are usable in any business, with ANY product or service.
BIG tip #1- Stop using your personal Facebook profile for business or ministry. None of this content gets spidered by Google so it is not helping your business at all. A business page does get spidered every time you post and this helps your blog and anything else you’re connected to. Just because you have friends
talking to you all day on a personal profile doesn’t mean they’re buying anything. YOU are in business (or ministry!) and you need to stop using a personal profile for these activities.
BIG tip #2- Don’t try to figure out why things aren’t working. This is a faulty perspective and you’ll never find a marketing agency stressing over what doesn’t work. They DO focus on what is working, repeat it, get it to work elsewhere and multiply. Always focus on what DOES work! Yes, you need to fix things that aren't broken but stop stressing over what isn't working like a science challenge.
BIG tip #3- This is a learning experience, so give yourself a break for goodness sake’s. I’m always surprised at how hard small business owners push themselves, as if they’re supposed to pick up things overnight. The battle you will go through to learn, apply and repeat marketing strategies is a big key to your success. So don’t short change your future or your life trying to race ahead. It will come back to haunt you!
TODAY’s MARKETING TIP: The people who succeed on social media learn to be their own person and use their own voice. They walk in who they are, and they live life with their followers. Even the big brands we’ve had the opportunity to consult with have to learn this. People have relationship with PEOPLE! So it’s time to start doing LIFE with your followers.
Heart check: Are you doing this because you want to make money or are you doing this because you want to make a difference? The fastest way to grow a business is to make a difference. Wealth follows this. To stress and strain and try to make money as your primary focus is faulty. So please, stop that! Create a solution to a problem and serve people with that solution. Build a business around something you are very good at that comes naturally to you, and offer a service or product to others who struggle with the very thing you're excellent at. Don't build a business around something you like, but know nothing about!
Here's your assignment for today: Write a post on your Facebook page that is 200 words-600 words. Just write something you care about. Process out loud. Ask your followers how they are. Inspire, motivate, encourage. The ROI of this generation is relationship, so if you are going to build a business that you can be proud of, you’re gonna to have to get real.
Before you can create content that converts, a call to action that increases your click through rates, you're going to have to learn how to communicate, connect and have relationships with people on social media. Let's start there!
With love,
Sandi Krakowski
