Apr
03

Social Media Strategy for 2015

By

How much time do you spend looking down at your cell phone?  You may be surprised that the typical person spends 4 years looking down at their cell phone? As a late comer to cell phones that really did surprise me. Then I had to take a trip downtown last week and decided to take public transit.  I was amazed at how many people were sitting there looking down at their cell phones.  It was at least 50% of the people.

cell phone The good thing is we have all have heard stories of long-lost family, high school buddies, friends, and mentors locating each other via social platforms.

2015 has started out as another exciting year for social media, from Facebook starting on a downward trend and have already turned it around.  To social media becoming extremely integrated with e-commerce, which I believe will only improve as the year goes on.

The latest round of cheap sensors means smart devices are getting more and more integrated. Examples are weight loss and fitness bracelets and watches.  So many social platform racing even more aggressively to be your choice for online money transactions.

social mediaBusiness owners today understand the importance of marketing initiatives and that social media is an integral part of any initiative.  Business owners who don’t have a presence on any social media platform are totally missing the boat.  It’s like trying to run a brick and mortar store without a cash register.  It can be done, but it’s a heck of a lot more simple and easy with the cash register.  Customers will look at you funny when you hand write out their receipt or god forbid don’t even ask if you can send the receipt to their email address. Business owners, even small business owners need to be building their brand in order to create a following, provide better customer service and get new customers.

Throughout 2014 I created posts that were about strategies, engagement and case studies.  Those all still apply today!  As a Small Business Social Media Manager, I want to provide you with updated strategies for 2015.  Take a look at how you are doing now that the first quarter is behind us; are you where you expected to be?  What do you need to do differently to stay on track for 2015?

Community and Loyalty are far more important than the number of Followers, Fans or Connections

The big guys Google and Facebook have both made it clear that quality content and engagement are critical.  Google likes it when people stay on your site for a long time.  It’s an indicator that you have engaging content and they are hanging around to consume it.  With Facebook the number of Likes, Shares and or Comments is the engagement indicator.

What to do to develop community and increase engagement with your current and potential fans, followers and connections?

Posting content on a very regular basis is critical.  My recommendation with Facebook is 3 times per day, once you have that base established you can increase or decrease to what suits your audience best.  Testing is the only way to figure out what the community is interested in. Once the content is in place it is critical to engage with the fans on the page. “Like” every comment, if possible respond with a comment.  “Share” content from fans or other Facebook pages in the same or complimentary niches.

Mix up the content of the posts; include games, humour, questions along with branded content.  Most people are on the social media platforms to relax and not have to think.  Including messages and posts that will appeal to that frame of mind will increase your engagement immensely. Take a look at the pages in your niche and discover what the fans are the engaging with the most.  Create similar type posts for your profiles and if it’s really good simply considering sharing the content from the other page.

The success of your brand is not totally based on huge numbers of likes, comments and shares, but they will have a huge impact in how far your content will be spread.  It’s important to show up in the newsfeed of  friends, customers and clients, whether it be on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Need help implementing this strategy.  Sign up today for a Free Strategy Session with me.  We’ll talk for 30 minutes and discover how you can make this work for your business.  ==>  http://www.AskCarla.ca

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